I'd imagine it depends on how intelligent the dog is and how clearly you made your disapproval as to whether they'll realise they've done wrong after one instance, or whether it will take multiple instances for them to recognise the pattern that ripping the furniture up will result in them being sent to the dog house.
Do dogs remember doing bad things?
- Thread starter agnes
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I think dog owning simpletons already credit their dogs with displaying emotions, human traits, ESP, numeracy
and intelligence without giving them the capacity for understanding the concept of cause and effect.
Dogs are stupid, they chase their own tails, and eat their own ***** FFS, case closed.
and intelligence without giving them the capacity for understanding the concept of cause and effect.
Dogs are stupid, they chase their own tails, and eat their own ***** FFS, case closed.
Not as stupid as the drunk Scots/northerners
/s
There are a ******** of Humans out there whose behavior is WAaaaay more bizarre than anything that any Dog might ever do..
Attack Helicopter anybody???
Soldato
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This, dogs only work on association so has to be at the time of it doing wrong for it to learn, if u punish it hours later it will think whatever it was doing at the time is wrong.
Regardless
This.
THe dog will have had no idea whatsoever and will just associate the "telling off" with you doing it for no reason.
You essentially need to catch them in the act and tell them off, otherwise you're just telling them off and they don't really know why in general, although some probably realise more than others.
Let it happen again bit next time, put the fluff out and say did you do this? In a normal voice and see how they react
This.
THe dog will have had no idea whatsoever and will just associate the "telling off" with you doing it for no reason.
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However the dog I had in the 80s, the only dog I've had, you could point at something a year later and she would know she did it if the damage was still visible.
Caporegime
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I assume you told her off at the time she didn't though? Which is why she still knew.
100% dogs remember.
We have an elderly Griffon Bruxellois who now suffers with a number of kidney/bladder stones which means she needs to urinate a lot.
Living in Asia we dont have carpets (tiles and marble)so its no big deal if she takes a pee on our floor and we actively encourage it so to ease the pressure on her bladder and to help her try and flush the stones through. We even have a specific diet which is supposed to stimulate urine production.
However she still remembers the lessons from when she was a younger dog in the UK, the shame instilled in her of going to the toilet in the house, and despite trying to teach her otherwise now we have just simply confused her.
We have an elderly Griffon Bruxellois who now suffers with a number of kidney/bladder stones which means she needs to urinate a lot.
Living in Asia we dont have carpets (tiles and marble)so its no big deal if she takes a pee on our floor and we actively encourage it so to ease the pressure on her bladder and to help her try and flush the stones through. We even have a specific diet which is supposed to stimulate urine production.
However she still remembers the lessons from when she was a younger dog in the UK, the shame instilled in her of going to the toilet in the house, and despite trying to teach her otherwise now we have just simply confused her.
Caporegime
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Even older dogs can learn though
Surely a couple of weeks/months of "good girl" and lots of praise/rewards when she does it on the floor will be enough to change that shame behaviour?
Surely a couple of weeks/months of "good girl" and lots of praise/rewards when she does it on the floor will be enough to change that shame behaviour?
You would think....however either we are poor at training or our little girl is a bit thick.
It could be a combination I suppose.
We also have a pug. They are apparently notorious to house train but we had no issues with him. He is also elderly now and has a little bit of arthritis but he will make his way out into the garden to **** his leg when he feels like it.
Just on this point, ive recently had my 8 month old French Bulldog snipped and hes gone from a fairly chilled dog that just wants to go out on walks and sniff and mark everything, to the most crazy playful thing......all he wants to do is play in the garden and run round in circles like a mad thing till he passes out.
But on the main point, Dogs certainly do remember things.......if I ever say "walkies" then hes down in a flash and sits by the door, so he certainly remember that...I just think dogs are a slave to their instincts and have to have their minds occupied or they will get destructive.
It's fairly common knowledge that a dog being disciplined (and this isn't a debate about the level, or what, that discipline should be) should occur within seconds, or during, the act which is deemed "naughty". If for instance your dog had chewed through stuff the moment you left to go out, and 2 hours later upon your return you shout and get angry, he's going to have no idea why.
If you caught him in the act and acted quickly to reprimand, that is the most beneficial time for a dog to "remember" that that was naughty
If you caught him in the act and acted quickly to reprimand, that is the most beneficial time for a dog to "remember" that that was naughty
Soldato
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You essentially need to catch them in the act and tell them off, otherwise you're just telling them off and they don't really know why in general, although some probably realise more than others.
Let it happen again bit next time, put the fluff out and say did you do this? In a normal voice and see how they react
Yep. Looked into this the other day myself and I'm pretty sure I read that they also put on the guilty look as a reaction not because they're guilty at what you had told them unless it was there and then.
I tend to be the stricter out of me and the wife with our dog. If he has done wrong at the time gets a tap on the nose and told no.
If we find he has done something he shouldn't have later on we will keep an eye out encase we do catch him in the act and then tell him no.
I would say our dog remembers being told off in the moment and i do believe this stays with him as he never really does the same thing again but i doubt he understands being scolded later in the day on next.
If we find he has done something he shouldn't have later on we will keep an eye out encase we do catch him in the act and then tell him no.
I would say our dog remembers being told off in the moment and i do believe this stays with him as he never really does the same thing again but i doubt he understands being scolded later in the day on next.
Blackthorne catches a pheasant and hangs it but has to go away. After a few days the smell becomes unbearable and flies are attracted to it. The gardener volunteers to remove it and does so. But because Blackthorne had left an order the nobody was to touch it, the old gardener is punished by death. He raged at Fujiko about it and then:
"He wept because a good man was dead unnecessary and because he now knew that he had murdered him. “Lord God forgive me. I’m responsible — not Fujiko. I killed him. I ordered that no one was to touch the pheasant but me. I asked her if everyone understood and she said yes. I ordered it with mock mavity but that doesn’t matter now. I gave the orders, knowing their law and knowing their customs. The old man broke my stupid order so what else could Fujiko-san do? I’m to blame.”
They remember behaviour but you cannot punish a dog for something it has done in the past. For behvaiour control to be effective the stimulus and output for operant conditioning needs to be as little as two seconds apart. I.e for your stern words, or punishment to be connected as punishment to the act of tearing up the cushions it has to happen as little two seconds after, certainly within 10 seconds. The dog has no idea why its being punished if you leave much bigger gaps and may become fearful of the person punishing it rather than reduce the undesirable behvaiour.
There is a lot of research out there, I had to write a paper on types of training a while back.
There is a lot of research out there, I had to write a paper on types of training a while back.
Caporegime
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Maybe it depends on breed but my Collie can pin point when either the wife or I are due to come back from work. She will sit on the bay window and look out the window without fail. She also knows when she has done something wrong as we train it out of her.