Following on from the post regarding memory...

Molly will leave a stick when she becomes interested in another exciting smell/activity but then a field or two later will sprint to the exact location of where she put the stick and sprint back to us.

Now I don't want her doing this (as i think she wonders a tad far, we are working on recall constantly) but the determination/memory does impress me. She knows exactly where she is going when she runs back.

We used to walk through the same field each morning where she found a rotten rabbit (it was mainly bones and dried out skin/fur-she tried to play fetch with it) and every walk she would systematically scan the field in order to find the new position of said rotten rabbit, the field was big! Most days she was successful.

Does anyone elses dog do anything like this?! Just wondered.

Yes. It is quite normal for them. Mine unfortunately remember each house that has a dog in the backyard that comes to the fence as we walk by. They "look" for the dogs every single time and that can also be a challenge. You have to change the routine but sometimes the instinct/memory is fantastic. Sometimes we never really know what is going on but something triggers and there is relationships they remember quite well.

Yes, we play seek games in the wood, needs 2 of you, one to disappear off with said stick/toy (or rabbit in your case ), and hide it, then to let Moo go track, its great stimulation and as Molly enjoys it it also keeps them focused

Great idea to make it into a game The only issue I have at present is I never know when the lovely madam is going to balt because she 'forgot' to bring her toy with her!!

Moo see's a squirrel and vanishes for minutes! The joy (as long as they are safe) Xx

Loki knows what house has the over-excitable Border Collie that barks at every dog that walks past, knows what places the cats wander around in, knows where the bones are usually thrown about in the field, etc. So yeah, it's a case of trying to also remember and beat them to it

My parents dobermann goes absolutely nuts for squirrels - full pace charge!

I can't help but be majorly impressed when she runs off to fetch her stick!

Clever little things Xx

Yes Logan does thing like that too. He is really good at hide n seek and picked up up in a few hours. Maybe something in the breed because I could never do anything like that with dogs before?

Also, great idea to make it a game!

This is not quite finding a stick again but still using memory. Rocky always remembers exactly where he has seen rabbits before and will go bonkers a day or two later if he sees them there again. He knows where they should be and scans the area for them again.

Dempsey's a pain in the a*se when he sniffs out a really good smell! I'll take him away from it & carry on walking for an hour or even more, but on the way back he'll home in on it without fail!

Rupes is also good at hide and seek. I say "where is it?" and he goes nuts - he is not a quitter. I thought all dogs did that.

Memory - I think there's the extra dimension of their incredible sense of smell. I don't think it is possible to imagine what life would be like if you had a dog's nose. I find it fascinating when Rupert goes back to find something he left behind - the way he does it. It's very different from how a human being would do it - sort of circling with his nose but from very far away, homing in on it. Perhaps smells make imprints on their brains and that forms part of their memory in a way it only vaguely does ours. Maybe one part of the field smells really different from another bit. I've never met a blind dog - I would be interested to find out to what extent their sense of smell helps them to get their bearings/remember things.

Before I adopted Milton, I was walking him near the rescue centre. There was a stick in the road, so I picked it up and tossed it into the hedge. He went towards it but never got to it, and we went back a different way. Two days later, when I next went up there and took him out, I'd forgotten about the stick but he went straight to it and came and dropped it at my feet I was pretty impressed!

squirrel havens and cat havens are all fondly remebered by my 2