We don’t always notice when a pastime crosses the threshold to addiction, be it gambling or easing the pain of existence through intoxicants. Where our friends may be leery to judge and intervene, the business world has no such compunctions. According to some projections, the global market for addiction treatment is set to reach $10 billion in 2025 – and that’s before we even count Fido.
Yes, dogs too can exhibit behavior that looks a lot like human addiction. They indulge to the point of self-harm, according to a new study published last week by Stefanie Riemer, Alja Mazzini and colleagues from the University of Bern in the Nature journal Scientific Reports. Don’t panic. You can rest assured that great minds in the corporate world will think of ways to alleviate Fifi’s maladaptation for a shekel or two.
No, the test dogs were not given intoxicants. We already knew that animals can become addicted to drugs that light up the brain’s reward centers. Nor was this a study about treat obsession, which is a species-wide mania. This was about their toys.
CloseThe conclusion – that dogs can get addicted to their toys – was based on a study of just 105 dogs, 56 males and 49 females. The criteria for distinguishing hobby from habit included compulsively engaging with the toys to the point of suffering. Some dogs would continue playing when clearly exhausted or injured, similar to how people have difficulty stopping a behavior they categorically know is hurting them, like smoking.
How extraordinary is this? According to the team, dogs are now the second species known to spontaneously exhibit addiction-like behavior without artificial inducement. In other words, nobody told Fifi to abuse the squeaky carrot to the point of self-harm. She just did.
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Not all humans who occasionally indulge in cigarettes get addicted, and not all dogs are into toys. This study focused on dogs whose owners reported they liked playing with toys. Among these highly play-motivated canines, the researchers found that 33 of the 105 met behavioral criteria consistent with addiction, including fixating on the toys – suggesting cravings. These dogs would not be distracted by alternative stimuli. They would persistently try to obtain the toy, whine, and exhibit “lack of self-control and mood modification.”
What is it these dogs were getting hooked on, exactly? With all due respect to the rubber chicken industry, it’s not the toy – it’s the play, the researchers suggest.
Why play? Because all baby mammals (and even some birds) play, a phenomenon most marked in those with bigger brains. Elephants play. Dolphins play. And in some species, this behavior may persist to adulthood. Kittens and cats play so much that humanity had to invent the internet to share the wonder. Elephants are no slouches either.
Weirdly, there is no unified definition of play. “Exertion that doesn’t produce food” seems inadequate to describe what’s going on. We enjoy it. Animals seem to enjoy it. As a corollary, the evolutionary function of play is debated because its immediate adaptive function is entirely unclear.
By and large, play-fighting and play-hunting with litter-mates is postulated to sharpen their predatory skills. Also, it appears smart animals play because it’s terrific fun. Dopamine, innit.
CloseSubtypes of play may serve to alleviate social tensions, provide a distraction in sub-optimal conditions, and help alleviate stress. Among animals, play may occur as displacement behavior. Addiction begins when what began as fun turns into compulsion. That’s behavioral addiction.
As the researchers put it, a behavioral addiction is defined as the “repeated failure to resist an impulse, drive, or urge to perform an act that is rewarding to the person (at least in the short term), despite longer-term harm to the individual or others.” It starts off as fun. It ends as an addiction that may even cease to be rewarding.
In humans, there are only two “behavioral addictions” as opposed to substance additions: gambling and internet gambling (some may call it gaming, but it is what it is).
So when Fido is losing it over his toy and won’t settle for anything else, it’s a behavioral addiction. It may begin with the fact that play, being enjoyable, triggers the same nervous-system chemicals involved in the rewarding aspects of food and drugs.
Close“Video games can provide players a hedonic experience and a high degree of relaxation,” the team explains, an experience which might develop into pathological playing. Possibly, toy play may allow a dog to do what they like to do – chase, catch, possess, rend – all rewarding activities for a predator. And just as people can get hooked on their highs, apparently, so can dogs.
One key difference, though: humans lie about their addictions. Dogs can’t.
But can dogs become addicted in the wild? It’s hard to say. “Inadvertent promotion of addictive-like behavior by the caretakers cannot be ruled out,” the team points out. The point is that domestic dogs, over whose care we have taken dominion, seem to develop this problem and it is our fault if they turn into “ball junkies.” We stand rebuked.
