HOW LONG DO DOGS REMEMBER
No scientific studies have been done as it would take years to test a dog’s ability to remember training or practiced behaviors that were suspended for the purpose of securing such data. The best way to assess a dog’s memory is through actual stories from owners’ experiences.
Most of you probably remember the famous Japanese Akita, Hachiko, who accompanied his professor owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, to the train station each workday morning, and then met him upon his return at the end of the day. Unbeknownst to Hachiko, his owner had a heart attack one trip and never returned to the station. For nine years, Hachiko, waited for his beloved Ueno, through all kinds of weather, and subsisting on handouts from concerned travelers. Hachiko, born November 10, 1923, died of cancer and worms on March 8, 1935. A bronze statue was erected in honor of his loyalty, and a Japanese movie, telling the true story, was made in 1987. An American adaptation was released in 2009 called, “A Dog’s Tale” which I encourage you to see.
Two remarkable stories were related in Family Dog Nov/Dec 2021. One story was about a Black and Tan Coonhound whose owner, Steven Birch, of Norfolk, Va. was in the army during WWII, from the time his dog was about three years old until the dog was nearly ten. Flannel, as the coon was named, had a young habit of doing an excited dance “where he would spin around, bouncing on his front feet, and then make a ‘woo-woo’ sound” whenever Steve invited him to play, go on a walk, or keep him company in the garage. And he did this dance only for Steve. The entire time that Steven was on duty and Flannel was in the care of Steve’s parents, they never once saw Flannel behave in that manner. Yet, seven years later, when Steve surprised his family upon his return, Flannel was at the door, and he danced and did his “woo-woo” bringing Steve’s mother out from the kitchen in confusion until she saw that her son was home.
The next story is about a Labrador Retriever named Feliks, who belonged to Russian emigrants from World War II. Nikolay and his brother mainly spoke English, while their parents spoke mostly Russian. Feliks was acquired by the parents when their sons moved out, and the father taught the dog all his commands in Russian. Tragically both parents died within the lab’s first sixteen months and was then moved into the home of the son, Nikolay, who, along with his wife and young daughter, retrained Feliks to understand commands only in English. Feliks never heard anyone speak to him in Russian until an uncle came to visit from Russia when Feliks was nearly twelve. And yet, as the uncle proceeded to give the commands for sit, lay down, stand and stay, and then throwing a ball, to fetch, all in Russian, Feliks responded perfectly, “even to the point of becoming ecstatic with his tail wagging when Andrei told him Molodets (Well done!).”
I had an experience with three dogs I used to bring to the store in the early days of The Wagging Tail. They would sleep under the back of the checkout counter. I was talking to a woman about how a can with some coins tossed inconspicuously at a dog’s hind end, gets the dog’s attention and disrupts unwanted behaviors. But the trick is in the surprise crash and noise of the can. It may take a few different attempts to instill the result. My dogs had come out to greet her, and her dog, and I quietly lifted a jar of donations and shook it. My three dogs lowered their heads and quietly returned to their places under the counter. I had not used a can in years. Yet they remembered!
