The effect of the feeding history of dogs and of the addition of different fat sources (chicken lard (CL), rapid harvested salmon oil (RS) and non-rapid harvested salmon oil (NRS)) to their diet on the palatability of dog foods was investigated. Three diets were tested in twelve healthy adult Beagle dogs using a modified two-pan preference test: a basal diet with chicken lard (CL) and two diets with 1% salmon oil, one being with rapid-harvest salmon oil (RS) and the other with non-rapid-harvest salmon oil (NRS). Substitution of 1% chicken lard by 1% salmon oil decreased the (n-6):(n-3) fatty acid ratio from 9 to 5. The oxidative status in both oils and foods was rather low, but the difference between the two salmon oils was prominent. Absolute food intake did not differ significantly among the diets, most likely due to numeric differences in absolute food intake between test periods. Relative intake showed a significant difference between CL (38.5 % of total food intake) and NRS (28.1 %), whereas no difference was noted between RS (33.4 %) and NRS and between CL and RS. The preceding diet had no effect on diet preference.