Millions of abandoned or stray dogs end up in shelters every year and the lucky ones get adopted by good-hearted new owners who might ponder whether their new pooch remembers his previous master. It actually depends on the dog, but some evidence seems to suggest that they really do remember.
Probably the most well-known story on this matter is the tail about Argos, from Homer’s classic “The Odyssey”. Argos waited 20 years for his beloved master to come back from his travels around the world, and when his long-lost owner finally returned, Argos only had enough strength to show the appreciation, wag his tail a bit and then die in peace.
This famous pooch became a strong symbol of dog’s love and faithfulness toward his master.
Her study in “Applied Animal Behavior Science” shows that the longer dogs are left alone by their master, the more intense they greet their owners.
When it comes to the comparison of dog vs. human memory, the situation is a bit different.
Unlike dogs, humans perceive time through “episodic memory,” using artificially created measures of time, like minutes and hours, to distinguish events. We tend to place situations or feelings by relating them to other events. Dogs, however, can realize how much time has passed only since the event occurred. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that dogs don’t remember the past, or events and people from their past.
Dog’s memory records past events for other reasons, too. It’s believed they remember what they need to remember in order to survive. The memory of a certain event can also be induced by fear, thus they remember unpleasant or dangerous circumstances from their past in order to avoid having similar situations again in the future.
They also have a type of ‘survival memory’ which is connected to remembering owners and those people with whom dogs feel safe and protected. So, if his previous owner was good-hearted and kind to him, the dog probably remembers him.