Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys • Hacker News Board

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#101

Post by micromacrofoot » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 1:35 AM UTC

gigatree wrote: post #96

micromacrofoot wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's more nuanced - "pitbull" isn't a single breed, it's a category none of the dogs in the category were bred to kill indiscriminately - they were expected to obey handlers just like any other working breed and there are a number of fighting breeds outside of the category as well

Obey handlers to do what?

to not bite people! it's the compact between species that is the reason dogs were allowed to become dogs!

but yes it's a bit irresponsible to allow the proliferation of some strong breeds, breeding should be a serious crime... these dogs are all over the southern us

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#102

Post by dwd » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 1:39 AM UTC

captainclam wrote: post #5

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #2

If there's a frisbee or ball in sight, my female border collie won't even attend to basic bodily needs. And she'll chase the object while she's in pain and exhausted or shivering with cold and not notice. She has lupoid onychodystrophy which causes her nails to come in deformed and split and painful and she'll still obsess on some running play/task while she's got bleeding paws and can barely walk. An an owner we hav…

The two dogs I know that share this behavior are border collies.

Have a non-working line border collie, and he has had zero interest in chasing a ball his whole life. All he ever wanted to do was run or chase birds. He failed all his training, didn't even get through puppy preschool as he's not that food motivated either.

Every cattle dog I have known has been ball-obsessed.

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#103

Post by _whiteCaps_ » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 1:42 AM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #72

philiplu wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry - my 9 year old golden doodle still doesn't get the concept of fetch. He's an expert at keep-away though. Throw the toy or ball, he'll chase it gleefully, then come back to just out of reach, drop the toy, and hover over it waiting for me to make a move at it. He'll lunge for the toy, back up a bit, drop it, and the cycle continues.

4 year old golden doodle, exactly the same thing.

I spend an hour in a field with my golden doodle, refusing to chase her. She had to bring the ball back to me and drop it. I threw the ball twice in that hour. The rest of the time she spent running past me trying to coax me into chasing her.

The least food motivated dog I've ever owned. Nothing brought her back, not even cheese.

Have fun turkey99!

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#104

Post by labrador » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 1:47 AM UTC

As a recovering addict/alcoholic, I completely "get" these dogs and think maybe if this idea spreads it could help non-addicts understand our obsessive/compulsive behavior without as much judgement.

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#105

Post by callamdelaney » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 2:42 AM UTC

mrlatinos wrote: post #71

callamdelaney wrote: post #17

We have a springer, cocker and a sprocker. We knew that addiction to these things were a problem and so we didn’t allow it to develop. I do think that people who are constantly throwing balls, especially with a wanger, are idiots.

You know your dogs' breeds were susceptible to enjoying fetch so you never played fetch with them. Ah yes those poor idiots who actually work their dogs for their bred purpose.

They get to retrieve things but not constantly like I often see people doing. Eg throw ball with wanger [0], dog gets ball, person throws ball again ad infinitum. The constant thing is the key, we don’t let an unhealthy obsession develop is the point I'm making which looking back on my comment is pretty obvious.

Spaniels are all rounders in terms of their working - they’re as happy to flush, work ground or retrieve. 2/3 (and have done some light work) of ours are reasonably well trained but as mentioned they’re normally happier having a good sniff than picking up a tennis ball.

Probably living in the countryside that’s more interesting than chasing a plastic ball about all day.

On the topic of ad-infinitum ball throwing there are literally people automating this task [1] which I think is pretty terrible.

[0] https://amzn.eu/d/bOzRoXt [1] https://amzn.eu/d/b2dq3tC

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#106

Post by hshdhdhehd » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 3:22 AM UTC

actionfromafar wrote: post #86

teekert wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dogs were domesticated by sort of not letting them grow up. We selected for the ones that retained puppy features into adulthood. They don't loose big eyes, hanging ears, retained playful/less aggressive behavior that is better for living with siblings. Perhaps the obsession with fetching came with that?

Also, Humans were domesticated by sort of not letting them grow up. Maybe that’s the reason we get along so well.

Adulting is a word for this reason!

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#107

Post by hshdhdhehd » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 3:23 AM UTC

testing22321 wrote: post #99

brap wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you never trained them to pull, and they never observed that behavior? Would they still want to do it?

We got a purebred Aussie sheepdog (kelpie) that failed its tests at a year old. They were going to shoot her, so she became our family pet. She was obsessed with rounding things up - cats, ducks, kids, you name it. Part of her dna for sure.

Cute breed. I saw one at the dog park this weekend. The most energetic one!

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#108

Post by hshdhdhehd » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 3:26 AM UTC

callamdelaney wrote: post #17

We have a springer, cocker and a sprocker. We knew that addiction to these things were a problem and so we didn’t allow it to develop. I do think that people who are constantly throwing balls, especially with a wanger, are idiots.

My dog like it but is not addicted. It's just part of play.

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#109

Post by fluoridation » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 3:36 AM UTC

xg15 wrote: post #94

> with dogs as the only non-human species so far that appears to develop addictive-like behaviours spontaneously without artificial induction How did they reach the conclusion that dogs are the only species affected by this if they only investigated dogs? This feels like confusing "absence of evidence" with "evidence of absence" - especially as they write it right after stating that there is a lack of research in the…

Did you miss the "so far"?

Re: Addictive-like behavioural traits in pet dogs with extreme motivation for toys

#110

Post by guffins » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 3:42 AM UTC

electroglyph wrote: post #90

i haven't seen any mention of lasers here, so i'll add my laser anecdote. I have a very active German shepherd rescue. I made the mistake of introducing him to the laser pointer which I used to exercise my previous dog, a doberman. Now he lives and breathes for laser. He nags me all day long. He sometimes sees laser dots where there aren't any. His appetite for laser can never be satiated, heh

Sometimes known as “laser pointer syndrome.” It can drive dogs particularly crazy, and may also affect cats in the long term.