I have the exact same reaction. There's already an anim ingame for giving him pets, though that might be a little longer than you mean, even if I'd like the ability to pet him on command, too. Be nice to have a "praise" option, regardless. You say "good boy"/etc, he gives a happy bark back. Then again, who knows how hard that's going to implement since Bethesda decided to f*** us over with 4 dialogue options per diamond. It already takes forever to get him to fetch something. Interact > Talk > Fetch > Items...... Can't just slap on a new dialogue line. You'd have to make a whole new tree. #foreversalty Solid suggestion, though.