If you’ve noticed your dog pacing to go outside around the same time each day or nudging you for food around their dinner time, you might wonder if dogs can tell time. Do dogs have a sense of time? Here’s what you should know:

Do Dogs Have a Sense of Time?

The simple answer is yes, dogs do have a sense of time. However, they understand it differently than we as humans do. Dogs are able to sense time thanks to changes in their environment, routines, and bodies.

They can’t measure time in hours or days but they do have some sort of awareness of the passing of time. They also have a sense of time due to their routines and other learned behaviors.

How Can Dogs Tell Time?

While dogs can’t tell time like humans, there are a few ways in which they can tell time.

1. Through Circadian Rhythm

Just like humans, dogs have a natural circadian rhythm which changes the body experiences over a 24-hour period. Like other animals, a dog’s circadian rhythm is controlled by their biological clock.

These physiological changes caused by circadian rhythm tell your dog when it’s time to eat, wake up, sleep, and go to the bathroom. These are helpful tools in helping your dog understand time.

They can’t count it by hours or minutes, but they can sense things changing in their bodies like hunger or tiredness. For example, a dog cannot look at a clock and understand what 7 am means. However, their hungry bellies will alert them that it’s morning and time for breakfast.

2. Through Scent

Dogs have a very impressive sense of smell. Because of this, dogs may be able to understand time based on the strength of a scent. When you’re home with your dog, your scent is the strongest. But if you leave to go to work or run errands, your scent dissipates a bit. Dogs can use this weakening scent as a measure of how long you’ve been gone.

Dogs can also use scent as a measure of understanding the past and future. Being able to smell a human or another dog’s scent is just one of the things dogs can smell that humans can’t. If a scent is low to the ground and weakening, it may mean a person or animal has recently walked through that area. However, if the scent is higher and becomes stronger in smell, it may be able to tell your dog a person or animal is arriving soon.

3. Through Episodic Memory

We know that dogs can’t recall specific memories like humans do, but they do have episodic memories. This episodic memory can help them understand time. Dogs are able to remember events thanks to their sense of smell.

Dogs can recognize and remember scents even after a lengthy amount of time has passed. It’s almost as if they’ve set a timer and used your scent to keep track of how long you’ve been gone.

Say you take your dog to the same dog play date every Tuesday. Dogs will remember and associate that specific scent with that activity. Once they encounter and recognize that scent, they will recall memories and get excited.

These cues can also be paired with visual cues and other things, like sunlight fading into the evening. If you normally come home around when the sun starts to set, this can signal to your dog that you might be coming home from work soon. That change can tell them that it’s time for dinner and a walk or playtime!

If you’ve been wondering if dogs have a sense of time, the answer is yes but they perceive it much differently than humans do. Dogs thrive in a consistent routine and that is a large part of how they understand time. Make sure to create a good daily routine for your dog to keep them feeling content and happy throughout the day.

It’s also important to keep your dog from boredom as this helps the time pass for them. Offering mentally stimulating games and physical exercise in addition to their daily routine or as part of it can help keep your dog engaged, active, and healthy as you and your dog spend time together.