# Vizslas Understand Time?



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

About a week ago, someone make mention that dogs do not relate to time like we do. That they only live in the present. ("8 hours in a crate is the same as 2 hours to a dog" was the example I recall.) It has bothered me since reading it and thought I'd do a bit of research. Here is an article about dogs and separation from owners and time. Thought it was worth sharing.

http://animal.discovery.com/guides/...r/do-dogs-understand-the-concept-of-time.html

I was home with a tough flu that had me laid up for a couple days. I normally get home around 4pm and walk the dogs. But here I was at home and the dogs just couldn't understand why we didn't head out walking. The sun was out, the air was clear. Perfect days. Bailey lives on the bed the whole time when I am ill, and would only leave to eat, drink some water and relieve himself. He "watched over me". Chloe checks in every once in a while but hangs out in the living room or outside.

I think intelligent dogs can understand time in a different but similar way we do (as the article talks about above).

Just my .02 now that I feel alive again and can get the dogs back out into the hills!

RBD


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## SuperV (Oct 18, 2011)

Hey RBD, it was I who made that statement about a dog's sense of time. If you are interested, this was the book that I read and where I got that bit of info from. Its not a bad read...not saying its all accurate or true but its worth the read to get someone's perspective on things...

http://insideofadog.com/index.php

Nate


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

RBD 
I thought the same thing.
Cash starts getting a prance in his step at 5:30 every evening. Then he is just down right excited.
His best buddy (my husband) comes in the door at 6:00.
I may get sidetracked and not realize what time it is but Cash doesn't.


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## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Our pups are smarter than we think.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2276973/Your-dog-really-does-understand--Theyre-likely-steal-food-think-research-reveals.html

I always try to limit crate time to a maximum of 3 hours. I think if your dog is going to be in the crate for the majority of the day every day... why get a dog? Walk your neighbor's dog. 

Just my opinion, take it or leave it.


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

when I get in from work, Ruby knows that the boys will be back from school soon after and gets on the sofa to look out of the window for them getting home. Pavlov's Dog syndrome perhaps?? No, if I take the day off work at 3:15 pm she gets on the sofa and looks out the window..


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Willie seems to have a pretty clear sense of time, too... but not "Daylight Saving Time". For him, bedtime is when the sun goes down, not when the clock says so.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Mine have an interesting perception of time. All day hunting is A split second and 30 seconds at home doing nothing is an eternity.........


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## Penny (Sep 22, 2011)

Straying off the point slightly.... I am at home with Penny every day but often pop out to run errands at various times of the day, with no particular routine to them. We live in the city, on a very busy street, and Penny is always at the front window waiting for me when I come back. It's not that she waits there for me the whole time I am out, because my mother has been there several times and told me that she would go to the front window a few minutes before I arrive home. Could she know the sound of my car above all the other cars, sirens and general noise of a city? I'm sure there is a rational scientific answer to this, but sometimes it feels just a bit uncanny!!! Anyone else experience this?


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Yes they can know the sound of your car. Mine do. They will all go sit at the front door before the truck is even in the drive way.


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## SuperV (Oct 18, 2011)

The lady who wrote the book I read, provided the explanation that the dog knows the kids(or whoever) are coming home before you do often because they can hear the vehicles before us humans can see or hear the vehicle. They also associated the "time" of day by environmental factors that are very clear to them (not to humans) and use that as the que to associate an activity/event. 

For instance, if someone comes home, or a walk always happens at sundown, the dog doesn't know when sundown is like we do. The dog doesn't respond to that question with "sundown is in a couple of hours and then I get to go for a walk or my owner comes home" like we would. She suggests the dog recognizes environmental ques such as decreased light, change in temp, and different odors that are stronger/weaker as the temp/humidity change. When these things happen in the right combination, the dog knows what's coming much like the sound of the treat bag being opened, even though he is in another room. They learn our routines, but remember them by environmental ques, not the clock on the wall... 

The other side of that question is....does a dog know how long it will be before that will happen? 

It is interesting topic for sure. I read a few articles last night that that refer to studies that suggest the dogs have some sense of passage of time: Here is an excerpt from one: (webpage: https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/do-dogs-know-how-long-weve-been-gone )

"...researchers Therese Rehn and Lindsay Keeling for doing a study, published in Applied Animal Behavior Science, that attempts to answer that question. (“The Effect of time left alone at home on dog welfare,” Vol 129, 2011) In brief, they recorded the behavior of dogs left by their owners for 30 min, 2 hours and 4 hours, and found that if the dogs had been left alone for 2 or 4 hours they greeted their owners with more ‘intensity,’ and were more active and attentive, than when the duration of separation had only been 30 minutes. However, there was no statistical significance between the dogs behavior if left alone for 2 or 4 hours."


I personally don't know the answer, but it is certainly an interesting discussion topic!

Nate


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

I buy what SuperV wrote..

That may explain why I was able to be successful with my dog. 
Long time ago, years ago, on a dog seminar, trainer mentioned something like don't become predictable in your routines. 
I have adhered to ever since. Never gave it a second thought, just become a subconscious part of my life around our dogs.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

SuperV,

I'm glad you engaged in the discussion. I find this kind of stuff a key to trying to understand our dogs. 

The more we think we know, it seems, the more find out we really don't know. 

Einstein on the subject of time:

*“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity.”*
Albert Einstein quotes (German born American Physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity.) 
RBD


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## Big Rick (Apr 14, 2009)

I usually feed our guys about 4:30 every evening and when it gets close, sometimes about 4, Scarlet will sit in front of me and stare for a while. In a bit she'll start rooing (I know you all know what that is) and won't stop until I feed her. In the mornings they wake me up about 7:15 - 7:30 every day. I let them out and when they come back in they go back to bed because they know I like to sleep in. (Retirement is great). Then a little after 8 they wake me again and then it's time for breakfast.

In other words, I'm pretty sure they know what time it is most of the time.


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## SkyyMax (Apr 5, 2012)

Our dogs understand time, but Skyy also knows the day of the week - specifically Friday!

My husband leaves town on Friday night and always takes Skyy with him (she is his girl), Max and I join them on Saturday.

Somehow Skyy knows - when my husband returns home from work on Friday, she is prancing, dancing and whimpering _before_ he even walks inside! She never acts like this during the week, except on Fridays!


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## maplevizsla (Oct 26, 2012)

My guys understand time - even when hubby is off some days, he says at 4pm they go to the window and wait. Titan gets up every morning just about the same time, he wants to go out for his pee! And at dinner time, they start cruising around their bowls.


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