Today in slightly unsettling news, your dog is totally clocking your every move
You know that slightly creepy thing where your dog follows you around? You know, quietly watching every single thing you do? That thing is about to start feeling a LITTLE bit creepier.
As NPR reports, a study with 17 dogs was recently conducted in which scientists found that a doggie could remember and mimic their owner’s actions up to an hour later.
Claudia Fugazza, author of the study and animal behavior researcher at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, told NPR that she decided to test dogs memories of events via a training technique she invented called “Do As I Do.”
Basically how it works is dogs learn to observe their owners actions, then repeat them when given the command “Do it!” And, as Fugazza explains, this study definitely indicates that your pup is watching you VERY closely
"If you ask a dog to imitate an action that was demonstrated some time ago, then it is something like asking, 'Do you remember what your owner did?' "
As Victoria Templer, a behavioral neuroscientist at Providence College, explains to NPR, the fact that our dogs pay such close attention to us is kind of a mixed blessing.
"They're so tuned into human cues, which can be a good thing.But it also can be a disadvantage and make it very difficult, because we might be cuing dogs when we're totally unaware of it."
So does this mean our pups have episodic memory just like us humans? Well, as Fugazza sees it, probably not.
"Episodic memory is traditionally linked to self-awareness, and so far there is no evidence of self awareness in dogs and I think there is no method for testing it."
Don’t worry, science assures us that we have plenty of other things in common with our pups. Like, for example, the ability to love.
You know, that’s probably why your dog is clocking your every move. Because they just love you THAT MUCH. Cuuuuuute.