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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

#31

Post by 082349872349872 »

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…

The way I've heard avalanche dogs are trained here is that they are rewarded for accurate information, so in principle they ought to be as satisfied with their job after finding "no people" or "dead person" as well as "live person".

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

#32

Post by ericmcer »

TomK32 wrote: post #19
mikestew wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ha yeah seriously.

That makes me think of a managerial strategy that involves feeding a low performing employee softball tasks and praising them for completing them. Once they are convinced they are highly competent slowly start ramping up the complexity.

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

#34

Post by smittywerben »

I remember how happy our Golden Retriever was after digging up his Kong toy buried in the dirt in the backyard from eons ago. He liked hiding bones out there, and he had several Kong toys laying around the house and yard, but this dirty earthy Kong toy must have gone missing and when he dug it up it was like he struck oil.

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

#35

Post by vlovich123 »

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #29
switch007 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Which is depressingly animalistic.

How so? Humans are very much the same way in many years, particularly as children.

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

#36

Post by nutrie »

admax88qqq wrote: post #27
nutrie wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dogs aren't exactly wild animals. They've picked up lots of bad habits along the way, due to selective breeding, not having to hunt for food, and whatnot. I used to have a caucasian shepherd, among other dogs we've had in our family, and as she started aging, it had become gradually quite difficult to keep her weight in check. "Forcing" her eat less and more frequently did the trick. She had hip dysplasia, so it was…

All your examples were about dogs overeating, which I don't think anyone would disagree dogs can do. But I think it's pretty rare for dogs to under eat and to need to trick them into eating their food.

It's not uncommon at all. Take toothache, for example. The catch is they can't tell you, and we are terrible at reading the subtle signs.

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

#37

Post by pseudostem »

switch007 wrote: post #16
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

Neither did I, until I got this lovely idiot who's probably bipolar and probably on the spectrum. They're motivated by food, yes; and we're motivated by unconditional love.

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

#39

Post by jumploops »

It always bothers me how little intelligence we assume of and thus ascribe to the animal kingdom.

Especially to our mammalian brethren, who have many of the same underlying neurological mechanisms (though in differing quantities).

Dogs have co-evolved with humans for thousands of years.

Remembering names seems like a useful albeit unsurprising skill, especially when it comes to recognizing/avoiding danger.

“The bear/wolf/demon tribe is back!”

Will we ever stop looking down from our heavenly pedestal? Can we instead treat at our earthly contemporaries as different but equal?

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

#40

Post by dmurray »

082349872349872 wrote: post #31
mikestew wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The way I've heard avalanche dogs are trained here is that they are rewarded for accurate information, so in principle they ought to be as satisfied with their job after finding "no people" or "dead person" as well as "live person".

But in their training they find living people. During real disasters, there might not be time to focus on rewarding the dog.
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