If it seems like your dog is as attached to its favorite toy as your kids are to their blankie or stuffed animal, it might not be all in your head. It could even be something akin to addiction. Some dogs show behaviors towards their toys that actually resemble behavioral addictions in humans, including gambling, video games, and our beloved smartphones.
“What characterises a dog with a high tendency for addictive-like behaviour is that they seem to attribute extreme salience to their toys,” Stefanie Riemer, a behavioral biologist and Messerli Research Institute in Austria tells Popular Science. “They exhibit craving for them even at the expense of other rewards or interaction with their owner.”
What addiction looks like in dogs
Riemer is a co-author of a study of 105 dogs published today in the journal Scientific Reports. While there is anecdotal evidence that suggests dogs display addictive-like behaviors towards their toys, such as whining if a toy is out of reach or playing despite being injured, this study put it to the test.
“It started out just from scientific curiosity. I think the idea was born together with my friend Maya Bräm, a veterinarian specialising in behavioral medicine,” Riemer explains. “The term ‘ball junkie’ for dogs that seem obsessed with their toys is commonly used in lay language, which would imply an addiction, but no study to date has actually investigated this phenomenon.”
To learn more, Riemer and her colleagues identified the common symptoms of behavioral addictions in humans, including cravings and having difficulty controlling or stopping a behavior. They then compared these human behaviors with the actions of 105 dogs (56 males and 49 females) who were described as motivated to play with toys. The canines ranged from 12 months old to 10 years old and the most common breeds were malinois, border collies, and Labrador retrievers.
They studied the dogs’ behaviors towards a toy that each of them had selected at the beginning of the test. The team also surveyed owners about their dogs’ everyday behaviors towards these toys.
Constant craving
They found that 33 dogs exhibited addictive-like behaviors. In the dogs, this included being excessively fixated on their toy, showing a lack of interest in food or playing with their owner, making persistent efforts to access their toy when it was not there, and not calming down 15 minutes after all toys were removed.
“They [dogs] exhibit craving for them even at the expense of other rewards or interaction with their owner. Even when their toy was clearly unavailable, they still tried to access it, foregoing available food or social play with their owner,” explains Riemer. “In fact, two dogs even managed to destroy the box and get their toy.”
A malinois making great effort to obtain the toy in the box and eventually destroying the box. CREDIT: Alja Mazzini.
The team also found that puppyhood behaviors (dogs aged 2 months to 6 months) were linked to a higher tendency for addictive-like behavior later in life.
More research is needed to determine the reasons why some dogs will excessively engage with their toys and whether or not this can negatively impact their well-being. The team is submitting a follow-up study that focused on demographics including breed, finding that Shepherd group dogs (German shepherds, Belgian shepherds, etc.) and not herding dogs like border collies were the most motivated to play.
[ Related: Why your dog gets so excited to see you. ]
What dog owners can do
As for what dog owners can take away from this, Reimer says that on a practical level, toy play can be a good reinforcer for canines.
“As it happens, for one of my dogs, the ball is the greatest reward although I never promoted it – and I use this high value in everyday life, for example to reward him for not chasing wildlife,” says Reimer.
She advises against too much repetitive ball throwing, largely due to strain on the dogs joints due to the stop-and-go motion and a potential risk of more addictive-like tendencies.
“I would suggest to focus especially on cooperative play, such as tugging or playing search games so that chasing is not the only aspect,” she says. “So while I would not say that you should never play with a ball with your dog, use it wisely.”
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