How much can your dog remember? This question is important for both training purposes and for gaining a deeper understanding of your Labrador’s memory. Let’s dive in and discover exactly how your dog’s memory works.
How Many Commands Can A Lab Remember?
According to most recent studies, dogs can remember more commands than you would probably care to teach them. Labradors are intelligent and the lab retriever typically falls in the top ten dog breeds when they are rated by intelligence. As such, a lab can probably learn more than 160 words and cases of them remembering 220 different commands have been found. It’s important to realize this doesn’t mean that the lab can only learn 160 commands. In reality, the dog can also learn non verbal commands as well so the actual number could be significantly higher than this. If you know how to use positive reinforcement training, you can train your lab retriever to do a number of remarkable things and change them from a family pet into a working dog.
How Long Does It Take For A Dog To Forget A Person?
Dogs will not typically forget their owner or someone that they have formed a close bond within their lifetime. There are countless studies and stories that prove this to be the case. For instance, dogs have been known to remember their old owner after being apart or lost for eight years. Adopted dogs remember their old owner when they come and see them and dogs will even wait by the grave of a previous owner. Even after the owner dies, a dog will remember and in some cases will wait for them to return. Whether you have a chocolate lab, black lab, yellow lab or silver lab the level of memory will only change slightly.
Some breeders have the focus to breed their lovely labs for intelligence. Those who selectively mate for intelligence end up producing Labrador puppies who are progressively at the top of their class in terms of being a breed of dog who is working full time. The smarter ones chosen to breed to other smarter ones from their respective litters end up producing a great dog who is normally ready to work by 18 months old.
How is this possible? At this point, it is worth noting that dogs do not have a long-term memory in the same way that we do. We can remember specific events for massive periods but dogs can’t. Instead, dogs have an associative memory. This means that their brain holds an image or circumstance from the past and they can use these to understand a point in the present or the future.
If for instance, a dog was hit by a car and survived, they wouldn’t remember the incident of being hit by the car. They would, however, be wary of cars in the future and might be nervous around them. They will associate the vehicle with a negative occurrence, even if they can’t remember why. In contrast, associative memory can also be linked to positive occurrences. For instance, if a stranger is particularly friendly to your dog when they see them again, it might seem like they recognize them. In reality, their associative memory is causing them to associate something like the smell of that person with a positive occurrence of the past. You can use this associative memory in order to build trust and a willingness to please with your happy puppy.
This is precisely why a dog will remember you or someone they have connected with for years. This is based on how that person made them feel or how they were treated. It’s why a dog will greet you like you saw them yesterday when in reality it might have been several years. It is also why some labs and lab mixes may growl at certain people when they see them again. If a dog has had an uncomfortable or even abusive experience with a person they may remember and associate the person with the unpleasant event and growl or even challenge that person when they see them. This could also happen if a person looked similar or dressed similar to someone who caused the unpleasant experience.
Why Is Associative Memory In Labradors Important?
Associative memory doesn’t just provide a reason why a dog remembers their owners throughout their life. It also points to an important lesson about training, scolding, and punishment. If you catch a dog in the act of doing something wrong like chewing your slipper, you can use the command ‘no.’ Or even ‘bad dog’ and the dog will understand if trained, that what they are doing is wrong. They will stop and may even cower, or from a human perspective, appear remorseful or guilty.
On the other hand, if you find a destroyed slipper and confront or punish your dog, they won’t understand. They won’t remember destroying the slipper and thus the punishment or scolding is completely pointless. You will only confuse and possibly frighten your dog. It is because of this reason and type of memory they have that positive reinforcement training is much more successful than presenting negative consequences to your Labrador for doing things they shouldn’t be. I have a saying, if you get into your car and tell your gps where to go it will take you there. You don’t tell your gps all the places where you don’t want to go. It is a good idea to treat your Lab the same way. The Labrador Retriever is a popular dog because of their even temperament and their level of intelligence, however if you don’t understand how they think and their limits to memory you may not be successful activating their best qualities.
Do Dogs Remember Places?
Again, this is about associative memory not long term memory as we would typically understand it. For this scenario, let’s consider the vet. Some labs love the vet, potentially because they might get a treat, but others hate it. Many dogs find getting things like injections or being in close vicinity to other dogs incredibly stressful. You might take your Labrador to the vet in a car. If that’s the case, then they may grow to dislike the car because they will associate it with the unpleasant sensations of the vet. They aren’t actually remembering that’s where you are taking them. But they know that the car is in some way related to a negative experience. So be sure to provide positive experiences around going to the vet and going for a car ride. One idea is to leave 15 minutes early and stop at a park for a walk, maybe some fetching and some other fun. If you mix it up your Labrador will associate the car ride with a mixture of things and be more accepting to visiting the Vet on future trips.
What Determines How Long Dogs Remember?
It’s difficult for experts to know exactly how far back Labrador retrievers can recall. However, studies have suggested that the duration of recollection is based on the strength of the emotion. For instance, a dog is more likely to remember being abused for years rather than being left outside in the rain. A dog is also far more likely to remember an owner that has loved and fed them for years, compared to one who only knew them for a couple weeks. So when picking up your new Labrador retriever puppy, try to understand that it will take some time for you to create these positive memories with your new puppy. Otherwise known as bonding with your puppy, you are creating experiences that build slowly over time and strengthen the bond of trust your lab has with you.
What about puppies, do puppies remember you? Studies suggest that the time when a lab is a pup is the most important duration for long term memory development. In the early days, Labrador retriever puppies are continuously learning new information that will shape their understanding of the world and how they respond to certain stimuli for years. The best time to use this to your advantage is when your puppy is between 8 and 16 weeks old. During this time they are eager to learn and please you.
What About Short Term Memories?
Dogs do have short term memories and studies suggest that labs can remember memories in the short term for about twenty seconds or up to five minutes. After this, the memory is lost. That’s why training must be reinforced and conditioned over time to associate certain commands with positive rewards. Because of these limits to memory training should be limited to a small number of different commands you are working on. You also need to be clear with your command saying it only once while being sure that your body language is reinforcing what you are saying not contradicting it.
Can You Change A Dog’s Negative Memories?
If you’re worried that your lab has a long term negative memory, you can take action. For instance, if they are scared of the vet, then you can take them to the vet for a happy visit. Instead of always taking them for an appointment, let them get treats, greet the staff or get a new toy. This will help associate the place with happy memories instead and the dog will be less stressed during future trips. Yes we know this takes time and work. It is however this commitment to the time and work it takes to care for and train an animal that will result in your Lab puppy growing into a well mannered, social, stable large dog.
We hope this helps you understand how much a Labrador can remember and how their memory actually works. From here you may wish to explore the question “do dogs know they don’t know?” We wish you well in your K9 journey!
