The researchers taught 21 domestic dogs of different breeds to press a button to get a food reward. They then let the four-legged friends watch how some people pressed the button for them, some not. Then the dogs were allowed to return the favors and again press the food button for the people.
But they did this just as rarely with the generous people as they did with the less generous, as the research team reports in the journal “Plos One”. The four-legged friends also didn’t play with more generous people more often.
There are studies showing that dogs return favors to fellow dogs and that they can distinguish cooperative from uncooperative bipeds. However, the current study does not offer any evidence that dogs would combine the two services to reciprocate help from humans, according to the researchers.
Perhaps the four-legged friends also find it funny to feed the people who typically always feed them, the scientists say: “But it could also be that they did not recognize the connection between the helpful behavior of the people and the reward . “
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253277