A 1994 study “demonstrated that offspring recognize the scent of their mother … after 2 years of continuous separation.” Other researchers later showed “that dogs recognize the scent of their mothers after 6 years, and, possibly, as long as 10 years after separation.”
Dogs will remember their mothers and their siblings, mainly if they are still relatively young. Sadly, there is not much you can do about it. However, if you try to build up your dog's bond, you will eventually become their new family. This means that while the memory may remain, they won't miss them as much.
So even up until the point of two months of age, these little puppies will still be the shadow of their mother, following her around. They will remember her by scent and even behavior, identifying a more protective and interactive figure than other members of the household.
A good mother should correct and encourage." But puppies don't stay with their mothers forever. If a puppy is separated too young, it can have issues, including separation anxiety. Even if it isn't taken away too young but is kept isolated from other animals, it will lose valuable socialization time.
The results of these two experiments clearly show that young puppies recognize their own mother and littermates, and it also shows that this recognition is based upon scent cues.
So as long as a dog can smell, has healthy eyes, and can hear, they will most likely remember you no matter how long you've been out of their life. If you are wondering if your dog misses you while you're gone they don't have any knowledge of time but can experience separation anxiety.
Puppies Completely Depend on Their Mother
Because they are born unable to see, hear, or walk, puppies are completely dependent on their mother, and these first few weeks are extremely crucial.
So, yes, a puppy can definitely think of you as his “mother” — that is, his provider and protector — and develop as strong an emotional bond with you as if you were blood-related. Your puppy will also quickly learn to pick you out among strangers, both by sight and through his powerful sense of smell.
However, canines can figure out the gist of what we want and gather a lot of information from our body language, tone of voice, the rhythm of our voice and intonation of speech. What your dog hears when you talk to him is his favorite melody – your voice.
The frequent whining, howling, and barking or having the puppy constantly underfoot may be trying, but keep in mind that your new puppy has just been separated from the safety and security of everything he's ever known. Being nervous after leaving his mother is perfectly natural.
A dog will not forget you. A dog can remember someone his entire life. It's safe to say that your dog will not forget you after two weeks, a month, or even if you are gone for many years.
Research suggests that dogs are able to recognize their siblings and their parents later in life as long as they spent the first 16 weeks together. Intuitively, the less time dogs spend with their families as puppies, the less likely it is they'll be able to recognize a family member later on.
Although dogs can't identify themselves in the mirror, they still have some level of self-awareness and ace other self-recognition tests. They can recognize their own odor, and recall memories of specific events, Earth.com reports.
If your dog has a birthday, you might wonder if you should celebrate it. Indeed, dogs don't have the same concept of time as humans. They're not likely to remember their birthdays or even know that they're having one. However, there are plenty of reasons you'd want to throw your dog a party on their special day.
"Yes, your dog knows how much you love him! Dogs and humans have a very special relationship, where dogs have actually hijacked the human oxytocin bonding pathway that is normally reserved for our babies. When you stare at your dog, both your oxytocin levels go up, the same as when you pet them and play with them.
Memory Span
"Dogs forget an event within two minutes," reported National Geographic, citing a 2014 study performed on various animals from rats to bees. Other animals have long-term memories, such as dolphins, but dogs don't seem to have a long-term memory that lasts much beyond those two minutes.
In general, Bray says dogs probably think about all the staples in their lives, from food and play to other dogs and their pet parents. Like humans, how much time they spend pondering a specific focus “depends on the dog and their individual preferences and experiences,” she notes.
Dedicated to the core, they went on to show that the dog olfactory system contains hydrogen sulphide-responsive cells. This proved, at the molecular level, that dogs have the capacity to detect their own farts.
Dogs communicate with us all day long, and whether we know it or not, we're talking right back to them through a variety of verbal and nonverbal cues. In fact, a recent study concluded that there are 19 different signals that dogs use to talk to us.
Why do dogs like to sleep with you? If your pup likes to sleep with you, it means they feel secure and comfortable with you. When your dog was a puppy, they cuddled up with their littermates for warmth and comfort, so now they want to do the same with their people.
And what the studies show is welcome news for all dog owners: Not only do dogs seem to love us back, they actually see us as their family. It turns out that dogs rely on humans more than they do their own kind for affection, protection and everything in between.
How cute is that? While our dogs may look a little bit different than human children, this study shows that their feelings towards us are similar. Just like human children, our dogs look to their “parents” to provide them with feelings of security and reassurance when exploring their environment.
But most dogs tend to bond to the person who gives them the most attention. For example, in a family with two parents and two kids, the dog may favor the parent who fills their bowl every morning and takes them for a walk every evening.
Like humans, dogs are especially impressionable as their brains develop, so puppies up to 6 months old are in their key socialization period. Like their human counterparts, dogs develop favorite people over time based on positive experiences and positive associations with that person.
Mother dogs will form a bond with each of their puppies and recognize them as individuals. Mothers can even recognize their offspring up to two years after they have been removed from her care! So every mother has the potential to feel upset by the loss of her puppies.