Why Some Dogs Can’t Stop Playing With Their Toys, and How It’s Similar to Gambling Addiction
For some dogs, the thrill of the chase doesn’t fade when the ball stops rolling. They’ll scratch the couch cushions, skip dinner, and wait by the door for one last throw. For many, it’s a fun quirk, but scientists say it could be something more.
In a new Scientific reports In this study, researchers found that some dogs exhibit addictive behaviors toward their toys – traits that mirror human behavioral addictions, such as gambling or internet games. About a third of the 105 highly play-motivated dogs studied met several criteria for addiction, including craving, lack of self-control and agitation when toys were taken away.
Dogs appear to be the only non-human species known to spontaneously develop such behaviors without experimental induction, providing scientists with a rare opportunity to study the biological roots of compulsion.
A First Look at Addiction-Type Play in Dogs
Play is a hallmark of emotional health and learning in mammals. It activates the same brain systems – involving dopamine, opioids and cannabinoids – that make activities like eating, exercising and playing rewarding in humans. Yet, as with people, what begins as a game can sometimes become compulsive.
This is the first published scientific assessment of addictive-like behavior in dogs – a phenomenon previously supported only by anecdotal reports from dog owners, according to a press release.
Previous studies have explored addictive-like behaviors in laboratory animals, but these behaviors had to be artificially induced. However, dogs play throughout their lives and sometimes display an extreme fixation on toys – an observation that prompted researchers to investigate whether “excessive toy motivation” could naturally meet the criteria for a behavioral addiction.
Learn more: Do dogs have long-term memory?
Testing Excessive Toy Motivation in Dogs
The team recruited 105 dogs whose owners described as being highly motivated by toys. Each dog selected their favorite toy, such as a ball, tug or stuffed animal, before undergoing a series of 14 subtests designed to measure the four key criteria of behavioral addiction: craving, salience, mood modification and loss of self-control.
In some subtests, dogs played freely; in others, their toy was placed out of reach while food or social interaction was offered instead. The researchers observed whether the dogs ignored these alternatives, how long they focused on the inaccessible toy, and how quickly they calmed down afterward.
Owner questionnaires added another layer, assessing behaviors in daily life. Together, these results formed an Addictive-like Behavior Test (AB-T) score. Dogs scoring above the midpoint – 33 out of 105 – were classified as having a strong tendency toward addictive behavior.
Toy attachment results
Dogs with high AB showed strong signs of fixation. When the toys were removed, they continued to stare, walk or vocalize, often ignoring the food or their owners. Some remained agitated for up to 15 minutes after play ended. These dogs met several criteria for addiction, demonstrating craving, salience, and loss of control, even though playing no longer seemed to improve their mood.
This distinction—enjoying play less even though they seek it more—resembles the shift from pleasure to compulsion observed in human addictions. The researchers note that breeds often selected for work and play, such as the Malinois and Border Collie, were over-represented among dogs with these tendencies, hinting at a possible genetic influence.
Learn more: How do dogs tell time?
What This Dog Behavior Could Teach Us About Addiction
As the first formal evidence of a natural behavioral addiction in another species, this research opens new avenues for studying the psychological and neurobiological roots of addiction.
The authors conclude that future work could deepen the understanding of how such behaviors arise – and what they can tell us about the constraint mechanisms shared between species.
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