Dogs and Time.....

I have always thought and always been told that dogs have no sense of time.

Is this true? I've been told they cant tell the difference between 5 mins and 5 hours. Is this right?

I always feel guilty when I leave Shadow on her own, and especially now when my office moves and she'll be on her own for 9.5hrs a day. Will she realise how long she's been on her own?

Its weird cos shadow always seems to know what time lee is home form work, cos she starts whining by the living room door and pacing by it, and when I come home lunch time she's always waiting by the kitchen door, fair enough she may hear the front door going, but in the evenings when i come home she's always by the garage door, and I know its not cos she hears the car, because one day I came throught the front door instead of the garage, and she was still waiting at the garage door.

So if they have no concept of time, how does she know when I'll be home form work?

I never heard of that but I heard that dogs can tell a schedule. For example I feed Belly dinner at exactly 7pm and around that time, she's already at her bowl, whining for food She also wakes up and goes to sleep at the same exact time so I think they can tell time.

I don't think that's true. Skye definitely knows when it's time for a walk.

I think that whole business about dogs not having a concept of time passing is bushwa - brought to us by the same kind of people who would have us believe that creatures have no true emotions (love, happiness, grief, etc.), no cognitive capabilities, no memories and only humans have a 'soul.'

Fools, in other words

I don't think its true My dogs definatly know which each of their activities are during the day.

Sawyer can most definitely tell time. He knows when he's been swimming for exactly an hour, when it's time to get fed and when I usually go to work. They don't think of it in exact numerical terms of course, but I think they can tell when a certain amount of time has passed.

Yes, I think they can too. Even my cat who sleeps all day long is in the window watching for me every weekday when I come home or for the first one home. And Brady knows when it is bedtime too.

Tank can tell time, he just looks at the clock on the cable box and knows when to switch the channels back and turn the tv off . I usually come home the same time every day and if I'm running late there is a huge head in the window watching for me. At a minute past 5:30 I am reminded that its time for dinner, if the TV is on he will sit right in front of it and if not then he walks up to me and starts woooooo'ing.
Wooo'ing, its a Malamute thing.

Daisy wakes up EVERY day at 5:30. Sometimes 5:35 if we are lucky but she is consistent. It doesn't matter when they go to bed or if we let them out during the night, at 5:30 she is ready to be up and start her day!

can i just say (sorry off topic i know) how much shadow looks like my borris, thats kind of crazy!

she does look like borris, colourings almost the same too, but shadow has a bit of brindle in her coat. Borris is a gorgeous looking staff, but I would say that cos he looks like shadow! But no seriously, he is really hansome.

I agree that dogs have a sense of time.

When I lived with my grandparents for awhile, after grandma died, grandpa asked me to stay for awhile. I got a job working 11-7. Everymorning I'd be home by 7:30, everymorning sitting at the back door with his ball was grandpa's dog. Grandpa said every morning at 7 the dog would go get the ball and run to the back door where he would sit there watching the door until I came home. Had grandpa not told me this I would have assumed the dog just heard me pull up and ran to that door. That's not the case at all.
Gracie is the best alarm clock, 7:30, breakfast! No sleeping in, everyone up! Now she's starting to act like she knows what time we take our evening walks. She'll bark at me to come, then take me to the front door. Every night at 9:30 she is ready for bed. They have a sense of time.