Treats or affection? Understanding reward preferences in Indian free-ranging dogs
Food grabs attention fast, but daily petting builds equal value after just one visit.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers watched 30 free-ranging dogs in India. Each dog met two people. One person gave food. The other gave petting.
The dogs chose which person to approach across five days. The team counted how often each dog picked food versus petting.
What they found
On day one, every dog ran straight to the food person. Food won by a landslide.
By day two, the dogs split their choices evenly. Half went to food. Half went to petting. This pattern held for the rest of the week.
How this fits with other research
Walley et al. (2005) used the same forced-choice setup with humans. They found that even when tasks got harder, preferred items still worked. Nandi's dogs show this too—food stayed powerful even when they had to choose.
Mueller et al. (2000) showed hungry rats cared more about food size than predictability. The street dogs flip this idea. Once fed on day one, they valued petting just as much as more food.
Fine et al. (2005) found pigeons sometimes like unpredictable rewards. The dogs show the opposite—they start with the sure thing (food) then become flexible, accepting both food and social rewards.
Why it matters
When you first meet a client's dog, bring treats. After one good session, your attention becomes just as powerful. This saves money on treats and builds real relationships. Try switching to praise and play after the first meeting.
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After the first session with a new dog, start mixing in a large share social praise instead of treats
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Free-ranging dogs (FRDs) constitute approximately 80% of the global dog population. They are freely breeding and live without direct human supervision, making them ideal for studying how factors such as the lack of supervision, unmanaged breeding, and variable human contact shape dog-human relationships. Living in proximity to humans, FRDs in India frequently interact with people, and previous studies suggest humans to be a crucial part of their social environment. Positive reinforcement in the form of food and petting is commonly received from humans. In this study, we investigated which reward, food or petting, is preferred more during short-term and repeated interactions. Field trials were conducted on 61 adult FRDs. During the familiarization phase (Days 1 to 5), two unfamiliar individuals each provided either food or petting to the dogs. This was followed by a series of choice tests (Days 1 to 10), in which dogs could choose between the two individuals. On the first day, dogs significantly preferred the food provider. However, from the second day onward, preference was no different from chance, suggesting that the strength of food as a reward was reduced. These findings suggest that while food is a stronger short-term motivator, repeated interactions involving either food or petting contribute equally to the formation of positive social associations over time. This study sheds light on the development of the dog-human relationship in Indian FRD populations and highlights the nuanced role of different rewards in fostering affiliative associations. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10071-026-02046-4.
Animal Cognition, 2026 · doi:10.1007/s10071-026-02046-4