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Why Do Dogs Like Treats So Much?

Have you ever imagined what would happen if you didn’t give your dog a special treat sometimes?

If you can imagine your own daily diet, without the special foods that you love, then it is possible that your diet would be unexciting.

There are many explanations as to why dogs love treats and some of these motives you may not have imagined.

As a sneak peek into what we’re about to talk about, let’s look at a reason why dogs may love treats so much.

Sometimes your pet may resonate with having a treat as something fun to do.

For this situation, it is something that your dog loves to eat beyond the typical eating regimen.

Your pet dog may like to have fun too on an occasion, and having a good treat is like having extra icing on a cupcake.

For example, many dogs like to chew on objects that are not supposed to have.

Hence, when they are given a chewy treat like jerky made for them, it makes them happy.

So, with this illustration in mind, let’s look at other reasons for why dogs may like to eat treats so much.

Classic Conditioning

There may be an underlying reason behind why your dog may like treats so much.

This possible unforeseen reason is called classical conditioning.

Let’s consider a specific illustration to clearly comprehend why this may be the particular case.

Let’s suppose that your nephew always associated your sneakers with going to the basketball court to have fun.

The reason why your nephew associates your sneakers with going to have fun playing basketball is called classical conditioning.

This theory has a scientific basis that was studied by Ivan Pavlov.

Pavlov used dogs in his studies and his methods have greatly impacted the scientific community.

In the same way, if your dog is conditioned to receiving treats in connection with a specific behavior, your dog will expect to have a treat due to that behavior.

Also, dogs can connect to specific actions or objects that are used regularly before giving them a treat with fun.

For example, you may always give your dog a treat when you come home from a long day at work at an approximate time on the same day every week.

This action can condition your dog to love treats.

There are several ways that your dog can become conditioned to receiving a treat and dogs can become highly conditioned to expecting you to feed them something special as well.

dog getting a treat

Slightly Undernourished

Sometimes you can have the best intentions for your pet, and slightly miss the mark when it comes to their nutrition.

There are various ways that this can happen without you immediately realizing it.

For instance, you may purchase the same brand of kibble for your pet, not knowing that they have changed their overall formula.

Thus, the change that the kibble manufacturer makes causes the usual nutritional intake for your dog to drop slightly.

This may cause your dog to crave and love treats more than they normally would.

This means your dog may be wanting treats to fill nutritional gaps.

This is only a single example of how undernourishment can sneak in and cause your dog to love treats.

Reward System

Having a reward system in place for your dog can cause your pet to love treats.

Imagine that you had a desk job in a cubical, and the reward from meeting your daily quota in sales is an extra $500 for every $2000 you make in commission.

This may drive a lot of people to make their quotas in sales and they could possibly feel rewarded for completing the task.

In a related sense, dogs like to be happy and rewarded for the duties you ask them to accomplish.

Your dog may begin to enjoy the entire process of working for a specific treat that they enjoy.

When this happens, dogs view work or completing tasks as a more enjoyable process.

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National Canine Research Association of America