Treats? Most dogs would rather have praise from owner

WHEN Fido turns his puppy dog eyes on you, it’s easy to think he is only after one thing – a tasty treat.

But scientists say dogs’ intentions are actually more noble than we humans give them credit for.

Research shows most dogs are at least as interested in praise as in being given something to munch on.

A study of 15 pet dogs found that just two prioritised food over the owner’s love and affection.

And four actually preferred their master’s voice to the thought of a piece of sausage.

The results suggest that far from seeing humans as mere providers of food, our canine pals really do like spending time with us.

For the study, researchers at Emory University in the US taught the pooches to link three objects with different actions.

When they saw a toy car, they expected to be treated to a piece of a hot dog, a toy person signalled verbal praise and a hairbrush led to nothing.

The scientists found that in 13 of the 15 dogs, the thought of praise lit up the brain at least as much as that of the meaty treat.

Just two were ‘real chowhounds’, preferring food to approval, the journal Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience reports.

A second experiment, in which the dogs could pick their way through a maze to their owner or a bowl of food, confirmed the result.

Dogs whose brains had lit up at the thought of praise headed for their masters, while those ruled by their stomach made for the bowl of food.

Researcher Gregory Berns said: ‘Most of the dogs alternated between food and owner, but the dogs with the strongest neural response to praise chose to go to their owners 80 to 90 percent of the time.

‘It shows the importance of social reward and praise to dogs. It may be analogous to how we humans feel when someone praises us.’

The professor concluded: ‘For most dogs, social reinforcement is at least as effective as food – and probably healthier too.’