Dogs are considered to be man's best friend. Apparently, these creatures can understand what you say as they watch your movements or simply know whenever it's feeding time.

In a new study, scientists have revealed that your dog not only remembers when feeding time is, but it also possesses a complex memory. This is the first time such remarkable memory has been observed in animals except for humans.

According to Claudia Fugazza from the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, the results of this study can be considered as a crucial step to break down barriers between humans and animals. Humans most certainly consider dogs as loyal companions and intelligent creatures.  However, most people are surprised when a dog shows some mental capabilities, like remembering things, despite distant evolutionary origins.

In this new study, the team searched for evidence of episodic memory, if dogs do remember and possess a structured memory of events that can also indicate self-awareness.

 

The team said that dogs were first trained to imitate human actions upon command. After this, they were trained to lie down after any command, in order to trick the dogs to forget their prior training with a trainer.

Fugazza said that they then tested if the dogs remember the first given commands by unexpectedly ordering them to imitate instead of lying down.

Not all dogs can repeat this action, but since the dogs are not expecting that they would be asked to imitate the trainer's actions, they can still do it. Researchers say that the dogs remembered what people did especially if they are odd, like hitting an umbrella or walking around a bucket.

The team concludes that these new findings show that dogs can recall past events even complex human actions even if they are not expected to perform a memory test. This study also provides evidence that dogs possess similar episodic memory to humans.

This new study was published in the journal, Current Biology.