Would your dog remember you if you were separated for five years?

[Pat and Traveler]

I recently saw a movie about the Akita dog named Hachiko who waited every day outside the train station for his owner to arrive home from work.  The dog continued to wait every day for over nine years after his owner died.

And there's Greyfriars Bobby, who spent every night for 14 years, regardless of weather, sleeping on his master's grave.

What if, after five years or so, the owners appeared?  Would the dogs really  remember them, or had the waiting simply become routine, a pattern that started out with meaning but morphed into nothing more than daily habit?

There are many stories about joyous reunions between owners and dogs that have been separated for a year or so, many having to do with military personnel who have been deployed overseas.  But what about those bigger chunks of time?  Would our dogs remember us for five years, or longer?  That's a very long time, in dog years.

According to the internet, most people believe that yes, if there's been a strong bond, the dog will remember.  But confirmation is hard to find. 

There's a video of a woman who'd been in prison for 3-1/2 years reuniting with her Shepherd type dog, and the dog is thrilled, obviously remembering her.

Another woman tells of finding her lost Schnauzer in a grooming salon, three years after the dog was lost, and the dog immediately responded to her name, Pepper, and to the lost owner.

There are a couple of videos of owners and long-lost, microchipped dogs being reunited where the dogs appear friendly enough, but not over-the-moon excited.  Of course, these are generally dogs that are getting pretty old. 

A few stories are intriguing.

December 3rd, 2009 by Pets Best

The ideas that go through a pet owner’s head when they find that their dog or cat has gone missing can be downright torturous. It’s often enough to drive the owner to the local Kinkos so he or she can wallpaper the town with flyers publishing the exact description of the animal and the hefty reward to its finder. However, when a dog goes missing for almost half a decade hopes of a reunion may fade, and 10 cent copies seem like an unnecessary expense.

Dog owner Tom Smith gave up searching for his lost dog after several weeks, but his reward came almost five years later.

Smith’s Patterdale terrier named Scrappy Doo was stolen from his garden in 2004. A devoted pet owner, Smith searched for his hound for weeks before losing hope in a reunion, the Sun reports.

But earlier this week, a more mature, seven-year-old Scrappy Doo was found abandoned in Bournemouth in the UK, just 15 miles from Smith’s house in Wareham.

"I thought I’d never see her again," the 60-year-old pet lover told the news source. "When they bought her back as soon as she saw me she went mad. After all that time you wouldn’t think she’d remember."

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from Yahoo answers about how long a dog remembers an owner:

When my wife and I divorced she refused to let me take the dog, but I learnt several years later that she had promptly given the dog away. Imagine my surprise, 5 years after my divorce, I was in another city, a German Shepherd came running up to me, tail wagging, and sat obediently at my side, just the way I had taught her. Yes it was Bo, my girl, still brings a tear to my eye twenty years later. How did she know it was me? god knows but she picked me out of crowd in a different city 5 years after we were last together. So I guess they remember the partnership (owner is to weak a word) all their lives.

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GARDNER, Kan.

-- A northeast Kansas woman who was looking online for a new pet was surprised to see pictures of a dog that looked just like one she lost track of four years ago.

Dana Klint of Gardner was even more surprised - and thrilled - when the dog turned out to be her Siberian husky, named Faith.

Klint was reunited with 15-year-old Faith on Sunday, thanks to the Pet Connection, a no-kill animal shelter in Mission. She left the dog with an ex-boyfriend four years ago and hadn't seen her in two years.

The Kansas City Star reports that Faith had apparently been living on the street for several months before she was taken to a Kansas City, Kan., shelter and then sent to Pet Connection.

Pet Connection director Melody Kelso says pictures and the way the dog acted when she saw Klint made workers confident the dog was Faith.

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from a Golden breeder:

I had bred Goldens for some 20 odd years. I had a woman who had bought a puppy and moved away...came back 13 yrs later with the puppy to visit me and look into purchasing another puppy. This old girl (the dog) was very stiff from plain old age and her "Mom" explained to me, she could barely make it into the back seat of the car without some help.
The day arrives and as I saw the car pull into the driveway and the door open, I called the dog. I always call my puppies the same way...same voice...this dog ears perked up and came flying out of the car!!!!!!!! She nearly knocked me over....Me....I start blubbering like a fool...as I felt so incredibly touched this dog remembered me (and my voice!) The dog literally crawled into my lap...all 50 lbs of her and stayed there! Licking and nudging....We laughed, Mom felt aa littleput out...and called the dog..She immediately went to Mom...but then turned to me again. I swear she was smiling!

[Christine & Camus]

She really is a special girl.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

It's great hearing all these stories. Very touching. I would hope my doods would know me in the event of an absence. Funny, Lucy and I were at PetSmart last October looking at Halloween costumes. Lucy was being very still and cooperative when all of a sudden she came to life, wagging her tail, all alert and happy. I looked up and there was Lucy's trainer from 3 years ago. I was amazed Lucy had recognized her as she approached. Maybe it was her scent she picked up on. In any event, if she remembered a person who played a relatively small role in her life years ago, I would certainly expect her to remember me too :-)

[Pat and Traveler]

Love this story, Debb!  For sure Lucy would remember her family.  It is amazing that she recognized her trainer after so long.  Did the trainer recognize her? 

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Oh, absolutely! Lucy is difficult to forget :)

[Pat and Traveler]

I can vouch for that.  :)

[L.M.]

Oh that movie Hachi makes me cry everytime!!  I've seen several "reunion" videos of dogs and their owners returning from serving with the armed forces...dogs DEFINITELY remember!! The excitement and joy they show is amazing!  

[Pat and Traveler]

L M--I love those videos of dogs reuniting with their military person!

[Adina P]

I think my dogs would remember me.  My understanding is that dogs' concept of time is not like ours and an hour might as well be forever and forever might as well be an hour. 

[Pat and Traveler]

Adina, I'd heard that dogs live in the moment, but it never fitted for me with the fact that they DO remember people, autos, places, etc.

[Adina P]

I don't think that living in the moment is mutually exclusive with having a memory.  I think living in the moment for dogs is more about their minds not wandering to the past or future the way ours do, not being contemplative or having complex thinking about themselves and their lives vs. just living.  Of course they can't tell us, but it makes sense when I think about my dogs' behavior.

[Jennifer and Jack]

I dont' know enough of course to say for certain but I can tell you if I go to the store and am gone a few hours I get a very very different reaction from Jack then if I am gone for a couple of weeks... He may not know time but he knows that he wants me and he has to have that feeling for a lot longer then usual sometimes....

If dogs didn't at least have some concept of the past or future what would make a dog stand waiting for their owner to come back? I am just learning... Again it is my sincere hope that dogs don't and can move on but if a dog had a good life...and were bonded with the owner.. I am not talking about rescues where dogs were abused and had not formed a connection but dogs that did have a deep bond.... I think it is different.

but again I am a first time dog owner and Jack is just four years old.. I just know Jack knows the difference between me being gone a few hours vs a few weeks as evidenced by his totally different behavior toward me

[Pat and Traveler]

As I recall, Jack would get mad at you sometimes when you were gone longer than he thought was right.  Trav can be calm if I go in and out of the same door, like when doing work in the yard, but then if I go around the house and come in the front door instead, he gets all excited, like I'd been gone for a long time.  Silly dog!