Does Your Dog Have a Concept of Time?

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There are some senses and skills that humans and animals share, and others that they do not. Comparing the similarities and differences between dogs and humans is a fascinating subject. One question that you may have asked yourself if you are a dog owner is if dogs have a sense of time in the same way as humans? So, let’s take a look at this interesting topic.

Can a Sense of Smell Help with a Sense of Time?

Surprisingly, a dog’s sense of smell is linked to their ability to understand time. Smell is one of a dog’s superpowers and it is so good that humans are now using dogs to detect the smell of cancer in patients. Dogs can recognize the smell of their owners, even when they are not in the same room. When their owner leaves the house, a dog can still smell its owner’s scent. Over time, the scent gradually fades, and your dog has a rough idea of how long you have been gone based on the strength of the smell. It also means that they can predict you coming home. If you have a daily routine where you leave the house and return home at the same times each day, your dog will gradually learn the strength of the smell when you leave and return. This is an indicator they use to predict your options.

Can Dogs Measure Differences in Time?

While dogs use smell to know that time has passed, do they have an understanding of the different amounts of time? According to the results of a study from Applied Animal Behavior Science, it is possible that they do. The study involved comparing the behavior of an animal when their owner returned home. The dogs were left for two separate periods during the study; once for 30 minutes and then again for two hours. The longer the dogs were left, the more enthusiastic and energetic the dogs were when their owners returned home. This indicated that the dogs understood the difference in the periods of time. Clearly, dogs cannot tell the time, so how can they understand this?

Dogs, like humans, have a circadian rhythm, which is also known as a 24-hour biological clock. Both dogs and humans respond to light and dark in the same way and these changes help us to organize our understanding of time. Just like humans, dogs are affected by changes in time if they travel and find it difficult to adapt. William Roberts, a psychologist from the University of Western Ontario, has said that dogs can also use cues to keep track of the time. For example, they may notice the position of the sun at different times of the day. Other indicators are your behaviors that are part of your normal routine, such as putting on your coat or picking up your bag when you are leaving the house.

Do Dog Years Relate to Time?

When talking about the age of a dog, people often refer to dog years. Typically, the age of a dog is considered seven years for every human year. However, this is simply a way of explaining the aging process of dogs. In fact, this method is not very accurate as dogs actually age more in the first year of their life and the aging process gradually slows down as they get older. It is also important to note that this does not mean that dogs experience seven years in time during one human year.

So, Do Dogs Understand the Concept of Time?

To a certain extent, the evidence seems to show that dogs do have an understanding of time. However, they do not have the same understanding of time as a human. They use lots of cues to understand time passing, including night and day, their sense of smell, their observations of your behavior, and their understanding of routines. It is because of their understanding of time that some dogs develop separation anxiety when you leave the house because they know you are not coming straight home. If this is something from which your dog suffers, then you can help them by giving them toys to entertain themselves with while you are out of the house.