Why do adult dogs ‘play’?

Abstract

Among the Carnivora, play behaviour is usually made up of motor patterns characteristic of predatory, agonistic and courtship behaviour. Domestic dogs are unusual in that play is routinely performed by adults, both socially, with conspecifics and with humans, and also asocially, with objects. This enhanced playfulness is commonly thought to be a side effect of paedomorphosis, the perpetuation of juvenile traits into adulthood, but here we suggest that the functions of the different types of play are sufficiently distinct that they are unlikely to have arisen through a single evolutionary mechanism. Solitary play with objects appears to be derived from predatory behaviour: preferred toys are those that can be dismembered, and a complex habituation-like feedback system inhibits play with objects that are resistant to alteration. Intraspecific social play is structurally different from interspecific play and may therefore be motivationally distinct and serve different goals; for example, dogs often compete over objects when playing with other dogs, but are usually more cooperative when the play partner is human. The majority of dogs do not seem to regard competitive games played with a human partner as "dominance" contests: rather, winning possession of objects during games appears to be simply rewarding. Play may be an important factor in sociality, since dogs are capable of extracting social information not only from games in which they participate, but also from games that they observe between third parties. We suggest that the domestic dog's characteristic playfulness in social contexts is an adaptive trait, selected during domestication to facilitate both training for specific purposes, and the formation of emotionally-based bonds between dog and owner. Play frequency and form may therefore be an indicator of the quality of dog-owner relationships.

Breed differences in everyday behaviour of dogs

“…Both HDPI and TRAIN have likely been important selection criterion for the working breeds. The adult dog's play with its handler is important for both the social interaction and as a reward during training sessions (Bradshaw et al, 2015), and thus an important factor for success in the working dog. Svartberg (2006) also found that more working merits were associated with higher scores for playfulness and trainability.…”

Investigating the Function of Play Bows in Dog and Wolf Puppies (Canis lupus familiaris, Canis lupus occidentalis)

“…Canids, such as dogs and wolves, are unusual in that they exhibit high frequencies of play behaviors even as adults (for a review of dog play see [19,20]). Furthermore, they exhibit one of the most stereotyped and easily recognizable carnivore play signals, the play bow [21].…”

Using network analysis to study behavioural phenotypes: an example using domestic dogs

“…As Bradshaw et al. [71] review, play in dogs correlates with a number of variables indicating positive well-being, including obedience indicative of close social bonds with owners. Therefore, the centrality of the ‘Playful’ descriptor in our network analyses holds an interesting organizational position in the behavioural phenotype of police dogs.…”