Do Dogs Have Memories and Think about the Future?

I read inside of a dog that they track our movements. How are they doing that? They're really attuned to us all the time. I mean, think of what's happening ordinarily. If you're sitting in a room with your dog, nothing is happening for them. So they notice all the associations between when you get up and you're going to the refrigerator versus when you get up and you're going to get the leash and go for a walk. We're moving differently, right? As anyone who sat in the corner of your room and studied you could start to tell. That you move differently when you're going to the refrigerator or you're going to get something out of the closet than you do when you're going to get ready to go for a walk. Right, our intentions are in our movement, right? And the dog senses that. Yes, they're great observers. I wish we'd be better observers of them, but they're great observers. Aren't they great observers because they're so fully present? Yeah, yes. They, I mean, sometimes people like to say, well, dogs just live in the moment. I mean, I do think they have a real feeling of their past. They have memories and they think about the future, but they're great observers of the moment. Okay, okay. You just said you do think they have. So do they have memories of their past? Do they think about the future? Yeah, yeah, they absolutely do. It's very tricky in animal cognition research to try to ask an animal who's not answering your questions in language, what do you remember? But all of their behavior indicates that they remember episodes, they remember people. Tell me how, tell me how. Well, I mean, does the dog recognize someone when they return home after being absent for a month? Absolutely. They might not recognize them by sight right away, but they'll recognize their smell. Their smell. Yeah, so they're thinking about and know about things that happened in the past. That's right, and if you have ever hit a dog, the dog will, or like I've bought many dogs from the shelter, you raise your hand, the dog cowers because the dog remembers being hit. That's how they learn anything, is learn associations and remember it. So yeah, they'll remember who hit them, that it happens, what preceded it, and how they felt afterward. They remember, you took me to the beach and we had a good time, we going in the water. That's right, or I don't want to go to the vet, and this is the route to the vet. Yeah, and one of the reasons they don't want to go to the vet is because they remember the route to the vet because of the way it smells. Yeah, absolutely, exactly right. They remember the way it smells, and the vet smells a certain way too, right? The veterinary office smells like stress dogs who've been there before. Right, and they're smelling all the stress of all the dogs who've been there. Yeah. Unbelievable, and is that why when we get off the freeway, just even when we're exiting the freeway, I notice, and Sadie's in the back seat, she stands up, and is she smelling things, or does she recognize this is our road? I think all the cues, right? If you turn off the main road, you're slowing down, it's slower, the road might be different under the tires. Suddenly, the air comes in, the window's slightly different, and the smell of every place is distinct, and dogs are good observers of that. You say that simply being closer to the ground, the fact that the dogs are closer to the ground, changes how dogs experience sound, how they experience smell, and even their personal space. I just never thought of it that way before. I think one of the great ways to start thinking about what it's like to be a dog is to just get down on their level, right? Where they're among human knees and ankles and clanking shoes, and sound travels differently down there, right? Yeah. Bounces more, the rumbling of a fan you put on the floor, will be felt. And then, of course, there are all sorts of smells on the ground. Most smells are in the air, and they land on the ground over time, and so it's full of information about who's been there. When the dogs are walking, you see these people pulling their dogs along when their dogs are trying to sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff. Yeah. You're doing the antithesis of what that dog really is going for the walk for. After reading Inside a Dog, I thought, oh, the dogs aren't walking to get exercise. Everybody's trying to get the dogs out to exercise. The dogs are walking for the smell sensation. That's right. It's a smelling universe for them. Exactly, right. The walk is for them, right? Yeah. And we think, oh, we have to make good time. We have to exercise you. You have to go relieve yourself. But as soon as you walk outside, and the world has changed, the scent has changed a little bit. There's evidence who's been there in the past. That's what the dogs want to notice. If there's another dog, they want to sniff that dog, see who they are, where they've been, if they're healthy. So I love to take my dogs on smell walks, where one of the walks just is me letting them sniff whatever they want to sniff for as long as they want. Why do dogs love this? We've all seen this, and my dog does too. When Sadie puts her head out the window, she looks like Farrah Fawcett, I have to say. Why do dogs love sticking their head out the car window? Because when humans do it, we can't breathe all that wind. Why do they love it? I think it's like olfactory fireworks, right? Every smell at once, all at once, which is just like a delicious experience. All those smells at once, that's why they're all grinning when their heads are out the window. It's like, oh, come on, baby, bring it to me, baby, yeah. We have a few dog lovers joining us with questions for Dr. Horowitz. Rachel, hi. Hi, thank you so much for having me. I've enjoyed this conversation thoroughly. So I have never been a dog person. I am married to a man who rolls around on the floor with every dog that he sees. And about two years ago, our daughter came to us and begged us to rescue the sweetest, most scared, but very sick dog. I reluctantly agreed to adopt him, and I spent the next year and a half going to every vet, every specialist, hospitalized him to try to help and make him feel better. And his name is Bo. So Bo has been on his health journey now. He's doing much better for the past six months. But what I've come to realize is that I love him like he is part of my soul, like he is my soul dog, the same way that I feel about my husband. My husband is my soulmate. So my question is, does Bo think that I'm his soulmate or soul person also? And Oprah, I know that you've had 21 dogs. Have you ever had this feeling, this intensity that your soul knows? Oh my God, yes. Rachel, I've had this feeling. So yes, I don't know if... And my soul dog also knew that he was my soul dog. I could start crying right now. I really could. My soul dog was Luke. And I still think of him. And I think when I transition, Luke will be there to greet me on the other side. That's what I think. So yeah, that's what I feel. And I knew he knew. I knew he knew. He knew. Yeah. So Dr. Horowitz, what do you want to say? Yeah, I mean, I've also had, I think, more than one soul dog actually for different times in my life and for different me's in a way, different ways that I was being in the world. And there's a real basis to this, right? Just it's analogous to the child-parent relationship in that dogs feel attachment, just like children feel attachment to their caregivers and they attach to a person or persons. And that connection is the basis of this dog-human bond. And it's a real physical connection. People and dogs, when they are bonded like this, they'll sit together and their heart rhythms synchronize with each other, right? By just looking at each other in the eyes, their oxytocin levels rise. So this is a real experience that you're having. It's not just something that you're concocting, right? And it's the basis of why dogs are so great with people. And how is Beau now? You said he's going through health issues. So for the past six months, he's healthy. People come up to me all the time and tell me they can't believe he's the same dog. So knocking on every veterinarian's door in our town worked. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're going through it with Sadie. I mean, I think we're in the last days of Sadie. And I would have to say, I was on tour in Australia in December and my dog caregiver was like, we don't think she's going to make it. So I rushed home. I thought I was going to have to put her down. And then when I got here, she perked up, you know? But I would have to say that nearing the end and knowing it's the end, because Sadie is 17, so we know we don't have a whole long time, that there's something really quite precious about these days too, because you know you're in the final days. So it's a thing. Enjoy all those years of Beau that you have ahead of you. I want to know, how has Beau enhanced your life? How has he changed you? I'm a different person. I am not the same person that you would have met two years ago. How? How so? How so? I joined my husband rolling around on the floor with all the other dogs. Yay. I actually think it's made my marriage even stronger, because it was a love that he had that I didn't understand. And now I understand how you can love from the bottom of your heart, like really love an animal more than yourself. I always say that one of the great joys of my life has been my dogs. So I am deeply committed to their well-being, just like our friends at The Farmer's Dog. From my golden retrievers to my cocker spaniels, I've had 21 dogs over the years. They remind me to slow down, to be present, and to appreciate the small comforts in life. The Farmer's Dog makes human-grade food for our dogs with real ingredients and minimal processing. To all my fellow dog lovers, you know our beloved companions give us so much, and that is why The Farmer's Dog helps us do our best for them.