Lesson #12: Memory is Selective for a Reason

Dogs are supposed to have bad memories. Obviously they learn things like commands and get used to patterns but their short-term memories are supposed to be rather sketchy. I remember reading somewhere that they typically don't have attention spans longer than 30 seconds. But as this blog is quickly establishing, Professor McLovin is not your typical dog.

Oscar is really good at remembering certain things, i.e. when it is in his interest to do so. For example, one day we were out in the yard together and he was standing at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement door, gazing at me with an expectant look on his face. He normally doesn't stand in one spot for a long time so his behavior struck me as unusual. Unbeknownst to me he had dropped his tennis ball down the stairs a day before and was unable to retrieve it so was silently beseeching me to fetch him his toy. He couldn't see the ball as it had rolled under some lawn furniture--he just knew it was there because he remembered losing it from the day before.

It serves us to remember good things, things that will be beneficial to us if we remember them. I'm not sure whether the converse is true or not, but if we focus on the positive enough then there won't be enough time to worry about remembering the less pleasant things in life. Now if only Oscar could somehow 'remember' to not jump on people when they come in the door we'd really be getting somewhere...