It has long been known that dogs are the most privileged form of life on this planet. Sooner or later, proximity to people almost always costs cattle, pigs and chickens their lives. Deer and wild boars are even looked for in their residential areas and shot from behind. Dogs keep their paws open.
Okay, it may have taken them tens of thousands of years of evolution to get that submissive look that melts so many people. They devotedly provide the parasites with board and lodging, and they even dispose of their droppings in small plastic bags. Germans spend around 1.4 billion euros on dog food every year. Very few dogs work for it, for example as a hunting companion or guard. Learning from dogs usually means learning to lie down.
But things get worse, as a team of researchers led by behavioral biologist Jim McGetrick from the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology in Vienna has now discovered. In the current issue of the renowned science magazine Plos One they report on 33 pages in detail about groundbreaking experiments, statistically solidly evaluated, the results of which can be summarized in just one sentence: Dogs are ungrateful.
This was the result of experiments in which the human study participants first operated a food dispenser by pressing a button, with which they distributed treats to the dogs. Then the animals had the opportunity to thank their humans in the same way. But what happened? Hardly any of the more than 20 Border Collies, Bernese Mountain Dogs or Golden Retrievers in the laboratory even moved a paw. Take, yes. Give, no. That did not change when animals and humans were given the opportunity to interact between the two attempts: the dogs simply took the pats with them.
No, the dog is not man’s best friend, he just pretends to be. Looking lovingly and making males doesn’t cost him anything. But when it comes to a tougher currency, i.e. food, friendliness is over.
The question remains how to deal with this bitter insight. You don’t have to go straight to the culinary solution, which was still cultivated in some areas of China, Vietnam and Korea, as well as in Germany until the post-war period. And do dogs even taste good? And also one has to acknowledge that the animals have at least one great use: They chase away the other unscrupulous free riders of mankind, the cats.