# Does your dog have a concept of time?



## GunnersMom (Jan 25, 2008)

Mom was telling me about an article in the paper yesterday, by this so-called "dog lady" and it just made me nuts, so I wanted to ask the question.

Someone had written in for advice, asking if dogs have any concept of time. Whether they know the difference if you've been gone for two weeks versus 5 minutes. This "expert" answered, stating that dogs live in the moment and have no sense of time. That they don't know if you've been gone for one hour or one week. 

I say it's total BS. My guys definitely seem to have a pretty good concept of time. If we're away a little longer than usual, I can tell by their greeting when we come home that they KNOW they've been left a little longer than usual. When mom's just one hour late getting home from work, it's obvious by the boys' reactions that they KNOW she's late. ****, they start stirring right about 5:30 everyday, because they know, just from routine, that she should be home any minute. When I spent the night in the hospital (I'd never left them overnight before) they about went ballistic when I came home and were glued to my side all day. They knew I was gone much longer than I should have been.

I don't understand how this "expert" can say that they have no concept of time. 
So, do you notice it with your dogs? Do they understand time?


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## foader (Dec 19, 2008)

Does nap time, chow time and sleep time count?


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## kleinenHain (Sep 20, 2007)

Well I have to say I believe they do have some concept of time. Max for one, he gets his teeth brushed every nite around 9:30 then its his bedtime. if i fall behind on doing this he will go and get his kit and bring it to me and its always right at 9:30 or a bit later. just an example


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## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

I think so cause at 8:30 every night Brady goes to my husband and starts whining (potty time)

and the same at 10pm but comes to me


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

If you're asking can dogs tell time - ie wake up/go out at 6AM, breakfast at 8AM, play at noon, walk at 4PM, dinner at 6PM, going out to potty at 10PM, then YES!!! lol - I'd put the Hooligan's internal clocks up against the most accurate atomic clock in existence.

If you're asking can dogs tell the difference between someone being gone 7 hours or 7 days, I honestly don't know. I've read they can't but I've never been 100% convenienced that this is valid.


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

I am pretty sure they would know the difference in 7 hours vs 7 days too! They might 'live in the moment' but their "moments" are much different without their own people!


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## Mary Jane (Mar 3, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: ZissoI am pretty sure they would know the difference in 7 hours vs 7 days too!


In my limited experience with one dog, Wolf definitely knows that kind of difference. He welcomes me home anytime I leave, but when I was away for a week-the longest time we have been separated-it was a far more intense greeting. He whistled and squealed running down two flights of stairs.

Mary Jane


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## JeffM (Dec 19, 2005)

Thor and Riggs know when its feeding time, wake-up, lunch and come home time. That's about it.

Might have to do with the fact its routine.


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## Nikkoli110 (Sep 9, 2008)

I agree, I think its BS. Katie I notice especially, around 10 PM, if we're not all ready up in bed, she goes up on her own. She also knows when DH is expected to be home. 

When I had not yet moved in to our home, I moved in after we were married, and if I hadn't seen Katie in a few days vs. just seeing her the day before, the greetings were much different. She knew that there had been a longer time in which we hadn't seen each other. 

It does make me think of the things that go on in our homes they can sense from us. Maybe if we're tired, they might go up to bed because they can sense we're going soon? I don't know. I'm no expert, but I don't believe that they can't sense time at all.


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## darga19 (Mar 4, 2009)

Absolutely they have the concept of time. They have excellent "body clocks," and they learn routines more reliably than people sometimes.

I can also tell the difference in their reactions if I've been gone 5 minutes, 3 hours, or 2 days. 

When people say "dogs live in the moment," all that means to me is that they don't dwell on the past like people (#1) and also that they don't connect things that have happened in the past with what's happening now. Ex: You can't punish a dog for pooing in the house 10 minutes after the fact...because they don't connect the 2 events. That doesn't mean they don't have the concept of time.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

They know about time, far more than when the sun comes up, the children get up when the sun goes down the kids go to bed. 

I had one dog I taught how to read a clock. So what the dog expert says is crap. 



> Quote:Someone had written in for advice, asking if dogs have any concept of time. Whether they know the difference if you've been gone for two weeks versus 5 minutes. This "expert" answered, stating that dogs live in the moment and have no sense of time. That they don't know if you've been gone for one hour or one week.


I think this supposed expert has been working with dogs of lower intelligence.

I was in the hospital for 4 days when my twins were born. My dogs behaved a lot different when I came home than if I'd just been out shopping for the day.


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

My dogs definitely react different when my husband comes home from being gone for an extended period of time (weeks or even months).

They also have that internal clock thing going to - especially for food!


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## JeffM (Dec 19, 2005)

It's funny when the time changes back how they react. The next day when it was only 17:30 (18:30 in Thor's mind) he brings us his dish and drops it at our feet.

We tried to tell him its not time to eat but he just gave us one of those head tilts


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## GunnersMom (Jan 25, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: SunCzarina
> 
> I think this supposed expert has been working with dogs of lower intelligence.


That's a good possibility. For her sake, I hope she never gets a more intelligent breed. Poor woman will never see it coming.












> Originally Posted By: JeffMIt's funny when the time changes back how they react. The next day when it was only 17:30 (18:30 in Thor's mind) he brings us his dish and drops it at our feet.
> 
> We tried to tell him its not time to eat but he just gave us one of those head tilts


_That_ is priceless! 
I hadn't thought about the time changes, but yes - it always throws our guys a curve, too.


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## pupresq (Dec 2, 2005)

I thought we were going to have a mutiny on our hands last fall when the time changed and dinner was an hour late. They seem much more willing to get on board with springing forward!









I guess you could argue that things like being hungry or needing to go to the bathroom could cue them to parts of their routine but Grace can tell within 15 minutes of when my son and husband will be getting home. At 3:45 she parks her butt by the door and watches for DS to come down the driveway and at 5:45 she's back there again with a toy in her mouth ready to great DH. 

I can also tell a difference in how excited they get if one of us has been gone for a short period or a long one. Whether they could tell a week from 2 or 3 weeks, I'm not sure, but they can definitely tell the difference between a couple days and a week plus.


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## VectorSketcher (Jul 20, 2008)

I think that they do have a sense of time as well, I had to lave my boy Riddick up at CSU which is a 2 1/2 hr drive from our house, he had to stay there for a week due to a spinal inflammation that made him temporarily paralyzed in the rear legs and tail, when we came to get him that next week his welcome was so intense, it brought tears to both my husband and myself as well as the neurosurgeon who was taking care of him, yes, I think they can tell the different between a few hours and a few days.


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## mmarie (Feb 25, 2009)

it's been shown that animals have a great sense of time. their internal clock is based on hours, not on sun position. so theoretically they could know if you were gone 7 hours vs. 7 days, the problem is do they REMEMBER. i'd say german shepherds prooooobably can, i can sure tell a difference with bella! but there are some dogs i wonder about


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Apparently this twit hasn't had a dog or cat during daylight savings time! Jeez...that extra hour causes enough disruption that I think the cats would rather trip me up and eat my dead body then try to get used to an hour later meal!!







That doesn't even go into the sleeping schedule grumpines!

Near bedtime (9:30-10) the pups will automatically make their way to the bedroom...Duncan on his dogbed and Anna sprawled out on our bed...then it's up proptly by 7:15...I seriously don't need an alarm clock anymore between Anna and the cats. 

If I'm gone for more than a day, the greeting I get is propotional to the time I'm gone...if I'm gone for three or four days, I get a heck of a welcome from both cats and dogs! Nothing like my "oh you're home from work mommy! let's eat" greeting I get most days!


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## arycrest (Feb 28, 2006)

I know I've already said my .02 cents on this thread, but reading it today made me think of something I'd forgotten about - it happened between Slider and me back in December 2004.

In late October I took Slider up to his handler's house in GA and didn't see him again for six weeks (something I'll never do again - I was miserable without him). 

I drove up to MS to pick him up at his last show to bring him home.

HE WENT NUTS when he saw me!!! I mean NUTS!!! Absolutely NUTS!!! One hundred percent NUTS!!! He was a WILD MAN!!!

I've been around dogs my entire life and I've never had a dog greet me like he did after this extended separation. 

We got in my van at the show site and I had to stop every 15 minutes or so because he was so excited, whinning, trying to come in the front with me. For the first couple stops I thought he had to go potty but all he wanted to do was continue greeting me - jumping up, licking my face, waging his entire body, barking, crying, just wanting me to hug him. 

This greeting went on for hours - from Jackson, MS thru LA, to Pascagolua, MS where we took a room near the Gulf for a couple days to have some "together time" and celebrate my 60th birthday. 

Once we got in our room, he settled down some so we took a nap, but when he woke up he had to give me a long lost mommy greeting though I'd been beside him the entire time.

After a couple days he started taking being with me for granted which was good and his greetings slowing went back to "normal" behavior. 

So yes, in Slider's case he knew the difference between not seeing me for a few hours versus not seeing me for many days. And I don't believe Slider's unusual.


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## WinitheGSD (Sep 21, 2008)

I've heard of people thinking dogs don't have a concept of time!! That's just stupid. My dog knows what exact time we go out to play and when it's tiem to eat. Because I can't take her out for exercise until around 4 pm. So she gets all excited and I haven't even said anything. And if we go on vacation for a week they get waaaaaaay more excited then if we run to the store.


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## GunnersMom (Jan 25, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: aubieApparently this twit hasn't had a dog or cat during daylight savings time! Jeez...that extra hour causes enough disruption that I think the cats would rather trip me up and eat my dead body then try to get used to an hour later meal!!


LOL. That's true. Even cats have a concept of time. I hadn't thought about that, but our Jake knows when it's mealtime and he reacts pretty much the same way. He gets a little canned, in addition to his dry, twice a day and when it's late, he'll just sit there and stare daggers at me. I'm pretty sure he's plotting my demise.

I thought of another thing with the dogs, too. It happens when my dad comes over to visit. If the boys have just seen him the week before, they give him their normal "Oh boy! Grandpa's here!" greeting. But if they haven't seen him for a few weeks, they practically maul him the minute he's through the door. Even Gunner jumps on him and Gunner's not a jumper. So they have to know the difference between one week and say, two or three weeks. They certainly know it's been longer than it _should_ be, at any rate.


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## Colorado (Nov 25, 2007)

I think that is one misguided "expert". I come home from work during lunch to give my dog a walk. Everyday, there's no barking or whining. She's waiting patiently in her crate for me.

Last week it snowed enough that work was called. I came home two hours early from the normal lunch time. I was still outside the house when I heard her barking her head off in her crate. Somebody was outside her house and it wasn't time for me to be home. She completely has a sense of time.

All that said, I do agree dogs "live in the moment"--but it has nothing to do with telling time. Say your dog has spent years with you with very little rules or discipline and you decide that your spoiled pup is out of control. It is time for NILIF or basic rules or whatever and for you to be the alpha. If you step up and start leading with authority or what have you, a dog will accept this change MUCH quicker than a human would. So in that sense they live in the moment.

(I'm not saying dogs don't retain issues from their past experiences. They just recover quicker from them than a human would.)


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

Aubie, that is so funny about the cats! Mine are the same way. I also had never considered daylight savings time with them or the dog. 

I know they say you cannot discipline a dog 10 minutes after they do something 'bad'. However, this is the second dog that I can. For instance, Z might get into the cats wet food...drag that cat dish to the floor- I catch it a bit later. When I do, I take the dish out to the kitchen(he is usually by the front door between bedroom door and kitchen) so as I pass him I say "what is this?" Nothing real stern. He Always turns his head away or moves to the living room right away. Now I know that his previous owner never did anything to him at all. Best she would do when he was in trouble was to gasp and say O-EEEE-YO-EEEE-YO-EEEE…..(that still works once in awhile







)


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Seriously, my oldest of all the critters, Simon, will meow and howl until I get up to feed him in the morning...then he does what cats do best and go back to bed...but when he does this, this wakes Anna up and there's no "going back to sleep" after that. Sigh.









Simon also usually is waiting for me by the door when I get home, like the dogs. We've always said he's more like a dog than a cat.


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