According to a new study published in the journal Animal Cognition, dogs are more likely to play with each other if their owner observes them carefully. This study suggests that pets organize games primarily to please their owner.
Linzi Merkam, the author of the study and an expert on animal behavior, says that it is a well-known fact that dogs monitor how much attention a person pays to them, but so far research has not known the exact effect of humans as observers on typical dog behavior.
During her research, Merkam supervised ten pairs of pets, who lived together for a period of 6 months and who were able to play with each other at least once a day. Scientists studied dogs in three different situations – in the presence of an owner who did not follow what the dogs were doing, when the owner was absent and when the owner was following their game and praising and cuddling them on that occasion.
The conclusions of the study showed, according to Merkam, that greater attention of the owner encourages the play of dogs, then increases the intensity of behavior typical of a dog – dog position, dancing buttocks as a sign of pleasure, hunting game, love bites, fighting simulations and similar behaviors.
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Co-author of the study Clive Vine claims that it is astonishing that dogs that have the opportunity to play together whenever they want are more inclined to play when a person pays attention to them. According to him and other authors, there are several hypotheses as to why this is so. It is possible that dogs play to ask the owner to watch them and that for them that watching is a reward. It is a similar behavior as with small children, who want to show their parents what they have learned while the parent is watching them.
Also, it is possible that dogs can learn that by playing with each other, they will get more praise from the owner, who will even join them in the game. In the end, it is very likely that dogs feel much safer when the owner observes them, because harmless play can get some form of aggression, so the dog probably feels more comfortable if there is an owner who can break the tension.