Humans have a remarkable ability to remember and remember past events, even if those events were of no significance at the time. Now, researchers have found that dogs have that kind of “episodic memory” too. The study found that dogs can remember complex actions by a person, even if they don't expect their memory to be tested.
In the new study, the researchers used a trick called "Do what I do." Dogs trained to do “Do what I do” can watch a person perform an action and then do the action themselves. For example, if the owner jumps in the air and then the "Do it!" command, the dog will also jump in the air.
The researchers first trained 7 dogs to imitate the human actions of the 'Do what I do' training method. Then they did another round of training in which dogs were trained to lie down after watching human action, no matter what it was. After the dogs learned to lie down, the researchers surprised them by saying, "Do It" and the dogs did it. In other words, the dogs remembered what they saw the person do, even though they had no particular reason to think they should remember it. They showed episodic-like memory.
Dogs were tested that way after one minute and after one hour. The results show that they were able to recall the demonstrated actions after both short and long time intervals. However, their memory faded somewhat over time. For all those dog owners out there, your dogs are attentive and they will remember.
