It’s true, I really do love my dog more than most humans and I refuse to believe I’m being brainwashed... but if I was being brainwashed, that’s exactly what I would say.
Most dog owners put in time and effort to train their pets. We reinforce good behaviour with rewards, such as food or praise, so over time, the good behaviour becomes more common.
Your pooch learns to come or sit on command. In this way, we manipulate them, but the same tactic also works in reverse.
My dog, for example, has learned to bother me relentlessly when I sit down to work. The only thing that stops this behaviour is giving him a treat.
Game, set and match: I’ve been trained – brainwashed, if you will – but if you saw how adorable he is, you would understand why I don’t mind.
Some dogs are also capable of deliberate deception. In one study, dogs were trained to distinguish between a ‘cooperative’ person who gave them treats, and a ‘competitive’ person who kept the treats.
The dogs then had a chance to guide the people to boxes that contained food or were empty.
Unsurprisingly, they led the cooperative person to the box containing the sausage in hopes of receiving the reward, but when forced to guide the competitive person, they took them to the empty box.
This saved the treat for a more opportune moment, and suggests that the dogs made a deliberate decision to deceive and manipulate the people they thought were unlikely to help them.
They may brainwash us, but MRI studies show that when they hear or smell their owners, dogs display activation in the brain regions that are involved in reward and social bonding.
So, while neuroscientists stop short of saying “dogs love us,” this kind of hints that they do.
This article is an answer to the question (asked by Alicia Salt, via email) 'Is my dog brainwashing me for treats?'
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