METABOLIC FACTORS, RATHER THAN NONSELECTIVE FOOD INTAKE MIGHT AFFECT OBESITY IN DOGS

Although obesity represents a widespread problem in companion dogs, the contribution of breed-specific behavioral patterns to obesity are less investigated. In this study we compared the performance of dogs belonging to breeds that are considered more (Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Beagle; N=25) or less (Border Collie, Mudi; N=23) prone to obesity. Dogs were enrolled in a two-way object choice test where they had to find hidden food following the visual cue given by the experimenter. The indicated bowl contained always food of low incentive value. In group ‘empty alternative’ (EA) the non-indicated bowl was empty (N=22), while in group ‘reward alternative’ (RA) it contained food of high incentive value (N=26). The EA group showed a decline in their motivation along the trials, as they approached the target bowls with longer latencies (P=0.022) than dogs in RA, and this effect was even more pronounced during the last three trials (P=0.001). Number of correct choices (choosing the indicated bowl) in the last three trials showed also a trend-like decline (P=0.069) in the EA group compared to RA. Obesity proneness of dog breed did not affect the latency of approach (P=0.251), nor the performance (P=0.478). Our results show that dogs, irrespectively of their breed predisposition towards developing obesity, react with declining motivation to repeated encounters with food reward of low incentive value. Based on these findings, we may draw a cautious conclusion that canine obesity is not promoted by the invariable attraction to all kinds of food.