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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

#81

Post by mlyle »

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".

There's funny things at play even beyond training effects, most likely. Even leaving aside that finding a dead person might be something that inherently triggers avoidance.

People screening luggage for bombs/knives/etc do significantly better if you show them a picture of a bad bag every now and then. Often these systems are used to monitor screener performance, but even if you just show them the picture now and then with "this is a test, no action is required" they do better.

Being primed with things relative to the task improves human performance, and I'd expect it would work in smarter animals, too.

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

#82

Post by dr_kretyn »

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

You have limited experience. Mine couldn't care less about food if a ball was near it. We also missed her feeding a few times and she never begged or reminded about the food. I usually carry a bag of treats (her favourite) but sometimes she refuses to eat them.

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

#83

Post by [deleted] »

jumploops wrote: post #39

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/…

[deleted]

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

#84

Post by suprjami »

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

I have a dog who is so food-motivated that he gets distracted by the chance of a treat and won't learn anything.

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

#86

Post by sva_ »

dr_kretyn wrote: post #82
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

You have limited experience. Mine couldn't care less about food if a ball was near it. We also missed her feeding a few times and she never begged or reminded about the food. I usually carry a bag of treats (her favourite) but sometimes she refuses to eat them.

Wolves naturally don't usually eat everyday either, we just make dogs do it because we do it.

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

#87

Post by risenshinetech »

nutrie wrote: post #36
admax88qqq wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Pretty sure a dog will eat through a toothache too, but no one has mentioned anything remotely like this situation. You're bending over backwards to rationalize the really odd behavior of invoking a dead puppy friend to encourage a dog to eat. They will eat when they're hungry.

And in your strange example, if this dog wasn't eating due to a toothache, the parents are forcing the dog to anxiously eat through the pain of a toothache.

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

#88

Post by risenshinetech »

jasoneckert wrote: post #13
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.

Why were you forcing your dog to eat food?

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

#89

Post by powersnail »

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

Being motivated to learn isn't equal to being effective at learning. Not all dogs are prone to "understand" what the training is about. Sometimes, they seem like they are eager and ready to engage with your training, but then at the end of the day, not really having learned anything.

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

#90

Post by at_a_remove »

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.

Not good with people, I had developed a facade full of weird coping mechanisms as I attempted to fake not being tremendously shy and avoidant of rejection. I was just into my twenties, working at a dating service as a kind of factotum (data entry, but also shooting and editing videos, networking, and reception). Inadvertently, the relevant details of all of our members just ... grafted themselves onto my hapless brain. Names, height, weight, job, member number, video number, and so forth. Employees began to call me rather than look people up in the directory, but I liked to greet people when they came in rather than having them fumble for their card. One conversation went like this:

Me: Hello, $Firstname! No need for the card, I know your number is seventeen forty-two. It's been about six months since you've been in, let me get into the computer and get your activity printed.

Him: You know me?

Me: Just by your picture. [idle chatter mode initiated as I wait for the printer]. Say, you've lost about ten pounds. That's down to one-sixty, right? I'll make a note to update your profile.

Him: [shifting uncomfortably] I was really one-eighty but I fudged it, so now it is accurate.

Me: So, how's the insurance business?

Him: You remember that?

Me: [continuing on like a chipper but oblivious robot] Our members are important!

Him: I'll buy you a steak dinner if you can tell me my birthday.

Me: July thirty-first, nineteen forty-four.

I let him off the steak dinner thing.

I am not good with people and it took me a long time to learn that, although people like to be recognized and known to some degree, huge amounts of detail retained over long periods, or remembering even singular encounters with high fidelity freaks some folks out. Somewhere along the line, I had mechanically applied the "remember people's names" advice from books like How to Win Friends and Influence People and must have figured if some is good, more is better, then used the few strengths I had, but instead ended up setting off people's "information asymmetry" threat detection and/or Who Is This Freak.

Now I clamp down and try not to blurt out recognizing someone from decades back, even though I am, like a puppy, happy to see a person from long ago once more. When I make jokes that I am like a golden retriever, I am kidding on the square.

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