# Short or long term memory...



## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

This is something I have always wondered and haven't exactly found a solid answer on it. You always here, dogs live in the moment. They don't remember things. They have a short term memory.. Well my question then becomes, how? How can a dog not remember things it does or situations it has been in if you are able to train a dog to do anything. Titan is in SAR and I am being deployed so he will be out of training for 6 months.. I thought he would probably forget everything but everyone I talk to says that I will be surprised what he remembers when we start training again.... so now I'm confused. Do dogs have short term memories and can't remember things and situations which is why they live in the moment? Or do they have a long-term memory? Just curious at what people have to say on the subject.. maybe I am taking something the wrong way or out of context, but it's always been something I think about when people say dogs live in the moment, but then that they will remember when you get angry at them and react any time that situation happens... ???


----------



## ken k (Apr 3, 2006)

if they had short term memory's, then they would forget their name, where the food dish is, how to ask to go outside, etc, your going to get a lot of answers on this one, my instructor, who trained dogs and handlers for the military, says they can remember things up to nine months, that's what the military taught him


----------



## m1953 (May 7, 2012)

Take this for what's it is worth cause I am far from an expert, just a dog owner and dog lover all my life..I think dogs have long and short term memories but they just can tie something together that happens right now with what happened a day or a month or a year ago. I also honestly believe that dogs and for that matter animals in general can reason and have more range in feeling than all the human behaviorist believe they have. Just saw a show a few months ago on Animal planet more or less saying that many biologists are beginning to believe animals are a lot more intelligent than they ever use to think they where including memory and reasoning ..


----------



## deldridge72 (Oct 25, 2011)

You know I've been around animals my entire life and have a far better idea of what they can and can't do than any research sciencist-years ago we had a cow come to the house and stand, stare and bawl-when we went to check, she led us quite some distance to where her calf had it head caught in the fork of a tree.

My BC was a wonderful "watchdog"-my oldest brother visited once a year-different cars but let him speak and Laddie would go crazy with joy. Same dog would wait for me to get off the schoolbus-dad to come home-he knew went it was time.

I used to give my first shepherd problems to solve-I offer choices to my current pack-canines are extremely intelligent-the longer they are with human the more so-they have a full range of emotions . . .


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Dogs know and understand more then we think. It might sound silly, but I believe this with my whole heart


----------



## NewbieShepherdGirl (Jan 7, 2011)

I think that they have both. I think often when people talk about about short term memory things they are talking about, "Well, you can't scold the dog for peeing on the floor an hour ago because they won't remember what they did." I don't know whether they remember or they don't, but I think the issue here is they won't associate your anger now with an action an hour ago. The way I think about that would be if you were living with someone and you spoke different languages immediate things like, clear anger when you don't use a coaster right at that moment, will be fairly easy to understand. You may not understand the language, but you'll understand there was a negative response to your immediate action. However, if you're home alone, don't use a coaster, leave for an hour, and come home to someone yelling at you in a language you don't understand when you just walk in the door you're probably going to be pretty confused. So I think in those situations, while people usually use the phrase "short term memory", it's more of an association/language barrier issue. 

At the same time Sasha has been beaten by a man. She hasn't been beaten by anyone for the year and a half that I've had her. She still sometimes flinches or cowers when a new guy goes to pet her. She has a negative association between a hand coming down and something negative. So in that way she clearly has long term memory.

Not an expert; that's just my opinion.


----------



## rooandtree (May 13, 2012)

this makes me think of the you tube videos of the dogs that clearly go crazy,jumping and crying when thier owner comes back after 6 months or a year from the military...you can clearly see that the dog remembers them...or that super smart border collie that has something like 300 toys and each has a name and his owner can say go get red octopus and he will get the red octopus out the hundreds of others..and will continue through each toy he is asked to get...that would make me think long term memory


----------



## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Years ago I had to rehome a couple dogs(one mine and one was my sisters) and I found both of them about 3 years after they were rehomed. Mine was walking down the street and as I drove by I recognized him. I went around the block and stopped the car. I got out to ask the person where the got the dog(it wasn't the person I originally gave it to). I didn't get the whole sentence out and that dog was in my arms kissing me. Then he seen my son and he started nibbling his ears(he did this to my son all the time when we had him). It was nice to see him and he was very well taken care of, he definitely remembered us. The second dog must have escaped and once again I was driving down the street when I spotted her(next to a very busy road). I opened my car door, called her name and she flew to me and jumped in the car. Needless to say I brought her home with me and my sister cried when she seen her. Yep 3 years and both dogs remembered us.


----------



## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Dogs do remember the past, but they live in the moment.

They don't spend time thinking about the past or the future. They can learn, and remember a LOT; they make long-lasting associations with things. But they don't sit around and think about what they did yesterday or what they will do tomorrow. They use their memory and learning to get what they need each passing moment. If they learn something new, they will remember it if it had a big enough impression--either rewarding or punishing--and use it in the future. But they don't think about the next time they will use it.

Hope that makes sense.


----------



## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

I agree with everyone that already posted about long and short term memory.


----------



## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

sometimes repetition doesn't necessarily create long term 'memory,' in dogs but it ingrains certain behaviors. have you ever heard about someone like an artist who has lost their long term memory but can still paint (even though they never recall ever painting before in their life). maybe that's how it works? 

just a thought. but i do think that dogs have long term memory to a certain extent. i say this because when i lived in vegas there was a spot where Smokey found a bunny once (bunnies aren't all that common there) and as soon as we went back to that spot for the next week, even though the bunny wasn't there, Smokey looked for it. he'd get excited, pull harder to reach the spot, sniff more etc....


----------



## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

I am mad at myself that I just let this thread go and for some reason never checked back! oh busy busy days... lol

I am intrigued by all these responses. I too believe it is probably a mixture of both.. My young adulthood dog, Cocoa, was a little brat.. she was abandoned and left in one of our most vicious storms for days.. just horrible condition when we got her when I was in Jr High.. well she attached immediately to my dad and got very fear reactive toward ANYONE who would come near him. After time, she accepted only the family. Well regardless of that, anytime anyone came through the front door she went into dang near attack mode especially in the dark and would absolutely not stop barking or lunging until the light was on.. even if it was me coming home from work, when I was in highschool, every single night... call me a stupid kid, but one day I came through the door and she lunged at me and I took the liberty to grab her mouth and shut it.. not aggressively just nonchalant and say "shhhh" at the same time. After that.. I just had to put my hand on her nose when I came inside and the barking would stop. Went home last year for the first time in years and out of natural reaction to her attack mode.. yes she still does it.. i just put my hand on her nose and bam.. instant happy wagging puppy in the dark.. turned on the light but she knew exactly who I was. Weird. 

Anywho. I agree with everything people are saying. They have to have some sort of memory to retain all the training but I agree with whoever said it's like the whole language thing... that was a brilliant comparison and honestly makes me see it in a different light. 

Cool thread me


----------

