The eyes burn, the back aches; after hours it would be time to shut down the computer, but one more round still seems possible, right? Addiction afflicts not only nicotine and alcohol, but also behaviors that do not involve the ingestion of substances with health risks. Unlike excessive shopping or sport, gaming and gambling addiction are recognized as addictive disorders. Yet how and why such behaviors arise remains comparatively poorly understood.
Researchers from the University of Bern and the Vetmeduni Vienna have now chosen a special approach to learn something about substance-free dependencies: they studied the drive to play in dogs. “Household dogs display many complex behavioral characteristics that they share with us humans, and they are often used as model species to study compulsive behavior, cognitive aging, ADHD, neuroticism, and autism,” the authors write. In behavioral research, model animals are used to study behaviors and their context and to transfer the findings to humans or other animals.
The Study
For the study, which appeared in the journal Scientific Reports, 105 dogs were examined. According to the researchers, 33 displayed addictive-like behavior. Among them were particularly prominent: breeds such as terriers and herding dogs, which benefit from a pronounced drive to play during work. Dogs aged between one and ten years were selected, including many, according to the handlers, with extremely intense play behavior.
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The researchers presented the 105 dogs with tasks and observed them. Is it a ball junkie who jumps and barks when he sees a toy—and whines when it is gone? And do these ball junkies display behaviors that would be regarded as addictive in humans? Do they perhaps forget the full bowl when the toy tempts them? Do they start to whine when the toy is in sight but out of reach? And how well can they entertain themselves without a toy? In addition, the dog owners filled out questionnaires about their pets.
What Does It Show?
That dogs develop an addiction, just like humans, such conclusions the researchers did not want to draw from the results. Addiction always involves not only the behavior itself but also harmful consequences. This could be the case, for instance, if excessive playing strains joints and the relationship with the owners. Whether one can truly speak of game-addicted dogs remains to be determined by further research. The researchers propose, as a next step, wolf research to investigate where the “excessive toy-oriented behavior” comes from and what benefit it may have once had.
