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

[7aMoDi]

The findings could have implications for understanding the evolution of human language, say experts. Photograph: Biology Letters

 

Dog owners may have trouble remembering which toy is Mr Squeaky, but such names can be seared into the memory of their pets, researchers have found. Scientists previously discovered some dogs have a remarkable ability to learn the names of toys, with a border collie known as Chaser having learned the labels of more than 1,000 objects.

Now researchers have discovered some dogs can remember the name of a toy even when they have not seen it for two years. Shany Dror of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, the first author of the study, said the results showed such dogs stored object names in their long-term memory, rather than simply having their memory refreshed by their owners through frequent play with the item.

Dror added the findings could have implications for understanding the evolution of human language, given memory is one of its many components. “Why is language uniquely human? To understand that, we need to understand what parts of language are available in other animals in which part are not,” she said.

 

Some dogs had a success rate of up to 60%, researchers say. Photograph: Whisky the dog/Helge O Svela

 

The experiment was carried out twice for each dog, and was also repeated for four of the dogs using their remaining test toys. The results reveal that, overall, the dogs picked the correct toy 44% of the time on average – with some having a success rate of up to 60%. These figures, the researchers add, are far above the level expected by chance. The results were driven by the prowess of four dogs, with these canines remembering the names of between three and nine of their test toys. The team stress that just because some dogs can learn object names, not every canine can do so, with the factors behind the skill still unclear. However, Dror noted dogs with the talent often had owners who spent a lot of time engaging with them. “The more you invest in your dog, the more you will get back from the relationship,” she said.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/sep/04/dogs-remember-names-toys-years-study-pets-memory