Dogs love their toys, but can they love them too much? According to a new study, yes – our canine companions’ playful spirit can sometimes take a dark turn, leaving them addicted to their toys.
Recently published in Nature Scientific Reports, the study found that some dogs act in ways that parallel humans with behavioural addictions, such as to gambling or playing video games.
“The term ‘ball junkie’ is commonly used in the dog training world, the term implying addiction, but it has never been assessed whether addiction criteria may indeed apply to dogs,” said study participant Prof Stefanie Reimer from Vetmeduni Vienna to BBC Science Focus. “After all, just being highly motivated, or very toy-focused does not imply an addiction.”
The study team sought out 105 toy-obsessed dogs, bringing them in for a series of tests to understand how the playful pups interacted with their toys, especially when two other powerful motivators – food and their owner’s attention – were also on offer.
In the end, 33 dogs showed signs of addiction-like behaviour. They would focus on the toy, trying to reach it when it was placed inside an enclosed box or placed on a high shelf. This happened even when there was food on offer or their owners tried to ‘socially’ engage with them, such as playing a game of tug-of-war.
“Two dogs actually managed to destroy the box containing their toy, illustrating the intensity of their motivation,” said study lead Alija Mazzini from the University of Bern to BBC Science Focus. “It wasn’t something we encouraged or expected, but it was simply a striking example of how far some dogs were willing to go to access the object of their desire.”
In the final cool-down when the toys were removed from the room, some of the dogs were unable to settle. They walked around the room, looked for their toys and still had elevated heart rates after 15 minutes.
One key finding was that when the dogs were allowed to play with their toys, there wasn’t a noticeable difference in mood between the addict-like dogs and the other pups.
“While the majority of dogs enjoy playing with toys, only a few develop an excessive fixation on them,” said Mazzini. “This pattern mirrors human behaviour, where many people engage in potentially addictive activities such as gaming or gambling without consequences, while only a few develop a genuine addiction.”

Of course, this doesn't mean you should rush to throw all of your dog's toys away.
“Many people play with their dogs using balls or other toys, but only a small subset develops addictive-like behaviour,” said Reimer. “From a practical viewpoint, I think toy play can be a great reinforcer for dogs. As it happens, for one of my dogs the ball is the greatest reward, although I never promoted it.
“Still, I would suggest to focus especially on cooperative play, such as tugging or playing search games so that chasing is not the only aspect [of toy play]. So, while I wouldn’t say that you should never play with a ball with your dog, use it wisely.”
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