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Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

theguardian.com

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Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#11

Post by jjtheblunt »

dboreham wrote: post #7
bongodongobob wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of fucked up. They're reinforcing the fact that he should be worried about his food. They're training him to be anxious. If he doesn't want to eat, there's no reason to make him. He'll eat when he's hungry.

Perhaps once it's in the model, it's so hard to re-train that the animal will starve itself in service of the training data?

natural selection i think overrides that idea, but i also thought the same idea at first, and we have 5 rescues, so i should know better.

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#12

Post by margalabargala »

bongodongobob wrote: post #5
nanna wrote: post #3

My parents dog tends to not eat his food unless they start pretending that his friend poppy, who died years ago and who used to love eating his food, is at the door. He panics and eats up his bowl, lifting his head up anxiously to look at the door every few mouthfuls.

That's kind of fucked up. They're reinforcing the fact that he should be worried about his food. They're training him to be anxious. If he doesn't want to eat, there's no reason to make him. He'll eat when he's hungry.

I don't disagree, especially if they do that every day.

There are some times when as humans, we have knowledge that the dog needs to eat now, because they won't have a chance later, for example if going on some trip with the dog where feeding later would be inconvenient. In those cases it's useful to have this trick available.

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#13

Post by jasoneckert »

nanna wrote: post #3

My parents dog tends to not eat his food unless they start pretending that his friend poppy, who died years ago and who used to love eating his food, is at the door. He panics and eats up his bowl, lifting his head up anxiously to look at the door every few mouthfuls.

My dog (who recently passed away at the age of 13) used to do something similar. When she was a puppy, she spilled her food bowl and I swept it up with a broom. And since then, whenever we wanted her to eat her food, we'd just bring out the broom and start sweeping the kitchen floor - she'd immediately start eating her food, watching the broom nervously, because she's seen it eat her food before.

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#14

Post by fracus »

petepete wrote: post #10

I've had my Labrador for 12 years, she was about 1 when we rescued her. In the first week I was walking her and passed a bus stop mainly used by school kids. There's a small wall behind it and she dashed around and emerged with half a sausage roll hanging out of her mouth. To this day, every time we pass that spot she enthusiastically pulls and goes round to inspect.

That poor dog will be perpetually disappointed. You should hide some sausage there every once in a while before your walks.

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#15

Post by card_zero »

dboreham wrote: post #6
AStonesThrow wrote: post #2

At work I often learned the full names and other details about dozens of coworkers, customers, whatever, even if I didn't need to know. A few years after leaving wherever, I begin to forget even the simplest names, and I consider this as a blessing, as if Agent K set the flashy-thing in my eyes and I've returned to an ordinary life.

For me typically some attribute remains in memory after the name fades: "white-teeth marketing dude" or "guy obsessed with keyboards". I suppose that's how names started: Miller, Shepard, etc. As a corollary to this if I'm going into a business situation where I think it would be useful to be remembered, I'll try to wear something notable -- brightly colored shoes, something like that. Imagining the other parties dis…

Nathan Whitetoothdouche, Jeff Analkeyboards. But isn't the orange shoes thing a classic spy tactic to get people to ignore your face? Now all they remember about you is your shoes. Wear different ones another time, and you're a stranger.

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#16

Post by switch007 »

petepete wrote: post #10

I've had my Labrador for 12 years, she was about 1 when we rescued her. In the first week I was walking her and passed a bus stop mainly used by school kids. There's a small wall behind it and she dashed around and emerged with half a sausage roll hanging out of her mouth. To this day, every time we pass that spot she enthusiastically pulls and goes round to inspect.

I've never understood people who say dogs are hard to train. They are SO motivated by food

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#17

Post by mikestew »

fracus wrote: post #14
petepete wrote: post #10

I've had my Labrador for 12 years, she was about 1 when we rescued her. In the first week I was walking her and passed a bus stop mainly used by school kids. There's a small wall behind it and she dashed around and emerged with half a sausage roll hanging out of her mouth. To this day, every time we pass that spot she enthusiastically pulls and goes round to inspect.

That poor dog will be perpetually disappointed. You should hide some sausage there every once in a while before your walks.

Reminds me of the search and rescue dogs used for finding people in collapsed buildings after, say, an earthquake. Apparently the dogs get depressed after finding nothing but dead people, so the humans seed the rubble once in a while with a live human for the dogs to find.

https://allcreatureslargeandsmall.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/t...

"As time passes without survivors found, search-and-rescue dogs — especially those trained to find living people — experience increased stress and depression. One way this is mitigated is for handlers and trainers to stage mock “finds” so that the dogs can feel successful."

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#18

Post by bitwize »

dboreham wrote: post #6
AStonesThrow wrote: post #2

At work I often learned the full names and other details about dozens of coworkers, customers, whatever, even if I didn't need to know. A few years after leaving wherever, I begin to forget even the simplest names, and I consider this as a blessing, as if Agent K set the flashy-thing in my eyes and I've returned to an ordinary life.

For me typically some attribute remains in memory after the name fades: "white-teeth marketing dude" or "guy obsessed with keyboards". I suppose that's how names started: Miller, Shepard, etc. As a corollary to this if I'm going into a business situation where I think it would be useful to be remembered, I'll try to wear something notable -- brightly colored shoes, something like that. Imagining the other parties dis…

I once interviewed for a job with a small group of people, all at once. To keep them all straight in my head before I learned their names I gave each a mental nickname based on their appearance: Red Hair, Taller Than My Dad, Jack Sparrow (he had hollow cheeks and a dark unkempt beard).

Taller Than My Dad turned out to be comp.lang.c FAQ maintainer, Steve Summit.

Re: Dogs can remember names of toys years after not seeing them, study shows

#19

Post by TomK32 »

mikestew wrote: post #17
fracus wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That poor dog will be perpetually disappointed. You should hide some sausage there every once in a while before your walks.

Reminds me of the search and rescue dogs used for finding people in collapsed buildings after, say, an earthquake. Apparently the dogs get depressed after finding nothing but dead people, so the humans seed the rubble once in a while with a live human for the dogs to find. https://allcreatureslargeandsmall.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/t... "As time passes without survivors found, search-and-rescue dogs — especially those…

Just like me when I fix a bug within a minute by pure chance... I need those easy wins.
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