Record yourself playing with your puppies for 30-60 seconds and upload the vid to the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab website!

Dog-dog play has been, relatively, well studied. The signs/signals/noises pups play, the repercussions for not playing by the rules, the benefits of play to an adult pup, its a very interesting fusion of evolution and animal behavior (unless you dont believe in using evolution and observation to study animal behavior…).

Some of the dog-dog play stuff I use as a human, I know.  For instance, when puppies are playing, and one plays too rough, the ‘victim’ will make a high pitched yelp. Its not a ‘OH MY GOD IM DYING’ cry, its just ‘HEY! DUDE!’ So the other pup knows to back off.

So, when Im wrestling with Arnieman, and he chomps a little too hard, I make a high pitched yelp.  I get a little kissie or nose cuddle or bow for ‘Sorry!’ and then we keep playing.  And boy does this boy love to play (I hope he never ‘grows up’).

Arnie loves to wrestle.  He loves to chase/be chased, so a lot of our games involve me saying ‘IMMAGONNA GET YOU!!’, with or without a doggie toy.  And there is a LOT of tug-of-war.  The second he gets the toy, though, hes smacking me in the face with it to make me ‘jealous’ so I grab onto it to keep playing tug-of-war. The goal of tug-of-war isnt to win. The goal is to keep playing tug-of-war.

These are the same games he plays with his Labrador cousin.  I dont differentiate between dog-dog play and dog-human play, but I guess it has not been studied!

Im totally going to record a video this weekend to contribute to their project, and you all can too!  Whatever you all like to play, however you like to play, no matter where youre from, what breed of dogs you have, just record you and your dog acting stupid for 30-60 seconds!

SCIENCE!!