Have you ever eaten a dog treat?

This question was brought to my attention about 4 months ago when I was visiting the USA at a girl's house that I have known for a very long time.

My doggo gets probably considerably more treats than she deserves. She is just too cute for me to not hand them out and well, she is extremely well-behaved so why not? I had never really considered what it is about them that makes them so desirable because I'll tell you, she is relatively indifferent to dog food. Sometimes I have to be super convincing in order to get her to eat it.

When prompted with "Have you ever eaten a dog treat" i realized that no, I have not... not ever. So me and my friend tried one and well, I don't know how to describe the taste but "delicious" would not be one of the adjectives that I would use.

So what is it that makes my (and almost all other) dog(s) love these things so much? That sounds like a question for scientists employed at Purina. The thing that this conundrum makes me think about even moreso is the fact that if my fluff-bunny get's all gaga about these relatively tasteless and super-dry biscuits.... what on earth does regular dog food taste like? It must just be awful.

In the meantime, my little fluff-lovey will continue to get completely undeserved treatie-pies well into the foreseeable future. However, after eating one of them (and spitting it out, mind you) I really don't understand what is going on with a dog's taste buds. Perhaps that is why they are always trying to eat 2-week old chewing gum off the sidewalk.