Many dog owners will have often wondered if their trusted friend has a memory, and if he remembers events, people, actions …

In short, we could say yes . But to answer this question correctly, we need to specify how best our four-legged friend’s memory works.

There are some traits that in fact closely resemble human memory, others that are very different from it … Even if the latest scientific research has brought to light important innovations. But let’s start step by step.

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEMORY IN THE DOG

Meanwhile, we can start by saying that dogs have three main and different types of memory:

1- Short Term Memory . This type of memory serves the dog to remember the action he is carrying out, to understand how to perform them and carry it out, carrying out the various phases step by step (for example taking a bone, digging the hole, inserting the bone, covering the hole). But he will forget about this action shortly after he takes it . This is why, for example, if we go home and see that our furry friend has made some disaster, it will be useless to scold him because he will not remember at all having done the thing for which you scold him. If, on the other hand, we are faced with the crime when it happens, then we have about 10-20 seconds to film our animal. The short-term memory of dogs, in fact, persists for a very short period of time.

2- Long Term Memory . We could define it as the “library” of memory. Thanks to the long-term memory, the dog memorizes a whole series of references, which he can then retrieve and will be useful to him throughout his life such as faces, objects, places, smells and noises . For the most part, the dog stores these references in the most salient and significant moments of his life: his first 3-4 months and the stage of sexual maturation. The things learned during these periods are more likely and easier to remain etched in the dog’s memory. In short: he will not easily forget something that happened in this period, whether it is positive or negative, and he will carry it with him all his life. This serves the animal to develop adaptation and thus defend itself from what it has identified as dangers. Even during the rest of his life the dog will have the ability to learn and store these important references, but it will take a lot more repetitions to fix them in his mind.

3- Procedural Memory . This type of memory allows the animal to perform complex functions , and allows it to free itself from difficult situations. Such as finding your way home if you get lost. In fact, in his brain it has been built like a mental map that will allow him to use it whenever he needs it. The same memory serves our four-legged friend to solve complex actions, such as mental activation games.

DOGS ALSO HAVE AN EPISODIC MEMORY SIMILAR TO THE HUMAN ONE: A RECENT STUDY SAYS THAT.

The hypothesis that dogs possess episodic memory, similar to the human one, has been a debated topic for decades in the relevant scientific community.

The turning point regarding this debate came in 2016 , thanks to a study conducted by three researchers from the Eotvos University of Budapest (including the Italian ethologist Claudia Fugazza), who publish an article on the subject in the journal “Current Biology “ .

In practice, the study shows how dogs are able to remember events , even those of little interest. A very similar ability, therefore, to that of humans who have first-person memories of their previous experiences. This ability is inserted in long-term memory since it consists, in fact, in recalling a particular episode experienced some time before, thanks to the occurrence of a stimulus that triggers the memory.

This is an extraordinary discovery, as it is the first time that a similar ability has been recorded in animals other than primates.

But it is likely that those who live with a furry four-legged neighbor, may perhaps not be particularly surprised by this ability.