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

nature.com

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

#21

Post by quotemstr »

croemer wrote: post #9
superkuh wrote: post #3

>Behavioural addictions, characterised by compulsive engagement in rewarding activities despite adverse consequences in the long term, are more heterogeneous and less well-understood than substance addictions Indeed. Mostly because every study on "behavioral addictions" is published in third tier journals or is a negative result in real journals. It's something that doesn't actually exist in mammals and it's current…

> I'm shocked to see an informal survey based study (which will just confirm the owners pre-existing biases and opinions) being published in Nature of all things. It's not "Nature", it's "Scientific Reports" with impact factor of only 3.8 vs 48 of "Nature". Sure the publisher is "Springer Nature", and the domain is "nature.com" but that doesn't make the journal "Nature".

You're right. That's it. I'm going to make a browser extension that'll examine any paper I'm reading and color the address bar according to the impact factor of the journal in which it appears and the h-indexes of the authors.

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

#22

Post by AbortedLaunch »

tsol wrote: post #16
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…

I wonder if autism is a similar kind of selection process. They are people selected by nature to be obsessed about different things, but this could be incredibly fruitful if you end up focused on the right thing. Of course in this situation we have no control over the selection process, it's a product of living in a world that's difficult to

You may find the recently published article “A General Principle of Neuronal Evolution Reveals a Human-Accelerated Neuron Type Potentially Underlying the High Prevalence of Autism in Humans” interesting.

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/42/9/msaf189/8245036

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

#23

Post by SoftTalker »

hippo22 wrote: post #18
superkuh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gambling is not an addiction. It is "gambling disorder" and it was grandfathered into the DSM. It is explicitly not an addiction medically. Eating and shopping are two great examples not erronously grandfathered in, which committees repeated find are not addiction, but which those scammers love to profit off of.

"Gambling Disorder" is in the disorder class "Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders" in DSM-5 though.

Many behaviors have been added and removed as "disorders" from the DSM as politics of the time demanded.

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

#24

Post by namanyayg »

tsol wrote: post #16
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…

I wonder if autism is a similar kind of selection process. They are people selected by nature to be obsessed about different things, but this could be incredibly fruitful if you end up focused on the right thing. Of course in this situation we have no control over the selection process, it's a product of living in a world that's difficult to

Avoiding spoilers, Peter Watts' works have parts which show what happens when this idea is taken to its logical extreme.

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

#25

Post by gwbas1c »

delichon wrote: post #6

Perhaps not surprising, working breeds – many of which are known to have been artificially selected for high toy or predatory motivation – were overrepresented in the sample. This is the vibe I get from my golden retriever. Chasing the tennis ball is more than play, it's a justification for life, her contribution to the pack. Actually eating food has a higher priority than chasing the ball, but not much else does. Wh…

> As in I'm obligated to throw the damn ball.

As opposed to my Newfoundland that will tease me with the ball and then I'm obligated to chase her until she wears out, I catch her, or I bribe her with a treat.

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

#26

Post by dvfjsdhgfv »

superkuh wrote: post #3

>Behavioural addictions, characterised by compulsive engagement in rewarding activities despite adverse consequences in the long term, are more heterogeneous and less well-understood than substance addictions Indeed. Mostly because every study on "behavioral addictions" is published in third tier journals or is a negative result in real journals. It's something that doesn't actually exist in mammals and it's current…

Well, my fellow CBT practitioners would disagree.

There are things you don't do but you understand not doing them is hurting you, so you decide to follow CBT (for example - there are other ways, but CBT has decent efficiency although it's expensive). They don't really need to be classified disorders or fobias.

Similarly, there are things you do and you realize not doing them would be beneficial to you. So you try to stop them and you realize it's hard. Again, you can use CBT or another method (or even medication in some cases). Whether you classify these things as "behavioral addictions" or use another term is secondary, the phenomenon itself is very real and I find it baffling anyone would dispute that.

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

#27

Post by Natsu »

hippo22 wrote: post #15
delichon wrote: post #6

Perhaps not surprising, working breeds – many of which are known to have been artificially selected for high toy or predatory motivation – were overrepresented in the sample. This is the vibe I get from my golden retriever. Chasing the tennis ball is more than play, it's a justification for life, her contribution to the pack. Actually eating food has a higher priority than chasing the ball, but not much else does. Wh…

Watching a dog that likes playing fetch is cathartic. I truly wish I had that level of purpose and fulfillment in my life.

No take, only throw.

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

#28

Post by lostlogin »

quotemstr wrote: post #21
croemer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm shocked to see an informal survey based study (which will just confirm the owners pre-existing biases and opinions) being published in Nature of all things. It's not "Nature", it's "Scientific Reports" with impact factor of only 3.8 vs 48 of "Nature". Sure the publisher is "Springer Nature", and the domain is "nature.com" but that doesn't make the journal "Nature".

You're right. That's it. I'm going to make a browser extension that'll examine any paper I'm reading and color the address bar according to the impact factor of the journal in which it appears and the h-indexes of the authors.

It would be good to apply it to HN.

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

#29

Post by user____name »

One of my best friends has a toller (canadian duck retriever) that's a total ball junkie, it's all he seems to live for. I too often played fetch with him as a pup and now he goes completely loco any time I show up at their house. So I accidentally conditioned him to see me as mr playtime, oops. Nowadays I try to just play frisbee and tugging games whenever I'm over for some time. When a ball is in sight, the world just disappears.
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