Dogs At Play

Humphrey had a particularly busy weekend, and his guardian somehow managed to keep up with his busy social engagements schedule. He had a wonderful time at a dinner party, where he spent some time with his good friend (and fellow Willowdale resident) Kramer, both indoors and out.

In dogs, social play involves a combination of competition and cooperation. The competitive side of play usually involves some combination of activities such as play-fighting over an object (a toy, for instance), with activities like tug-of-war or running away with the object. Dogs playing may take turns play-biting or dominant gestures. But there’s also a cooperative side to dog play. The cooperative side involves things like self-handicapping and role reversal. I notice this a great deal in watching Humphrey’s rough-housing with other dogs. Once a game of chasing and wrestling (for lack of a better descriptive term) begins, one will roll over periodically, as though injured or lame, letting the other dog jump on him or her. One some time passes in playing the lame dog, the roles switch. In most cases, the dogs seem to readily accept a role change. [1]

Humphrey & Kilo at Play

An interesting research finding [2] is that dogs play differently with humans than with other dogs (the proper term for "members of the same species," by the way, is "conspecifics").  When playing with humans, dogs are less competitive and less territorial, and less likely to want to hold an object, such as a toy.

there is also an important biological response to play. Play actually can increase or decrease stress in a dog, depending on the nature of the games. One study, which looked at play between working dogs and their human guardians found that the type of interaction during play periods affected dogs’ hormone production. When the play involved a lot of discipline of the dogs, the stress hormone cortisol was increased by the end of the session. Cortisol increases (in humans and dogs) in the presence of stress. Conversely, when the play involved affiliative and affectionate behavior, dogs’ cortisol levels decreased, indicating stress reduction.[i] This suggests that, in terms of a dog’s well-being, guardians should be mindful of the types of games and interactions they have.

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[i] Typically, behaviors associated with control, authority or aggression increase cortisol concentrations, while play and affiliative behavior decrease cortisol levels. In this study, the researchers measured cortisol levels in the dogs’ saliva. For details, see: Zsuzsanna Horvath, Antal Doka, Adam Miklosi, (2008). Affiliative and disciplinary behavior of human handlers during play with their dog affects cortisol concentrations in opposite directions, Hormones and Behavior, Volume 54, Issue 1: 107-114, DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.02.002.

Also see: Jones A.C., Josephs R.A. (2005). Are we dog's best friend? Predicting canine cortisol response from human affiliative and punitive behaviors. Current Issues and Research in Veterinary Behavior: Papers presented at the 5th International Veterinary Behavior Meeting, 194-197.

[1] Erika B. Bauer & Barbara B. Smuts, (2007). Cooperation and competition during dyadic play in domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, Animal Behaviour, 73, Issue 3: 489-499, doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.09.006
[2] Nicola J. Rooney, John W.S. Bradshaw & Ian H. Robinson. (2000).A comparison of dog–dog and dog–human play behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 66: 235–248.