I think dogs can tell time. I don’t mean they look at a clock and know the time, but I think they have inner biological clocks that know. If nothing else, they certainly know their routines. But our routines change every other day, and they still seem to know the difference. Here’s an example:
On Tuesdays and Thursdays I work from home. My hubby is up at the same time every day – early – with the dogs. But on those days I’m not leaving for work, I stay in bed a bit longer. I’m awake early, but hubby brings me up a cup of coffee and I watch the news, and the dogs all join me on the bed; most of the time anyway. Luke is up and down…he likes to follow the Dadz around the house, since they share a morning banana, and he always helps Dadz get the treats out which they’ll get before he leaves.
The Dadz will bring treats upstairs and say goodbye to all of us. When it gets close to the time he leaves, 6:30, Cricket (who is usually either between my legs or stretched out alongside them) wakes up and lies there listening. The telltale sign is when Luke slams the cabinet door downstairs after Dadz gets the treats out. Cricket jumps up and sits next to me, sometimes impatiently “dancing” if they take too long.

One Thursday morning recently, my hubby had the day off. I still stuck to my usual routine…and so did Cricket. When it got close to 6:30, I could see her listening. When nothing happened, she got up to listen more closely. What was going on? I couldn’t help it, I texted my hubby both of these photos and wrote “Cricket is waiting for her treats”.

He had no intention of bringing treats up that morning since he wasn’t going anywhere, but after seeing the photos….sweet Dadz that he is, he got treats and brought them upstairs as usual.

Cricket was pleased. It strikes me that she started to act this way at the exact same time Dadz normally leaves. He wouldn’t have been making any noises that indicated it was that time; she just knew it.
Do you believe that dogs can tell time?
Harley not only knows when it’s getting close to 2:30pm (his Greenies Dental Chew time) or when it’s almost 4:00pm (his dinner time) He also knows when it’s Sunday – when Im headed to church he knows that’s the one place he can’t come so he will remain in his bed after our morning walk and watch me get dressed.
I just find it amazing that not only do they know times, but they know days as well! I think they are so much more observant that we realize.
Oh yes they can tell time, they tell me when it’s time to eat and when it’s time to get up and go to bed.
Going to bed is actually the most important thing to Cricket. She gets very fidgety if we don’t head upstairs at the normal time. Often she’ll just go up without us!
LOL they can absolutely tell time and no concept of “weekend”. Ours are up at the same time everyday whether it is a workday or not.
Yes, these guys are too. They are definitely “early to bed, early to rise” dogs! Luckily my hubby is an early riser too, because I like to sleep just a little later on the weekends!
Oh Mr. N can definitely tell time. He gets upset when things don’t follow schedule lol.
They sure do know what time it is by their biological clocks. It’s always interesting when the time changes, lol!
It’s actually easier when the clocks go forward than when they go back!
First that picture and caption with the steam made me LOL.
Second, I KNOW they can tell time. Delilah knows when it’s meal or snack time and assumes the position as well. They have internal clocks that help them out. 🙂
They definitely know how to tell time! When my husband worked, Bentley would go to the window and wait for him to drive up at the same time each day. They always know when their meals are .01 seconds late! LOL!
Us cats can tell time, too.
Absolutely!! In fact, Samantha is often responsible for our early wake up time! She also shows up in the kitchen at the same times each day.
Hailey drives us crazy with her time telling. Don’t try and do anything late!
Cricket especially hates it when we don’t go to bed on time…I think that upsets her more than a meal being late! Pretty surprising for a beagle!
Oh that’s so cute! <3 Both of my girls can tell time, too. They are usually waiting for my husband when he gets home. Sometimes Phoenix will wait for up to 30 minutes by the door.
Ours are typically in the door or window when we get home. I often wonder how far ahead of time they take their stations!
Since the hubby retired, we haven’t really had much of a routine. I used to get up at 6:30 with him when he was working; but now I prefer to watch a movie after going to bed and get up between 8:30 and 9. Both girls have adapted well (so had Callie). But prior to hubby retiring, all 3 girls knew when they were supposed to go outside, eat, etc.
Yep, we all have our routines in order. The exact time always fluctuates here, but the order is the same depending on the day, and we know what is up!
Cricket is a smarty. Interesting experiment. But I wonder if all dogs can tell time or just Cricket. 🙂
Mom is convinced we wear watches
Lily & Edward
They have a built in clock AND a built in calendar to know when it is the weekend. Then it is a different routine.
Not only can dogs tell time, our dogs know when it’s the weekend. During the week, they are let outside (we set up one bay of the garage as the dog’s area during the day with a doggy door to their yard) before I go to work. On Friday – Sunday, they return to their places on the furniture after eating breakfast.
They’re smart and observant. Routine is the key.
They really are very observant. Ours know the weekend as well. I think it’s impressive when you have different routines for different days, and they still know!
That is SO sweet. I think Cocoa knows time too. And she knows when we are leaving her in her crate vs her riding in the car. I am happy Cricket got her treats!!
They really do figure out a lot of things, don’t they? Luke knows when he’s going for a ride and when he’s staying home…I think he just senses it somehow!
Oh yes, most definitely!!! My huskies are not shy about letting me know (quite loudly) when I am late getting them dinner, or walk times etc etc… they can definitely tell time!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Ours are pretty quiet about it…but our beagle Kobi never was! If we were gone somewhere at supper time and came back late he would bark and bark at us, as if scolding us for being late!
Kobe definitely could tell time. I remember when I would pet sit, kobe would be in the kitchen “asking” for his supper…15 minutes early…he would be so excited that he’d knock the dish out of my hand and food would go everywhere, and there would be a mad scramble from the 2 goldens and 2 beagles to “clean up”. Then I’d have to give Kobe another bowl because he’d only gotten 1/4 of his normal supper. Lol.
LOL. To this day I miss Kobi’s foolish barking while his supper was being dished out. He definitely was not patient about it!
No, he wasn’t! I miss him. He was very special, and very loved. ???? Benji reminds me a bit of Kobe…when you come in the house and he barks constantly until someone picks him up! Lol
You don’t have to tell us dogs know how to tell time! But, thanks for Cricket to help prove it. Love Dolly
I’m so sure they can… and that was super nice that the Dadz brought the treats, dogs are creature of habits like we humans too. (and Easy still wants a treat for every pee-mail, since his grampy “helped” with the housetraining as he was a puppy)