Animals in nature, after leaving their parents for many years, are basically impossible to know their parents again, or even strangers. This is the law among animals in nature. Even if it is specific to the human world, as long as the baby is separated from the adult when he is a child, and then returns to his parents when he grows up, both sides cannot be identified.
Unlike humans, dogs rely on graphic memory to identify other humans. Therefore, once you have not seen someone for a long time, the recognition based on appearance will naturally be a little fuzzy, and then you need to compare other features such as accent and movement for auxiliary recognition. The dog’s strong point is smell, which is an animal that judges things by smell.
Dogs recognize other species not based on graphic memory, but based on smell. Dogs can remember a certain smell for a long time, even if they are separated by a long time. For example, when a dog urinates in the wild, it releases its own smell as a marker to occupy the territory, and this smell can remain for a long time, not only can it be remembered by itself, but other animals can also recognize it, so that they do not invade each other. And the dog’s route marking by releasing some scents, even after a long time, the dog can still rely on the scent to identify the road.
Dogs release scent through body fluids, most commonly urine. And some animals, such as sows, will give birth to piglets and refuse to let them eat milk. At this time, as long as the sow’s urine is smeared on the piglets, the sow will immediately recognize it as her own child, showing that it is her own child. intimate. Even if the piglets of another sow are smeared with their own urine, the sow will think it is her own child.
Since dogs have fewer sweat glands on their body, they can only identify odors through urine or physical contact, but this form of marker odor tends to disappear over time. Once the puppy has been away from the mother for too long, the smell on its body disappears, and the child is basically unrecognizable. Of course, the child also does not recognize the mother.
However, it is also true that pet dogs and their owners live together for a long time and are separated from their owners for any reason, even if they have not seen them for many years.
Because human sweat glands are developed, they can secrete body fluids at any time. When you get along with your pet dog, this body fluid has been firmly remembered by it when it recognizes you as the owner. Even if you haven’t seen him for a few years, the dog will not forget it, and people will still secrete the smell of bodily fluids through the sweat glands, and the smell of bodily fluids will remain the same throughout life, and everyone’s bodily fluid tastes are different, so even for a long time, If the body odor signature stored in the dog’s memory is stimulated, it will naturally be recognized at once.
Therefore, dogs can not recognize children they have not seen for a long time, but they can recognize their owners. The key is that cats, dogs or other animals cannot secrete odors through the body surface, while humans are the opposite. Body odor remains unchanged throughout life.