My girlfriend just got a cat back that she owned for 2 or 3 years and then was separated from for another 2 or 3 years. It’s not showing any nervousness from being with someone “new” but the cat was always friendly. We were wondering if the cat actually remembers her. What about dogs? Or even fish, for that matter?
I’m no expert, just an owner of dogs. Two incidents come to mind.
When I was a kid we had a German Shepherd puppy named, Boots. My mom kept him tied in the carport near the garbage cans (which he routinely knocked over, but * that’s * another story!) The mailman hated this dog, why, we never knew, but once my mom caught him hitting Boots with a Sears catalog.
She shortened the rope more and no more fights.
A year later, my brother Jeff had replaced the rope with a longer chain, the first chance Boots had, he bit the mailman, who was the same guy. Coincidence? Boots never bit, or tried to bite anyone else. But, sad to say, they gave him away to someone who lived in the country.
My dog, Watson, I had taken him to the vet, he was having prostate problems last year, and I was passing the time, and put a dogbone on top of the counter. Wattie could smell it, but he couldn’t find it. Finally I push the bone over just enough, so that he could ** see it **, he jumps up and gets it. THAT was a year ago, and when we took him last week for his vaccinations, the FIRST thing he did when he got in the room was to jump at that same spot! Ho ho, Wattie, no bone! But, I gave him one when we got to the car, 'cause hims so smart!!
Judy
“Muck should replace ‘suck’. For ‘muck’ is yucky, while ‘suck’ feels very lucky. So, don’t stay stuck on suck, switch to MUCK, today.”
They say goldfish have no memories,
I guess their lives are much like mine.
And the little, plastic castle comes as a surprise every time.
Dogs certainly do. The other day I was driving over to a friends’, with my trusty companion in the back seat. All of a sudden he starts barking and going berserk.
I couldn’t figure out why. Then I realize we’d just passed one of those small U.S. mail trucks – you know the ones, no bigger than a regular SUV but white with a big blue eagle on the side.
I tried to figure out why that would set him off. He’s generally an indoor dog, and we don’t get our mail delivered by that kind of truck. Then I realized one of those trucks used to park in front of our former house when the mailman walked up and delivered the mail in a box right by the door, which always made my dog go bonkers.
That was two houses and eight years ago.
“We are here for this – to make mistakes and to correct ourselves, to withstand the blows and to hand them out.” Primo Levi
I don’t know; I asked my dog if he remembered who won the NHL MVP award in 1987, and he never answered me. Maybe he was thinking.
My dogs (both of them) love to go for rides in my car. They don’t care where, just so long as they are riding in the car they are happy as can be.
Almost.
When I turn my car onto the road leading to my Vet’s office they immediately react (blocks away from the office). Tails quit wagging, ears droop and one of them even crawls down into the floor of the car. Obviously they recognize the road and know where it goes.
“Sometimes I think the web is just a big plot to keep people like me away from normal society.” — Dilbert
My cat Spitz can’t remember that I don’t like her to jump on the dining room furniture, no matter how many times I squirt her when she does.
But she does remember that I will get up and feed her if she starts licking a piece of paper or plastic in my bedroom at 5:00 AM.
So I’d say, yes, cats have good memories, but only for what matters to them.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
My theory: animals do not remeber people or places where neutral actions occurred, but they remember forever places and people for whom something very good or very bad happened.
My dog may not remember a friend or guets, but if that person hit her, she does. She can’t remember what “down” means, but she sure as hell remembers where I keep the treats.
I saw a great show on Discovery showing how dogs create strong associations with things that have to do with their masters, such as the distinct sound of their car.
Much like AWB’s cat, my dear kitty has a wonderful grasp of breakfast and how to get it. Namely, if he sits next to my pillow around 3am, stretches out one paw, claws retracted, and whacks me in the face, I will get up and feed him. He does this without fail, every day.
Gamera is really neat, he is full of turtle meat, we’ve been eating Gam-er-aaaa…