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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

#61

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

ivape wrote: post #37
qbit42 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this falsifiable? I would be hesitant to claim that this is unique to humans. I'd probably agree with dogs, but the line is much blurrier with primates, for example.

I'm open to any evidence. I doubt we can find a Chimpanzee that sat, thought about it for awhile, slept on it, and then decided it's time to live like a Bonobo. I think the best evidence we have are actual metamorphosis that you see from a tadpole over to a frog, things of that sort. We're the only species that can do something to our nature actively.

Because we basically have none.

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

#62

Post by analog8374 »

1oooqooq wrote: post #36
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…

like serfs being susceptible to doom scrolling

Or progression fantasy fiction.

Mmmmmmmmmm! Sweet sweet progress!!!

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

#63

Post by sqircles »

hinkley wrote: post #38
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…

There’s some documentation out there suggesting the original Labrador retrievers had food obsession as a trait in common with bidability, which is why more than half of them end up chonky. Not all have the gene but odds are high. There’s a guy who trawls dog rescues looking for retrievers who are toy obsessed and then trains them to hunt truffles. He reasons you can’t reward them with food for finding even tastier fo…

Labs in general are notorious for having insane food drive to the point where when you run into one that does not, they're certainly an exception. All dogs in general have food drive, as it is a necessity to live, but they're given basically unlimited access to it which diminishes it's value in their psyche.

Once you pull that prey drive out of a working dog and associate it with something such as a ball, there's no greater satisfaction this planet than doing the thing for that animal. It usually works better as a reward for what we're doing, is more instant, but also it can be deadly for a dog to eat food when they're at working-level activity.

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

#64

Post by jancsika »

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.

Just imagining your retriever feeling obligated to sit patiently by your side as you contribute to the pack by deconstructing your life while staring lifelessly at a flashing screen.

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

#66

Post by testdelacc1 »

gigatree wrote: post #43
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…

It’s kind of funny how the idea of behavior being a result of breeding goes out the window when it comes to pitbulls. Retrievers naturally retrieve, collies naturally herd, but when a murder-canine eats a family it’s all “oh it could have been any breed”.

It’s just wokery innit. Can’t even train dogs to murder children nowadays because the woke brigade will cancel you.

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

#67

Post by _joel »

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.

I must be a bad person as my dog loves his balls being thrown in a wanger

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

#69

Post by squishy47 »

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…

i have a Lab/Staffie mix and he has insane retriever drive when we get the tennis ball launcher out. pupils dilate and nothing else matters, to the point that we had to ban launcher because he kept loosing his thumb claws from sliding on the grass when the ground is too hard. Before we banned it his muscles were massive, rippling shoulders etc. When we had his (non-tennis) balls removed he developed insane food drive, the vet said this was common, to the point he'll raid the kitchen at night if we don't lock it down. The boy is build to do 1 of 2 things, eat or fetch!

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

#70

Post by cs702 »

superkuh wrote: post #12
cs702 wrote: post #8

This research only confirms what many dog owners already know, but it still deserves an Ig Noble Prize.[a] --- [a] https://improbable.com/ig/about-the-ig-nobel-prizes/

It doesn't though. Only the headline implies that. If you read the discussion you find the authors of this study do not claim any addictive behaviors were found.

I disagree. The OP states in the first sentence of its "Conclusion" section:

> To conclude, there appear to be parallels between excessive toy motivation in dogs and behavioural addictions in humans.

Understandably, however, the must authors qualify and frame their conclusion, so later on they add:

> Despite the observed parallels between high-AB dogs and humans affected by behavioural addictions, we refrain from conclusively characterising high-AB dogs as exhibiting addictive behaviour, given the absence of established benchmarks or standardised criteria.

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