Dog Play
From a young age, dogs engage in play with one another. Dog play is made up primarily of mock fights. It is believed that this behavior, which is most common in puppies, is training for important behaviors later in life. Research on puppy play has shown that puppies do not engage equally in both dominant and submissive roles in fights; rather, puppies will tend to start play fights with weaker puppies they believe they can dominate.
Additionally, puppies will intervene in play engaged by other pairs. In these situations, the puppies overwhelmingly aid the dominant dog. Puppies do not show reciprocity in interventions, suggesting that they prefer to be dominant in a fight, and are being opportunistic in the short-term. In the long-term, intervention may aid the puppies in learning coordination.
A common behavior among domesticated dogs is chasing their own tails. Researchers are not completely certain why dogs chase their own tail, however some research studies found a link between tail-chasing and high cholesterol. A study found that when dogs experience an increase in activity of hormones tied to the "fight or flight" response, it causes dogs to chase their tails more often.
Read more about this topic: Dog Behavior
Famous quotes containing the words dog and/or play:
““It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognise out of a number of facts which are incidental and which are vital.... I would call your attention to the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident.””
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“They should not play life, or study it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly live it from beginning to end. How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living? Methinks this would exercise their minds as much as mathematics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)