Do dogs have memories?

Strangest thing happened to us last week. As many of you know, we used to have 2 dogs, rescued Irish Setters, George and Harry. Sadly we lost George last year; we weren't certain how Harry would cope as he'd always been with other dogs before but we needn't have been concerned as he's been absolutely fine, relishing all the extra attention.

Well, just last week we were sat on the sea front at St Ives eating our fish & chips when a lady came along the beach with two terriers called Louis and George. When they ran off she called them back by name. As soon as she called George, Harry got quite agitated and kept running over to the sea wall to look at what was going on.

Now, I'm not one of those that attributes human characteristics to dogs, but he's never got agitated like this before (particularly where there are fish & chips nearby!)

So, was it just coincidence, was he just being nosey or did he recognise the name and start looking out for his old chum? Anyone had a similar experience?