The Importance of Play for Your Dogs
Play is important...and fun!
Animals that live in natural environments are constantly interacting with the world around them. This is healthy behavior, and manifests itself usually as hunting for food, exploring new territories, and/or interacting socially with other animals. When the ability to interact is taken away from a pet, the animal will react with boredom, depression and anxiety. When a kitten is exploring the household, for example, it may display “inquisitive exploration” in which it searches for changes in the environment, or “inspective” exploration after introduction to a new stimulus. It is inquisitive exploration which can often lead to play in animals. Play may help an animal overcome the negative effects of isolation, and may also affect something called brain plasticity, which is the way in which the brain organizes behavioral learning. Basically, play is important in your pet’s ability to learn new tasks and incorporate them into their everyday life (shake, sit, off!)
Play is easy to spot, but not easy to define. In general, play is defined by a set of characteristics which include but are not limited to, the following:
1) Movements used in play are often borrowed from other behaviors, including predation, fighting, fleeing, reproduction, and eating. You have probably recognized this in housecats which pounce on each other, or in dogs that wrestle each other to the ground and chase each other.
2) It most likely occurs in relaxed and familiar conditions. Most people know that a cat is more playful at home than anywhere else. When a dog is introduced to a new environment it will explore before it plays.
3) Play appears to involve feelings of pleasure.
4) Play may be dangerous! People often bring a cat into the clinic because it has jumped off something in play and hurt its leg. There is even the occasional owner who was jumping up and down to excite its pet, and accidently landed on them. This highlights the importance of setting up a safe environment for play.
5) Play often contains elements of surprise (think of a stalking kitten or a game of tag with your dog.)
The reasons animals seek play are also diverse and include the need to use excess energy and exercise, the desire for pleasure, the innate desire to seek out a new stimulus which may be advantageous in life, and of course, practice! Have you ever slept in late and then sat on the couch feeling groggy all day because you were not active. Animals, too, need exercise to feel their best. Also, just as people window shop for things that catch their eye, animals are on the prowl for new things as well, even if they have no idea what they are looking for. This behavior is healthy. And, just as a karate student needs to practice their moves over and over again before they can be successful in a fight, our pets feel the instinctive need to practice their survival skills.
