Fat dogs have a lot in common with overweight humans, including an interest in top quality food and an unwillingness to settle for second best, a study has found.
The study suggested dogs could be used as models for research into the psychological impacts of human obesity, scientists from Budapest’s ELTE University wrote in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
Researchers put two bowls — one of them holding a good meal, the other containing less attractive food — in front of a series of dogs. The study found that canines of a normal weight continued obeying instructions to check the second bowl for food, but the obese ones refused after a few rounds. “We expected the overweight dog to do anything to get food, but we saw the opposite,” test leader Orsolya Torda said. “If a situation is uncertain and they cannot find food, the obese dogs are unwilling to invest energy to search for food — for them the main thing is to find the right food with least energy involved.” The behaviour had possible parallels with overweight people who see food as a reward.
