ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOS

An Environmental Photo is Nature's way of helping an animal survive, otherwise it would soon die of starvation or from predators. In other words -

A "PHOTO" AUTOMATICALLY TRIGGERS A RESPONSE OR BEHAVIOUR IN THE ANIMAL

As Memory explains, like other animals, dogs brains are not as developed as humans and therefore they do not have the mental capacity to remember large amounts of information as human memories do. Instead, they are given the ability to make split second assessments of what their senses are detecting in the environment around them so that they can decide whether it is -

"GOOD" - Enjoyable or helps the dog to survive.
"BORING" - Boring or irrelevant to the dog.
"BAD" - A threat to the dog's well-being and must be avoided.

If the experience matches none of these criteria the dog will ignore and forget the messages that its senses are detecting.

However, if the dog does assess the experience as being either #1, #2 or #3, it stores the sensory information it detected in it's long-term memory by grouping the information together in what I call an "Environmental Photo".

"PHOTOS" TRIGGER A BEHAVIOUR
When a similar or identical situation occurs in the future, the dog will recognise it as being either rewarding, boring, or threatening by comparing and matching its sensory messages with the environmental photo stored in its long-term memory. This will trigger the dog to repeat the behaviour to get the required result.

BREEDING AND INSTINCTS
The type of dog and its inherent working instincts have an effect on what it regards as rewarding, boring, or threatening. For instance, scent hounds have been bred by humans to suppress their sight/movement instincts and concentrate more on scent messages while sight hounds have been bred to do the reverse.

A POWERFUL TOOL
Environmental photos are a very powerful tool that shape a dog's behaviour and lifestyle.

We only have to look at how environmental photos trigger human (and animals) memories, reactions and behaviours to see how true this statement is. For instance here are some of my "photos" -

The sound of rain falling on canvas, umbrellas, or on the caravan roof, always makes me feel safe and contented - it reminds me of camping holidays as a child, feeling warm and snug in my sleeping bag on wet and windy nights.
Yet the sound of a dentist's drill (or any sound that is similar to one) always makes my teeth feel sensitive and I feel a slight ache in my teeth!
The scent of disinfectant, or seeing a nurses uniform, reminds me of my stay in hospital and makes me feel stressed and anxious.
The sight of an abandoned shopping trolley makes me smile because my son from a very early age has an uncontrollable urge to put supermarket trolleys back in their storage areas. In fact his behaviour is triggered by his own "photo" of me asking him to take the trolley back when he was a child.

An example of the powerful effect that the environment has with dogs' long-term memory and instincts is to watch the behaviour of a dog that has chased prey (such as a squirrel or rabbit). The strong rush of adrenaline as it ran after the moving target also imprinted the exact location of where the dog saw and chased the animal. It is Nature's way of helping animals survive as they can then instinctively recall and hunt areas that have been productive before. The next time the dog passes that exact location (months or even years later) it will become excited and eager to search the area in case there is further prey nearby.

The drawback of environmental photos is that dogs can also build up bad associations with locations, or situations, where they have been frightened, over-stressed, or have feared for their safety (such as being attacked by another dog). This shows itself in the dog becoming apprehensive and worried when passing the same location not only months but even years later. The dog does not consciously remember exactly what happened to make it become fearful - it just trusts its instincts that it should be on its guard and could be in danger. Once again, Nature gave animals these instinctive long-term memories for environment in order to help the animal survive in the wild - if you were attacked by a predator in a particular place it is crucial that you be on your guard when you next pass the spot in case the predator is there again.

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