New Dog, New Tricks – Short Term Memory Too Short! – Dave’s Diary

My wife’s pet, Dewey the wonder dog, now has a pet dog of his own.  (We call him a wonder dog because we wonder what kind of dog he is!)

The new dog’s name -according to daughter Kate- is Lucy Hamsterbutt,  for obvious physical reasons.  She is a cute little 5 month old “Pembroke Sheltie “ looking hound who has already weaseled her way into our hearts and she is best pals and playmate to Dewey who is about 8 times her size. To watch them play is hilarious.  To try to get them to learn and remember—not so funny!

If you have or have plans to train animals you need to know that a

nimals are known to have two types of memory, short-term and longer-term "specialized" memories. And while animals are known for having excellent specialized memory, memories of specific events tend to disappear in a span "ranging from a few seconds to several minutes."

A new analysis of previous studies reveals birds, mammals and bees all have an average short-term memory duration of just 27 seconds. Dogs remember for about two minutes, while chimps' short term memory only lasts 20 seconds, and for rats it's even shorter.

Similar studies on humans have shown we can remember comparable information as long as two days. Researchers remark, "We think humans' ability to remember arbitrary events is unique." (Fox)