Most dogs love food, but Labradors, in particular, seem to consider eating a sport. Olive is a golden Labrador owned by children’s book author Josh Gottsegen— and last year, he filmed a video to show how food-motivated she can be!
In the video, Josh films Olive as he lists some of her favorite foods. Pizza, beef jerky, ice cream — anything salty, cheesy, sweet or delicious is definitely on the list.
Honestly, thinking about the items is making my mouth water (forgive me, it’s almost lunch), but Olive’s reaction, on the other hand, is adorably out-of-this-world.
As Josh lists Olive’s favorite foods, her tongue starts going, licking her lips at just the thought.
She stares at her owner with a fixated gaze, imagining a delicious buffet in her mind.
In the caption of the video, Josh wrote:
“When listing my dog Olive’s (Labrador) favorite foods in the entire world, she seemed to be imagining a 5-star buffet.”
At one point in the video, Josh decides to switch it up. Instead of delicious treats, he starts listing some of Olive’s not-so-favorite foods, e.g. broccoli, peas, salad, Brussel sprouts.
At the mention of healthy veggies, the dog immediately turns away.
She has no interest in these healthy snacks, giving Josh a deadpan stare.
After listing a few veggies, he goes back to what she likes best.
“Fish sandwich?” he asks her— and the tongue immediately reappears.
Josh has trained Olive to do a variety of other tricks, including smiling on demand. But all fun and games aside, Labradors can truly have a relationship with food that is stronger than that of other dogs.
Eleanor Raffan, a veterinary surgeon and geneticist at the University of Cambridge, had been studying obesity in humans before being inspired to investigate the issue amongst dogs.
She and her colleagues tested a variety of Labrador retrievers, examining a gene which had already been known to affect weight in humans.
They discovered that the Labradors with a certain gene variation (called POMC) had a unique relationship to food.
Generally, they were heavier than other dogs, but according to a survey by owners, they were also more motivated by food. The dogs’ owners reported them engaging in food-related activities, such as begging or scavenging in the garbage, more often than dogs that did not have the POMC variation.
In their sample, the POMC gene occurred in roughly 23% of Labrador retrievers and only a few other types of flat-coat retrievers closely related to Labs. While the gene sounds like it could cause problematic behavior, an overwhelming amount of Labrador retrievers chosen to be assistance dogs also show the POMC gene variation. Raffan explained:
“It’s possible that these dogs are more food motivated and therefore more likely to be selected for assistance-dog breeding programs, which historically train using rewards.”
Olive’s easy trainability and love of food make me wonder if she’s a Lab with the POMC variation. Whatever the case, there’s no denying that the footage is out-of-this-world cute.
Watch the video below!
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