Dogs could be man's best friend in more ways than one, with a potential treatment for obesity being linked to canines.
People domesticated dogs some 10,000 years when we took a wolf and began to breed them.
They also share many common characteristics with humans which has led to new research on how a genetic mutation profoundly changes the way Labradors and flatcoated retrievers behave around food.
Trinity College Dublin Professor of Biochemistry Luke O'Neill told The Pat Kenny Show dogs can teach us a lot about our own health.
"Dogs are very wonderful creatures, as you know many pet owners love their dogs for all kinds of reasons," he said.
"It turns out there [is] an added benefit: certain breeds of dog get certain diseases [which are] more common than in other breeds.
"Scientists have studied these dogs to try to figure out why and, lo and behold, there's a difference in a gene in a particular dog, say, the same thing happens in humans.
"So, we're learning from dogs what might cause certain diseases; it turn out they're out best friend in more ways than one, really".
A Shichon dog with an elderly owner on a couch, 18-05-18. Image: Magdalena Bujak / AlamyProf O'Neill said obesity is one of the areas that could be benefit.
"The big one is obesity... certain breeds of dog, in particular Labradors, they keep eating and they're at risk of obesity," he said.
"They found a gene called POMC... the gene is defective in those dogs.
"What POMC is actually doing is it's making them hungry all the time and they can't stop eating.
"The second is they burn less calories when they're resting because of POMC as well.
"So, it turns out if you've too much POMC it makes you feel hungry and then you don't burn as many calories; that's the reason they think why Labradors are more inclined to become obese".
A spaniel dog on a couch, 8-12-20. Image: Oleksiy Boyko / AlamyProf O'Neill said humans and dogs are similar enough that such insights can be used for both.
"We're all mammals and we all have a common ancestor many, many millions of years ago.
"We're more similar to mice by the way than dogs strangely, but there is similarities.
"Humans have the POMC gene as well.
"Now because of the work on dogs they're looking [at the gene] in humans and POMC is a key appetite regulator in humans as well.
"Through that study on Labradors the study has shifted to POMC; there are very rare cases in humans where POMC is misbehaving and that's causing obesity in humans.
"What that means if you could block POMC and modulate it, you may have a treatment for obesity," he added.
The POMC mutation was found to alter a pathway in the dogs' brains associated with body weight regulation.
