Can dogs tell the time? 🐶 | Inside the Animal Mind - BBC

the family have a regular routine Christine and Johnny always leave the house at the same time in the morning leaving jazz to his own devices and every evening Christine comes home at 4 o'clock but it's what jazz does next that really interests us you see every evening at around 4:40 20 minutes or so before Johnny comes home jazz always leaps up onto the sofa as if he's waiting for him he's like a canine alarm clock twins that I have four and five jazz is always look Nate for Johnny it seems jazz somehow knows that Johnny's coming home and it's a claim made by many dog owners but how does jazz do it now it could just be that Christine coming home sets Jazz's clock we know it's not because he needs dinner or his walkies because Christine's dealt with that there is a theory that a dogs sense of smell could play a role whilst Johnny's out of the house the smell he leaves behind fades at a regular rate so could it be that when Johnny scent drops to a particular level jazz senses he's about to return yeah yes to test this theory at the end of the week we made a change on her way home Christine swung by Johnny's football club to get some of his freshly worn t-shirts and then when she got back at her usual time she wafted them around the living room to spread Johnny smell around if jazz is using the fading smell of Johnny to sense the passage of time then this should be the equivalent of resetting the clock so will jazz still know what time it is it's now less than half an hour before Johnny normally comes home but for the first time jazz stays dozing it's slow 4:48 jazz only lifted his head for about 30 seconds is wine flat again enjoying the heat at the needy now Johnny's back here ah and to jazz it seems to come as a complete surprise now let's not pretend that this is scientific there could be any number of things that jazz is reacting to but it's an intriguing idea that dogs sense of smell might allow them to grasp something as abstract as time a concept that we tend to assume only the human mind can understand

Channel: BBC

Views: 2,163,186

Rating: 4.9337049 out of 5

Keywords: BBC Two (TV Channel), Inside the Animal Mind, Dog (Organism Classification), can dogs tell the time?, animals, BBC documentary, Documentary (TV Genre), Dogs, time, bbc2, Animals, Cute, Labrador, Experiment, Smell, Powerful sense of smell, Pets, Owner, Family, Chris Packham, Alternative Reality, Investigation, Marley and Me, Cats vs Dogs, All Dogs go to Heaven, Puppy, Puppy eyes, Adorable, Intelligent, You Are What You Sense

Id: Ftr9yY-YuYU

Length: 3min 30sec (210 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 23 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/voluntarybutler]

Source is the video itself.

Inside the Animal Mind by the BBC.

[u/fluffyfurnado]

Super interesting! Watch the video to see how the tested it.

[u/gwhh]

Did they ask the dogs this question?

[u/AllMightyInkJoy]

What about my cats????

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[u/picaryst]

What if they open the windows and the scent goes out?