UNUSUAL
Arescue dog has developed a unique habit of loafing around with a piece of "emotional support" bread for company.
Ben the Wonder Dog is the toast of TikTok after sharing a series of videos showcasing his unique habit—and the world kneads to know about it.
In one of the labrador mix's latest clips, Ben's owner revealed the origins of his four-legged friend's bread-fully good habit.
And while it may have surprised viewers, research shows it's not entirely uncommon to see a dog develop a particular attachment to bread as a plaything. In 2012, in a study published in the journal Animal Cognition, researchers detailed how our canine companions tend to prefer toys that taste like food and can be torn apart.
They theorized that this was because dogs perceive toys in much the same way that wolves look at prey. Toys that were harder and less easy to manipulate were often quickly discarded.
Researchers reached this conclusion after a series of experiments involved kennel-housed Labrador retrievers. The dogs were each tasked with playing with one toy for a 30-second period until their interaction with the item ceased.
Ben the dog who sleeps with a piece of emotional support bread. The Labrador mix has been enjoying the company of baked goods since 2020.BENTHEWONDERDOG
During the test, the dogs interacted with a variety of toy types. What researchers found was that the toys offering more avenues of stimulation, be it smell, color, texture or odor kept canines engaged for a longer period of time.
An ordinary bread roll may not seem that engaging to most humans but, to a dog, it ticks all of the boxes save, perhaps, for a lack of vibrant color.
Yet Ben's love of bread borders on obsession.
According to a video posted to the dog's TikTok channel, his "emotional support" bread habit began three years ago, when his human companion bought KFC home.
They offered Ben some chicken, but he "just wanted the biscuit that was on the counter." His owner says he had never had bread prior to that night but, after sniffing at the biscuit, jumped up onto the counter to retrieve it.
Ben didn't eat the biscuit though. Instead, he kept it. Ever since then, his owners say he has needed a bit of bread to "carry round and sleep with."
The video claims that Ben has had a piece of emotional support bread every night since then but has "never eaten it" with the dog's owner concluding: "It's just for emotional support."
Though it may be an unusual habit, Ben's love of bread has won him plenty of fans on social media. This latest clip explaining the origins of this pure-bread dog's habit has been watched over 1.5 million times, with fans flooding the comments section with messages of support.
"He was a bread baker in a past life," one viewer concluded with another lamenting: "I wish bread was strictly an external emotional support for me but it's an internal one."
A third commented: "Emotional support carbs have too helped me through some tough times" with a fourth, meanwhile, confessing: "My dog did this with a gingerbread man she stole from our gingerbread village one year. She just took it places and slept with it."
