Is your dog obsessed with their tennis ball or tug rope?
If so, your pet could have an unhealthy ‘addiction’ to their favourite toys, experts warn.
Scientists analysed data from more than 1,600 dogs and found that those with the highest toy motivation were more likely to struggle to calm down, stay highly aroused and sleep less during the day.
These intensely toy–driven dogs were more likely to be working or sporting breeds, such as German Shepherds and Terriers, with the behaviour often emerging in puppyhood.
While a strong desire to play can be an asset, the researchers say extreme levels may affect a dog’s ability to regulate its behaviour and could have implications for its welfare.
‘Toy–directed play motivation varies significantly among domestic dogs,’ they wrote in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
‘In some individuals, it reaches such exceptional levels that it exhibits…parallels with behavioural addictions.
‘While high play motivation may be advantageous in specific working contexts, when motivation gets excessive, it may be linked to behavioural dysregulation.’
If your dog is obsessed with its favourite toy, it could have an unhealthy ‘addiction’ that makes it hard for them to calm down, experts warned (file image)
For the study the team, from the University of Bern, analysed questionnaire responses from 1,692 dogs across 33 countries.
Owners answered dozens of questions about their dog’s behaviour, including how excited they became by balls and tug toys, how easily they calmed down and how much they slept during the day.
The team found that dogs with the highest toy motivation were also more likely to be overexcited and struggle to relax after play.
These dogs also tended to sleep less during the day, suggesting they remained in a heightened state of arousal.
Dogs used for sport or work also showed much higher levels of toy obsession than family pets.
The behaviour was particularly common in breeds such as Belgian and German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers and Yorkshire and Scottish Terriers.
Meanwhile scent hounds and spitz–type dogs, such as Beagles and Akitas, scored the lowest.
Crucially, many of these behavioural traits were already present when the dogs were puppies, the researchers said, suggesting the tendency develops early in life.
These intensely toy–driven dogs were more likely to be working or sporting breeds, such as German Shepherds and Terriers
‘Although toy play is typically considered beneficial and motivating, in a minority of dogs, toy motivation may become excessive and appears to show some parallels with behavioural addictions,’ they wrote.
‘This is characterized by high salience of the toy – at the expense of other rewards and even social interactions with the owner – craving when the toy is unavailable, and high levels of arousal, frustration and loss of self–control.’
They said these dogs had an elevated heart rate that remained after the toy was removed.
Some individuals were unable to calm down or refocus their attention even 15 minutes after all toys were taken away, they revealed.
The authors stress that loving toys isn’t a problem in itself. In fact, a strong interest in toys can be highly beneficial for training, enrichment and working roles.
They suggest owners should only be concerned if a dog’s enthusiasm becomes so extreme that it struggles to regulate its behaviour, relax after play or switch its attention to anything else.
Warning signs your dog may be overly obsessed with its toys include constantly fixating on a ball or toy, even when it’s not playtime.
If they struggle to calm down and remain highly excited after a game of fetch or tug, that could be another indication.
Other clues include sleeping less during the day and being motivated by toys more easily than other dogs.
The scientists stressed they are not saying dogs are clinically addicted to their toys, only that some exhibit ‘addiction–like’ behavioural patterns
They added: ‘The addiction–like concept is used here as a descriptive and practical model and not as a direct transfer of the psychiatric diagnosis in humans.
‘In comparative and animal research, addiction–like constructs are often used to characterize excessive reward–seeking behaviour, loss of self–control, and persistence despite negative consequences, relying on observable behavioural indicators rather than subjective experience.’
