What could a dog love as much as food? It could be just few kind words. That’s the upshot of a small recent study, which found that dogs crave praise and human contact as much or more than snacks.
Neuroscience researchers at Emory University wanted to know if the bond between dogs and people was more about food or the underlying social relationship. To do that, they trained the dogs to associate three objects with different outcomes. A blue toy knight represented verbal praise from their owner. A pink toy truck was the cue for a food reward. A hairbrush, which served as a control, provided no reward.
The researchers then tested the 13 dogs’ responses to the three objects while undergoing 32 trials in an MRI machine that measured their neural responses. Four of the dogs responded strongly to the object that signaled praise from their owners. Nine dogs showed similar neural activity for the objects representing praise and food. Two dogs had a stronger response to the food stimulus.
In a second experiment, the dogs were released into a simple maze that let them choose between two outcomes: getting food or receiving praise from their owner. Most of the dogs alternated between the food and their owners’ praise. But those that had the strongest neural response to praise chose their owners over food between 80 and 90 percent of the time.
Researchers said, taken together, the experiments suggest that dogs are hypersocial with humans and they highly value praise. In fact, the dogs’ reactions may be similar to the feelings that people get when they are celebrated.
So to keep your dog happy, throw him a bone every so often — in the form of some sincere praise.