Do Yorkies Understand the Concept of Time?

[fasteddie]

This news article says that dogs do not understand the concept of time:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...ewpost&t=19773

But I wholeheartedly disagree with that, at least from my experience with Yoda. If I'm gone maybe 5 minutes, or up to 15-20 minutes, Yoda doesn't seem to mind too much. He will come greet me and be happy to see me, but it's a LOT different than if I'm gone for several hours. When I come home after he hasn't seen me for several hours, he gets all happy, jumps for joy, tries to get my attention, and wants to be kissed and held.

When it's only a short time period, he just greets me and says a simple "Hi" and then goes back to doing whatever he was doing, though he still does follow me around for a bit at times.

Thus, my conclusion is that they at least understand the difference between being gone for a short time period, and being gone more than 2 hours. Also, the longer he hasn't see me (like me coming back from a vacation), he wants a lot more love than usual.

Anyone else experience something similar? Or is it that Yoda is just super smart?

[alaskayorkie]

I agree with you. There are dogs that literally pee when they see their owner who has been gone a long time. Eddie doesn't do that, but he's definitely different. His tail wags forever and he's more affectionate.

I don't know if the theory is the same for all animals, but we have a big parrot, a green-winged macaw, that we board for weeks at a time. She goes absolutely nuts when we return, screaming HI!!!!! the second she sees us.

But who knows. Maybe they're just feeding off our emotions. I know I miss my animals bad when I'm away from them.

[Julz]

I believe they understand time from an animal's point of view, not a human's (which seems silly to even say). All animals do, so that is crazy to say they don't. They definetly don't need a watch to tell me when it is time for them to eat. Sampson gets down right bossy if his food isn't in his bowl at a certain time every day. They expect certain things at certain times of the day. Of course they aren't going to know when their birthday is or be able to differentiate between 2 and 3 years, but they definetly understand time.

[lickthestar]

That's an interesting question, actually...I'm not sure if Archie understands time or not, or whether he is just reacting to me. For example, I'm more happier to see him after an X # of hours, rather than if I went down to the basement to put in the laundry and came back up. So when I walk in the door, my tone of voice is a little more excited and anticipatory.

But I do know that in terms of routine, dogs do have some sort of internal time clock that tells them...time to eat, time to play, time to sleep. Archie eats everyday at the same time. He plays from 9-10 every night. He wakes up, stretches and looks out the window every morning for 10 minutes. There was a good documentary on Discovery about animals telling time last week.

[SilverStarShado]

I think that they understand time! Yoda will head to the back door when my daughters bus is about 5 minutes from arrival, and will do the same thing when the honey is almost home...He also knows his feeding schedule

[red98vett]

OH YES !! Mine go NUTS if I just check my mail - but when I'm gone for long periods of time - they go super nuts.....They also seem to sense me coming home 10 full minutes before I pull into the driveway - they wait by the door and my husband says he hears whimpering before I'm even near my house....I think they sense far more than we really know.

[rrosenberry]

Not only do they know time , I believe they know days.. Bailey is totally different on weekends,, and weekdays,, for example.. my bf shows up daily at different times... BUT, on Fridays when he shows up... Bailey will see him, get all excited and greet him and walk in his cage. (cause we go out to eat on Fridays.) But, if he shows up on Sunday,, same time, same procedure, BUT, he Doesn't go in his cage,he continues to play... Cracks me up. They know so much,, he never ceases to amaze me.

[eensor]

My dogs start looking for Daddy at around 4:30 everyday! We also had a Beagle mix when I was growing up that went to a neighbor's house for a snack everyday at EXACTLY 6:00! You could've set your watch by him almost!!

[medusa512]

Edgar knows 7:10 (i set alarm for 7:15) b/c that's when it's time for morning bathroom break. and now that he's being really good about holding it he's so excited it's like i own a kangaroo at 630. (i usually come home around 5). then eating and potty after, then play.
at 1030ish he's usually trying to sleep.

i think they know somewhat.
but humans have a natural internal clock also.

[Bendless Love]

This is a bit off topic, but on the "yorkies understanding" theme

I took a behavioral psych class when I was still at Duke, (big mistake). We talked about why humans are special and mentally above other animals. These were 2 of the reasons 1) Humans display personality, while animals do not. 2) Humans are the only animals that have the idea of killing themselves. 3) They lack the ability to think complexly.

Well, I was very adamant about all of those being incorrect. Animals don't have personality? Heck, I've owned 4 dogs, a snake, and a sugar glider. All my dogs had different personalities, and they definitely got depressed. At the time of the class I only had a sugar glider named Raziel, that I had snuck into the dorm, but he was amazing! And, it is a widely known fact in the sugar glider community that they get depressed very easily and if they are depressed they starve themselves to death and/or gnaw themselves to death (especially males). As for the complex thinking, the example I used was Raziel playing with his toys. He had a barrel of monkeys in his cage, and he'd take the monkeys out and string them together arm in arm to make himself a swing. Then when he was done he'd put them back. Now...some children can't get the hang of this idea, but my sugar glider could. To me, that's complex thought. When I told my professor this he simply dismissed it, saying that it was instinct. I asked him if sugar glider parents have underground barrel o' monkey stores that humans don't know about. He didn't like me very much. He also told me that he'd never heard of sugar gliders and they could be fake for all he knew. Oh, and that it was impossible that they commit self-mutilation and suicide, because the book specifically said that didn't happen.

So, that just goes to show you... 35k dollar a year schools are not always the best. In fact, out of the 2 years I was there I had 3 good professors (out of about 20). I decided to leave...I was on scholarship, but the idiocy of the staff was outrageously obvious. My engineering professor started almost every class with an "oops, how did that porn get on my computer?" presentation on the big screen. Anyhow, now I'm at UF and they are much more knowledgable. Again...super off topic. Sorry.

[mustangbee]

I think Princess knows time, She wakes up every morning for a tummy rub at 3:00, at 5:00 it's time to get up, 6:00 wake the kids for school. Then we have fun all day, 1:00 go get the kids, 4:00 take the kids to swim pratice, 6:00, time for dinner, and 9:00 time for LaLa Land. At 5:30 everyday she sits in the windowbox looking for Daddy, she knows he's on his way home. On the weekends, she knows the kids are home so she sleeps in till 6:00, so yea, I think she knows time, because if she didn't, I'd be late everyday!

[centralnewyorki]

I'm with Julz- I think that they understand time, but not like we do. Olivia knows the difference between a short amount of time, a long amount of time, and a really long amount of time. I take my lunch really late, and she's just as excited to see me when I get home from work at 5 as she was to see me three hours before when I came home for lunch. If I run to the store, she's excited, but's it's not the same. However, say you have to crate your yorkie all day- I don't think they know that they were in the cage for a 1/3 of the day. Since, as most YTers have said, their yorkies sleep when they're gone, I think they lose track of time- they could be in there 4 hours or 8 hours and not know the difference. They know they were in there a while, but I don't think they would notice a variation in time from day to day unless it was significant.

My mom said that her dogs are getting thrown off schedule because it's getting darker so much earlier. They usually eat dinner around 5:30, and she said that now they start getting antsy at around 4:30. Anyone else experiencing this?

[chewysmom]

I also think they do understand the concept. Every morning at 7:20 AM, Chewy barks to be let out of his cage after he wakes up and then every night at 11 PM he trots into my room and just goes and lays in his bed. It's like clockwork and it never changes.

[LoveMyBaby]

i totally agree.. i was trying to do an experiment with this whole time concept and i on the dot used to feed Chicle at 7 but lately ive been feeding him close to 8 now.. and boy does he know .. he has that look of UMMM HELLO Y ARENT YOU FEEDING ME EARLY?? maybe its the whole repetition that he get used to .. that whole article just got me thinking like y are ppl trying to underestimate dogs intellegence ..
i totally understand that they cant think like us ... and i guess we do sometimes try to make them rationalize like we do .. but everyday i learn something new about my baby that makes me not so convinced about that article...
am i just rambeling here ?? lol or do you guys sorta understand where im coming from??

[yorkieusa]

Well, my family always told me that when it was time for me to come home for lunch everyday that Muffin would go to the front door and lay there and wait for me. They said she did the same thing every evening and if I didn't come home at the usual time every evening that she would go into the room they were in and look up at them as if to say, "Where's mom?" She also had her meal times down pat and if I didn't feed her right on time then she came and barked at me!