4 ms·

I'm not sure I fully agree with the article's takeaway that dogs are only in it for the food. It's a bit of a crude summary. In addition to food, humans provide

I'm not sure I fully agree with the article's takeaway that dogs are only in it for the food. It's a bit of a crude summary. In addition to food, humans provide shelter, protection, love, attention, play time, and companionship - I don't think food is the only driver of the relationship. My dog will hide behind me if he's scared, and enjoys attention from people he doesn't know - irrespective of whether they provide food for him or not. And he'll cry and ignore food from others for hours if I'm separated from him. Maybe this is just anecdotal data, but seems doubtful.

tragomaskhalos 9y ago
I agree with you: if we are going to be so reductive, we could make the case that any animal species, humans included, is only in it for the food.
- Radim 9y ago
  only in it for the food. Reproduction. Or, going one step further, universal optimization by means of more efficient use of energy. The end game is the heat death of the universe (maximum entropy, no more energy differentials), after all ;)
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- 1_player 9y ago
  I've heard the quote that says, paraphrased: "the main reason we do anything is to have sex, and to feel great amongst our peers." Which is very reductionist yet has a shadow of truth behind it.
moonshinefe 9y ago
I think you're right. They massively over simplified the relationship between humans and dogs imo. Yeah, food is a huge part of it, but dogs even in my limited experience bond on way more levels than just that. Silly premise.
arkades 9y ago
Any trainer can tell you some breeds just care more about food than others. My German Shepherd would do anything for a piece of chicken. He would suddenly seem to understand English. My boxer couldn’t care less for treats as a motivator - positive attention was the absolute only way to mold behavior. Having had the GSD first, it took some adjustment for me to learn to train a dog that just didn’t care about food. The breeder later told me that was entirely typical of boxers.
- arafa 9y ago
  What you're saying is also confirmed by research recently cited in the excellent book The Domestic Dog (and may also be driven by in-breed variance): https://www.amazon.com/Domestic-Dog-Evolution-Behavior-Interactions/dp/1107699347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511967876&sr=8-1&keywords=domestic+dog https://www.amazon.com/Domestic-Dog-Evolution-Behavior-Inter... Great read for people looking for a more rigorous treatment of dog behavior and psychology.
- LeifCarrotson 9y ago
  Some dogs care more about food than others. There are lots of counterexamples. I grew up with a boxer that was almost completely food motivated. The neighbor's GSD was almost completely play motivated, and would skip meals in the hopes that someone would just. throw. the. ball. Your breeder's statement is like stereotyping human personalities by ethnicity or gender - something may show up strongly in the statistics, but it's a poor tool to apply when interacting with individuals.
  - arkades 9y ago
    The existence of counterexamples isn’t that notable here. OPs position is “dogs are only in it for the food.” Dogs that are not only in it for the food are a useful counterexample, because it trumps the sweeping “only.” That -some- dogs are in it for the food doesn’t move the needle in the debate one way or the other.
    - LeifCarrotson 9y ago
tdb7893 9y ago
I'm no expert either but my girlfriend works at a vet clinic (and is applying to animal behaviour PhD programs) and my impression from talking to the vets is that most dogs are very food motivated but they are also highly social. If you ignore the social aspects and view them as only food motivated their behaviour doesn't make as much sense (as you pointed out).
logfromblammo 9y ago
I completely disagree with the "motivated by food" theory. In my experience, dogs only want you to throw the ball.

tragomaskhalos 9y ago

I agree with you: if we are going to be so reductive, we could make the case that any animal species, humans included, is only in it for the food.

Radim 9y ago
only in it for the food. Reproduction. Or, going one step further, universal optimization by means of more efficient use of energy. The end game is the heat death of the universe (maximum entropy, no more energy differentials), after all ;)
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
1_player 9y ago
I've heard the quote that says, paraphrased: "the main reason we do anything is to have sex, and to feel great amongst our peers." Which is very reductionist yet has a shadow of truth behind it.

moonshinefe 9y ago

I think you're right. They massively over simplified the relationship between humans and dogs imo. Yeah, food is a huge part of it, but dogs even in my limited experience bond on way more levels than just that. Silly premise.

arkades 9y ago

Any trainer can tell you some breeds just care more about food than others. My German Shepherd would do anything for a piece of chicken. He would suddenly seem to understand English. My boxer couldn’t care less for treats as a motivator - positive attention was the absolute only way to mold behavior. Having had the GSD first, it took some adjustment for me to learn to train a dog that just didn’t care about food. The breeder later told me that was entirely typical of boxers.

arafa 9y ago
What you're saying is also confirmed by research recently cited in the excellent book The Domestic Dog (and may also be driven by in-breed variance): https://www.amazon.com/Domestic-Dog-Evolution-Behavior-Interactions/dp/1107699347/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511967876&sr=8-1&keywords=domestic+dog https://www.amazon.com/Domestic-Dog-Evolution-Behavior-Inter... Great read for people looking for a more rigorous treatment of dog behavior and psychology.
LeifCarrotson 9y ago
Some dogs care more about food than others. There are lots of counterexamples. I grew up with a boxer that was almost completely food motivated. The neighbor's GSD was almost completely play motivated, and would skip meals in the hopes that someone would just. throw. the. ball. Your breeder's statement is like stereotyping human personalities by ethnicity or gender - something may show up strongly in the statistics, but it's a poor tool to apply when interacting with individuals.
- arkades 9y ago
  The existence of counterexamples isn’t that notable here. OPs position is “dogs are only in it for the food.” Dogs that are not only in it for the food are a useful counterexample, because it trumps the sweeping “only.” That -some- dogs are in it for the food doesn’t move the needle in the debate one way or the other.
  - LeifCarrotson 9y ago

tdb7893 9y ago

I'm no expert either but my girlfriend works at a vet clinic (and is applying to animal behaviour PhD programs) and my impression from talking to the vets is that most dogs are very food motivated but they are also highly social. If you ignore the social aspects and view them as only food motivated their behaviour doesn't make as much sense (as you pointed out).

logfromblammo 9y ago

I completely disagree with the "motivated by food" theory. In my experience, dogs only want you to throw the ball.