Well, I of course can’t say for sure, but based on my communications with animals for the past 20 years, I’d say animals’ memories are pretty much the same as ours. And if not exactly the same, they are at least as important.
That said, “memory” is a very complex topic, whether it be related to humans or animals.
Turns out, memories can be manufactured, or changed, according to psychological need — this phenomenon is called “false memories.” This was addressed during the 1990s when the stigma attached to sexual abuse was finally broken through and victims of that experience began seeking counseling. Interestingly, not only did victims of actual abuse seek help but those who, for whatever reason, needed to work through a false memory of that type of insult did also. Psychology Today even reported on this syndrome HERE.
I mention this phenomenon because I work with many animals who show me memories of past abuse, abandonment, or other types of pain. These “memory histories” come through in different ways, depending on each animal’s style of communicating. Some animals are very verbal and can give detailed descriptions in language, some only send pictures, some convey gestalt impressions, or “knowings,” of what happened to them. Who knows if what they convey to me are manufactured or “false” memories, or “real?”
It doesn’t matter. If an animal chooses to share something with me from his past, real or imagined, then it is important to me and is important to address.
I recently worked with a pony named Piko whose memories are responsible for a current, problematic behavior. This little guy is a most lovable and sociable character, but he bolts unpredictably under saddle, placing his rider in great peril. When I asked Piko why he did this, he showed me that during his early days he was often roughly prodded to RUN, to MOVE OUT by what looked like a young teenage boy. So this is what he thinks he is supposed to do, and the memory, or “cue to do so” is easily triggered when being ridden.
This is not an unusual situation that I see in my sessions with animals, and indeed we humans are subject to it as well:
Past experiences (memories) shape current behavior.
In essence, this is similar to a “Pavlov’s dog” response. When “A” happens, “B” is our response. And the memory of that equation is reinforced throughout time: each time an “A” type occurrence happens, we react with a “B” type response.
The unique thing about my conversation with Piko was that he could not tell past from present, no matter how hard I tried to delineate the two. “Time” was a blur. So, when a present-day moment resembles one where he would previously have been prodded to run, he feels the same “prod” (“A”) and reacts the same way (“B”) — he bolts.
Point being: “Our” memories (whether human or animal) are extremely variable. They may be ‘real.’ They may be manufactured to satisfy some deep-seated psychological need. They may be cellular, where our bodies retain a memory of something that we do not register on a conscious level, which is what I suspect in this case, thereby disallowing conscious discernment regarding time or present conditions. Or they may be from past lives.
Does it really matter where they come from? Our memories affect us. Very deeply. And they affect our animals just as deeply as they do us. How we recognize and deal with them is what’s important.
So, when I work with an animal like Piko, where a memory rules behavior, all I can do is try to pull the memory out onto a conscious level and help them work with it in whatever way possible for the given situation. If it is too painful to address all at once, we take it one baby step at a time. And perhaps I recommend other therapies or modalities that can help modify, ease or erase this memory as well.
Bottom line, I can’t really say if animals’ memories are exactly like ours or work in the same way. I only know they are just as important. So if you have a rescue animal who has a peculiar, perhaps unattractive, behavior that you know is based on his past, don’t punish him for it — that will only reinforce it. Instead, try to ease up and help him re-shape his memories by distracting him, teaching him something new, giving him treats, and most importantly… lavishing him with love.
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