Does flavour matter to dogs?

Even though dogs have one-fifth of the taste buds that humans do, the taste is super important to dogs. Compared to humans who have 9,000 taste buds, the average dog has 1,700 taste buds.

Similar to human receptors, dogs can taste sweet, sour, salty, and bitter profiles. The key difference is they have specific receptors on the tip of their tongue that can taste water (or water content) which is key to them maintaining the right level of hydration in their bodies. For example, if your pooch is eating sweet or salty kibble, its taste buds will send signals to its brain to drink more water.

Compared to humans, dogs aren't great at being able to taste the saltiness in food. This is due to the fact that their traditional diet contains a high portion of meat which naturally contains the salts they need (and hence they do not need to seek out additional salt).

Of course, most dogs have individual food preferences (usually linked to what they have been fed as puppies or during their racing career), but scientific studies have shown a preference for beef and pork over chicken or lamb. They also prefer warm moist foods over cold dry food (which probably explains why they like human food so much!).

Dogs do get bored of eating the same food every day, so if you feel like making meal times a little more interesting you can try:

Avoid any sudden changes to your dog's diet as this can cause stomach upset and anxiety. Start by introducing any new foods slowly so your pooch can build up a tolerance.