Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos's dog story is a reminder about the strength of a dog's memory
Learning how to use associative memory to communicate with your dog
As soon as talk show hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos started the story about how they lost their dog Lena (for about 10 minutes), I shook my head. I could definitely relate. That one story was a combination of all three of my dogs — Shep, Faith and Junee — rolled into one.
Lesson One: In Mark’s case, a gate door was left open. In my case, I learned to always check the garage door.
I was getting ready to walk Faith (a purebred German Shepherd), but I needed to get something out of my car. If my memory serves me correctly, I went into the garage by myself to grab an item from my car and then re-opened the entrance door. But I think I pressed the wrong button, and the garage door started to rise. Without missing a beat, Faith went charging toward the rising garage door, through the alley and headed into the neighbors’ yard across from us — who happened to have their own garage door lifted and were happily BBQing.
I don’t think I have ever run so fast in my life. First, I didn’t know how the neighbors would react to Faith and if they were scared of her. Second, even if they did like her, I didn’t know these people enough to know who the actual residents were and who were guests (and possibly guests who were scared of dogs). Third, Faith was running like a Whippet! All the neighbors saw was a flash of golden and black fur under a garage door, a Black woman ducking under the door and running after this dog, and that same woman leaping to tackle the back and butt of this golden flash running right at them.
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I hugged Faith around the midsection, who immediately stopped and looked at me like, “Can I help you?” I looked up at a bunch of jaws dropping and several pairs of eyes on me, and I immediately started apologizing. One woman let out a loud burst of laughter and said she had seen Faith enough to know not to be scared but had never seen her loose. I scooted Faith away by her collar and realized the lock wasn’t even fastened on the gate. I opened the gate, let Speedy Faithzalez into the yard, grabbed the leash and hooked it. On our way back from the walk, that group was still enjoying the BBQ in their garage. They smiled and waved as the two of us walked by.
Recommended Read: “The accidental dog-napper ~ Tips to find your lost dog, with and without your neighbors”
Lesson Two: In Kelly’s case, Lena found the travel carrier. In my case, Junee has played the Milton Bradley Memory game with everything I own.
Elephants have amazing memories. They can recall where water sources and migration locations are for decades. They can recognize other elephants more than two decades later, and they’re also more likely to recognize a human they encountered quicker than the human may recognize them (assuming it’s not just one elephant to remember).
Recommended Read: “AKA and former VP Kamala Harris reminds Republicans that elephants protect the young and vulnerable ~ History-making Democratic presidential candidate gushes over elephant 'alert circle' at San Diego Zoo Safari Park”
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But dogs have a different kind of memory. They rely on association from smells, sights, emotions and — this is a major one — routines. It never fails. I could stand up to get ready to walk my own dog, and she’ll take her sweet time to stroll to the door to be leashed. But if I stand up to walk a dog via Wag!, she’s yelping and blocking the door immediately. She just knows when she’s not included. I’m used to that.