According to Horowitz and Hecht (2016), even though humans have been studying other animals and their behavior for decades and even centuries, only recently have researchers looked to Man’s best friend to find out more. For dog owners, interactions between owner and dog are fairly standard, and one important aspect of the relationship between humans and dogs is playing together. Horowitz and Hecht (2016) wanted to understand not only how humans and dogs play together, but how this play can benefit both owner and pet.
Horowitz and Hecht (2016) designed a study to examine dog-human play. To gather data about how humans and dogs play, the authors created a website where dog owners were encouraged to post short 30s to 60s videos of themselves playing with their dogs. Of the 239 submissions they received on the website, 178 videos of bouts of play were used to calculate the results. Human participants varied in terms of geography, age, and gender. Because the videos were self-submitted without direction by the researchers of what play was defined as, the researchers had to assign the 178 bouts of play into a much smaller number of categories so that they could be quantified and compared. The data they examined featured over 30 distinct types of play, and even though there were many familiar types such as “roughhouse,” “chase,” “fetch,” and “tug,” a new type of play was identified that the researchers labeled as “tease” (782). This type of play centered around a human lightly bothering or provoking the dog by engaging in behaviors such as grabbing the dog’s paw or tail, faking a toss, or gently pushing or tapping the dog. The researchers also noted how playing together appeared to affect both the human and the dog in the video. Between the categories of positive, neutral, and negative, there were several aspects of play that contributed to positive-affect results; higher levels of physical contact, close proximity, owner movement, and higher-levels of touch.
Understanding not only what the different ways that humans and dogs play together are, but also how owners perceive these interactions, can help us understand our relationship with dogs as a whole. It is important for humans to play with other humans when they are younger just as it is important for dogs to play with other dogs, as play helps development in both humans and dogs (Horowitz & Hecht, 2016). The results of this study indicate that not only are there are a plethora of ways that humans and dogs play together, but different types of play, as well as specific aspects of the play itself, can have an impact on how owners see their time spent with their pets.
Sources:
Horowitz, A., & Hecht, J. (2016). Examining dog-human play: The characteristics, affect, and vocalizations of a unique interspecific interaction. Animal Cognition, 19(4), 779-788. doi:http://0-dx.doi.org.sophia.agnesscott.edu/10.1007/s10071-016-0976-3
