Signs Your Dog Remembers Early Experiences
Dogs communicate with their body language. While they may vary by breed and temperament in the expression of their needs and reactions, there are common signs to watch for in dogs to understand their reactions. It is important to consider the situation in which you are observing your dog.
There is always a context in which your dog is perceiving, reacting, or preparing to act. By becoming an astute observer of your pet, you can improve your management of the dog, keeping all safe and appreciating the personality of your beloved best friend.
The experiences your dog may be remembering from puppyhood will be expressed in the dogs social skills and responses when introduced to dogs, people, or stimuli from that stage of your dogs development. We want to believe that the reactions will be positive and happy, but that depends on the quality of those early experiences and the length of time the pup was exposed to those opportunities. Keeping context in mind, there are a number of signs you may watch for recall and recognition from the time your dog was a pup.
Happy dogs look happy! They will appear relaxed in their posture and stance. You will see your dog open their mouth with their tongue hanging loose. Your dog may even appear to be smiling.
If your dog is recognizing someone or something from the past, you will see your dog relying on the sense of smell. The dog will be sniffing the air as well as things and beings in the area. The nose will be wiggling and wet. You may even notice that your dog will lick the nose, keeping it wet to intake more scent.
Once the dog approaches the memory, you may see excited behavior. There may an invitation to play, with a play bow, romping and jumping. Some dogs will actually cry and whimper in their excitement and bestow a kiss in the form of a lick.
Some signs that your dog is remembering something from their youth include:
More cues that your dog remembers something from when they were a puppy are:
When considering what dogs may remember about being puppies, we might begin by understanding the important stages of puppy development. The experiences in these stages will shape your puppy to be healthy, adaptable and social. There are 8 stages of puppy development:
Neonatal Stage: Birth – 2 Weeks. At this point, puppies are deaf and blind. They sleep most of the time and their mother takes care of their needs for warmth, nutrition and keeping them clean.
Transitional Stage: 2 – 4 Weeks. The puppies will open their eyes and start to respond to sound, light, and movement. They will eliminate on their own. Puppies become aware of their mother and littermates. They also start to stand and crawl.
Awakening of Senses: 3 – 4 Weeks. Puppies now react to stimuli around them. They will startle at noises. It is critical to keep them with their mother so she can start to train the pup on how to be a dog.
Socialization Phase: 4 – 7 Weeks. This is the time pups learn how to interact with others and to not bite. They are now understanding discipline from their mother. She will wean them and teach them she is in charge. The ideal time to start interacting with humans is between 5 – 7 weeks. You can handle the pup daily and start giving your pup small amounts of food while the pup is being weaned from the mother.
Second Socialization and Fearful Phase: 8 – 12 Weeks. Many pups go through a fearful period at this age. Continue to handle your pup. This is a good age for leash training and starting training for simple commands. Your pup will start to sleep through the night and show better control for house training.
Juvenile Stage: 3 – 4 Months. Just like a teen, the pup may become more independent and test your authority. Continue to reinforce training and teach your pup “No Bite” or “No” and ignore the dog at moments of misbehavior.
Ranking Period: 3 – 6 Months. This is a stage in which the dog is testing ranking in the pack. This is the time to establish yourself as the Alpha. Continue with positive training. Your dog is also teething. Provide appropriate chew toys.
Adolescence: 6 – 18 Months. Your dog is still growing up and is a pup. This is a period that can be a lot of fun as your dog will have much energy and you can take advantage of this phase to train and play games with your dog.
As you can see, while your pup may not remember specific events from puppy phases, there are experiences of care and interaction that condition your pup with skills that they will take into dog maturity.
Do Dogs Remember Their Puppies: Canine Memory
Dogs memory systems for storing, processing, and recalling information are very different. They have a weak short-term memory, so its unlikely that they can recall all the times theyve wrecked our homes.
Dogs can recall things, simply in a different way, thus this does not imply that they are incapable of doing so.
Its no secret that a dogs long-term memory is a lot different from a humans. Canine memory depends more on the imprinting.
Imprinting is a biochemical process stimulated by sight and smell. It occurs when a puppy spends a crucial period of its development watching and learning from its mother.
For this reason, its customary for a puppy to remain with its mother and other puppies for at least 8 weeks. During that time, they will learn some fundamental instincts and crucial behaviors.
As the puppies grow older, the physiological responses in the mother and the puppies are increased, forming a bond that helps them to recognize one another later in life.
After a few Months of Separation
After a few months, it is most likely that the puppy will still remember their mother after being separated. This is where dogs are usually re-homed.
But when you introduce the mother to the puppy again, the mother will still remember the puppy too. However, this reunion can lead to some tension.
Since the puppy is now bigger and full of energy, the puppy will be jumping and chewing at the mother.
This is normal since the puppy is excited to meet his mother again. But the mother will show less affection due to her lower energy level.
Mother Dog Reunited With Her Puppies All Grown Up | The Dodo Reunited
The day I rescued my dog, Riley, from a shelter, I met her three puppies, too.
They were being adopted also, and although I wanted to stay in touch with the new parents, life got in the way and that didnt happen. Then, a year later at the dog park, I saw a dog who had the exact same markings as one of the puppies.
And although Riley didnt seem super interested in the dog, I couldnt help but wonder if it was one of her babies. And if so, why wasnt Riley super excited?
“I have observed moms reunited with puppies at adoption events, and the mom doesnt seem to respond in any unusual manner,” Galit Reuben, executive director of Dogs Without Borders, told The Dodo. “If shes a happy dog who likes to meet other dogs, she will respond positively. If shes shy and not socialized, she will react accordingly.”
A 2013 study in Animal Cognition suggested that dogs do indeed have long-term memory, so it makes sense that they might be able to recognize their pups. But the fact is that it depends on a number of factors, like how long theyve been separated.
If they did remember, it might be similar to a human “meeting a person on the street and not realizing at first this was a friend from years past,” Suzanne Hetts, Ph.D., a certified applied animal behaviorist, said. “Once I realized it was my old friend, my behavior would be more open and welcoming and excited than if this was a person Id just met and was just getting to know.”
Sherry Woodard, animal behavior consultant at Best Friends Animal Society, agrees that it varies from dog to dog.
“Some dogs seem to treat all puppies the same way they treat their own after separation, and some female dogs act as though they dont want their pups anywhere near them,” Woodard told The Dodo. “Some female dogs who have been a foster mom are thrilled to see their pups return to visit.”
And just like it might be hard to recognize people after so many years, the same with dogs.
“Mother-pup recognition after separation depends heavily on environmental conditions during that time and the strength of the bond prior to separation,” Jill Goldman, Ph.D., certified applied animal behaviorist, told The Dodo. “There are so many changes a pup undergoes as it ages. How much has stayed the same or changed since the puppy was with mom?”
In the wild, young wolf pups stay with the pack for years, so they have individual recognition, she added.
Its not often that dog moms have the chance to reunite with their pups, so most dog owners may never really know the answer.
As for Riley, she may not remember her pups, but Id like to think shes kept some of her maternal instincts.
This is her reacting to puppy whimpers, three years after being separated from her own puppies.