Feature

Your Dog, the Gourmet

If he has such a sensitive nose, why is he eating your old socks?

By Christina Kosma and Michele Foley

Flavor is 80 percent smell and 20 percent taste. So does that mean dogs—which can pick up levels of TNT as small as a few parts per trillion, detect evidence of cancer in human urine, and sniff out the presence of health-threatening molds—have a better sense of taste than we do? And if they do, then why are they feasting on dirty socks? The answer to the question of what, exactly, dogs taste is not a simple one.

Dr. Katherine Houpt, a professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, has done some of the most extensive research to date on dogs’ palates. In her experiments, Houpt places different foods in front of a group of dogs and notes which bowl they eat from first, and how often they continue to eat when it’s refilled.

Contrary to their reputation, dogs, Houpt found, are discriminating eaters. They like meat above all else, and seem to prefer beef to pork, pork to lamb, and lamb to chicken. Last on their list is horsemeat.

They also appreciate a little novelty. “Despite their liking for a basic beef diet, variety is important,” says Houpt. Dogs will eat carrots, blueberries, and peanut butter, and appear to enjoy star anise, rosemary, tarragon, and oregano. But they’ll eat them for only a week before tiring of them. They altogether avoid spicier things like cinnamon and chili pepper.

Developing foods that appeal to a dog’s palate is big business —$14.7 billion was spent last year on pet food in the United States. Most of the big pet food companies conduct their own experiments and doggie focus groups, the results of which are trade secrets in a competitive industry. But to be truly successful, new products must appeal not just to dogs, but also to their human owners. The two species are often at odds when it comes to dog food.

Dogs, for instance, love the aroma and “silky mouthfeel” of fat, says Gerry Nash, owner of pet food producer Animal Food Services. “And they prefer moist food.” Nevertheless, approximately 80 percent of dog owners buy dry dog food, made mostly of grain, which is cheaper, lasts longer, and is less messy and smelly. So to try to reach a compromise, most pet food manufacturers spray their dry kibble with emulsified fats and smoky meat flavorings.

But what about the other doggy choices —the ones that turn our stomachs? While dogs have more than 200 million scent receptors, compared with our 5 million, they have far fewer taste buds. They have one-sixth of the 6,000 that humans have. And if having a large number of taste buds means greater sensitivity (human “supertasters,” for example, have up to twice as many numerous, densely packed receptors, which makes them far more likely to be picky eaters), this might be the reason why dogs eat trash.

On the other hand, humans also eat a lot of things that smell bad, notes Bruce Halpern, a researcher in chemosensory perception at Cornell University. And they smell bad because they are, in fact, rotting. Think Limburger cheese, nam pla (Thai fish sauce), and dry-aged beef.

One of the things that aging meat, other proteins, and foods that are rotting (or fermenting —a process of decay) have in common is a high level of glutamic acid, which both people and dogs experience as umami (a Japanese word for one of our five basic tastes, meaning meaty). Glutamic acid, which is naturally occurring, is most familiar to us in the form of the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate, or MSG. As it turns out, dogs may be enjoying a savoriness in rotting garbage or dirty gym socks that, Halpern says, is “really not so different from what we consume.”

Comments

Unlike the dogs in the article, mine LOVES spicy food. If I eat Thai she actually barks at me because she wants some!

jlp8 Sep 20, 2006 10:51AM | link

Dogs, I am sorry, to say are scavengers. Over time they have developed a tast for well fermented, rotting food. My dogs won't normally touch green beans, but let them get really funky and they are a goutmet treat.

tjknab Sep 20, 2006 10:52AM | link

I'm glad somebody finally did some reporting on this issue. Every time I see a commercial for a new fancy brand of dog food, I find myself yelling at the television something along the lines of: "But they eat their own poop! And moldy raccoons! And also cat poop!" This piece explains a lot.

jrnorton23 Sep 20, 2006 01:49PM | link

Nearly everything I eat contains a goodly amount of not just spice, but *habanero* peppers. My dog happily eats any leftovers I give him.

suzqueue Sep 20, 2006 03:53PM | link

I admit to buying fancy dog food for my dog but only because it has better nutritional content....having said that, the monster actually has a prefernce system to eating. If he knows you have sashimi grade tuna, he will ignore the pieces of bread on the table, and if he knows you have steak, well, damn if he's going to touch that tuna, and if he knows that you have foie gras (it's still legal in NYC), he'll forget about the steak. Otherwise, nothing beats First Ave. East Village garbage. His picky palate is my fault entirely.

YaRoo Sep 22, 2006 11:07AM | link

My boxer girl not only has an excellent sense of smell and highly developed tastebuds, she has the memory of a steel trap. She watches what is put away in the refridgerator and inventories it in her memory bank. She watches what is wrapped up in foil, plastic wrap, etc. and she knows how much is left over. She will paw the fridge when she's ready to eat and won't stop squealing until you give her what she knows is in there--and all of it. If there were no leftovers after the meal, then she does not paw the fridge, she does not squeal, and she'll eat plain ol' kibble and canned dog food. She's terribly spoiled and it's all my fault. She is a true chowhound.

Bite Me May 28, 2007 07:47AM | link

I had chowhound boxers, too. She pulled a container out of the trash from an order of very, very spicy chicken tikka masala and licked it clean. It was very entertaining to watch her chomp on grapes, squishing them between her teeth, and crunch on the end of an ice cream cone.

We had another boxer who stole a 2 lb tenderloin and a chocolate cake off the counter. Thank goodness she didn't nibble on more than a slice or two.

sillyrabbit May 28, 2007 12:18PM | link

Grapes are very bad for dogs.

Mr_J Jun 03, 2007 09:22AM | link

I had a husky-mix who would eat anything. One day the toddler opened the fridge for her, and in addition to a whole raw tri-tip she devoured a carton of Sichuan chicken (so much for dogs not liking spicy stuff). My current chowhound is a much pickier eater -- she doesn't like raw tuna, for example; she does like watermelon and strawberries, though.

Ruth Lafler Jun 07, 2007 04:43PM | link

My dog also loves spicy food. I make mostly Thai food at home and I like to let him taste some of the ingredients while I'm cooking, just to see his reactions to such strong and unusual flavours. As it turns out, a homemade, spicy red curry paste is one of his favourite things! I had some leftovers in the fridge that were going bad, so I gave them to him, and I think he happily and eagerly devoured a few tbsp worth of the stuff straight (with a slightly pained facial expression but much enthusiasm all the same).

vorpal Jul 19, 2007 04:00PM | link

My yellow lab who looks just like the photo has very definite tastes. He likes grassy tastes like asparagus, lettuce ribs and green beans. Currently also liking roasted cauliflower and summer squash, He will run off to find a patch of his favorite thick bladed grass in a field (millet I think) and actually bite it off with his back molars- looks ecstatic like a kitty with catnip. He is not doing this to throw up- he actually raises his nose to scent it out. He spits out cucumber. Likes strawberries, but spits them out if you give him a whole one with the green part attached. Sniffs out ripe tomatoes and picks them off the vine. Spits out flavorless grover ystore tomatoes. My old lab would pick the ripe cantaloupes in the garden and bring them to the back door. Barely left a tooth mark. If we did not claim within a few hours, she would take it back and eat it. Of course she also sniffed out the baby ducklings I did not realize were in a dense bush and ate all but one.....

torty Sep 19, 2007 06:09PM | link

This is a great piece. Growing up, our golden retrievers would eat almost anything except store bought vegetables without salad dressing. Field grass and feces from many critters were always on the doggie menu. The best treats, occasionally 'retrieved' and brought home for the humans, were voles, gophers, mice and the occasional live bunny.

DiveFan Oct 04, 2007 09:27PM | link

My bloodhound LOVES baked goods. We had countless freshly-baked loaves swiped from the counter until we learned! Now they are left to cool on top of the fridge!!! Our hound mix has a major sweet tooth--he loves cucumber and any kind of melon. He gets "liver brownies" with his kibble, or mashed sweet potato. Spoiled, I know...

foodslut Oct 11, 2007 07:46AM | link

Mine does not like hot stuff on its own (e.g. a left over hot sauce on a plate), but has no problems if it is part of some meaty dish - other than having to lick his chops a number of times.

If I make stock in the evening, he'll make sure I keep an eye on it, knowing there will be some scraps and licks for him when I strain it and clean up.

Crunchy vegetables and fruit are a favorite - bell pepper, cucumber, cabbage cores, etc., not that he's all that good a chewing or digesting it. I don't think it is just the sweet. It seems to be as much the texture and juiciness.

Grass is limited to the tender tips. He'll accept all the wild berries we give him, and pick a few of the low lying ones himself.

He's selective about scat. Kitty rocha is fine, but nothing from dogs.

paulj Oct 18, 2007 04:39PM | link