Castle of Juana la Loca
Medina del Campo, Espana
Monday, September 22, 2008
Do pets play?
Ok, so this is a silly one, but I have a friend who teaches at another college who says that cats don't play. What he means is that when we pull a string for them or something like that, cats don't know they are playing..for them it's practice for the wild. Play is something that we have ascribed to their actions. We think, oh how cute, little Mittens is playing. But it could be our own assigning of human characteristics to the little beasties. What do you think? Do our pets really play?
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17 comments:
This is an interesting one. I guess you would have to ask some kind of animal psychiatrist expert. However, I would hate to think dogs don't play and that it is some primal reaction to how we approach them, because that would basically ruin a lot of my childhood memories. Thanks Dr. Schmoll. On the other hand, I'm not really a cat person so I suppose it's ok if they are only entertainting us out of instinct. Ya.. thats about it
i think pets play! :] my dog jonas thinks it's hilarious to bite my toes when i'm sleeping, and when i get up and say, "DANGIT JONAS!" he gets all hyper and pee's on me with excitement.
he also likes playing tug of war with my mother's dogs. it gets really aggresive at times, and thats when i think, "are they playing?! or actually fighting..?"
but i agree, and must say that dogs and animals of all kind like to play:]]
Ok, these comments are great. Sorry to ruin your childhood memories, Jana. And Katelyn, your dog thinks something is "hilarious" and "likes" tug of war? Hmmm, I'll bet I could sway you to my side. I'll bet if we give Jonas a hunk of raw meat and put him in the wild he'll turn into Buck from Call of the Wild. Or maybe you're right and he does sit around and conjure up ways to bug you while you sleep :)
Take my dog, please, take my dog. I have a mixed laboradore whom I had picked up from the Wal-Mart parking lot. No, I didn’t steal her. Some lady was begging people to take her pets off of her hands so I decided to take one and give the other to my sister. At the time I already had a chow and when I brought it home they only started to fight. Long story short, my pet is a total daddy’s boy. Every time someone comes over or if they go to pet her, they would ask, “does this dog bite?” and I would reply “no” and don’t scare her. Insinuating that my dog gets scared at every little thing. But, I have to hand it to her, while she’s at home, she will bark if strangers come around
I was always convinced that dogs play since my dog would always bring me one of her toys. She would just drop it off in front of my feet and start howling until I would toss it for her. As a result, I believed that my dog likes to play. Now, since I've read this theory, I have to admit that it could be our own assigning of human characteristics. However, my friend's dog "Aloha" would be then a big exception. Every time I would sit down on the couch she would jump on my lap, lay down, and start howling until I would pet her. (I should add a little detail- Aloha is an 90 pounds heavy pitbull). I can't imagine that my friend assigned her to pretend like she was a little puppy. Anyway, having a dog with a "killer" reputation sitting on one's lap is kind of funny.
I sadly agree with your friend. I think as we were younger, we do assign human characteristics to pets. We grow and have a close relationship with them. I have two dogs and one cat, and I don't think the dogs are "playing" nicely with the cat....
ok...well I have a cat which doesnt really have a name yet and we've had her for about 3 months..really odd right?....well back to the subject i always thought my cat wanted to play with me but now im starting to think that shes really trying to fight with me, because shes always trying to bite me and scratch. shes really aggressive. =)
I do think its practice for the wild I have a baby bunny and he is always jumping around in the middle of the night and hes not playing I guess its in his genetics to go out hunting in the middle of the night
Personally I believe pets play,of course! Maybe not cats, due to their absence of interaction with the world around. Yes, I am a dog fan. I have a PUG. She is our baby. Speaking of baby, all I have to say is, "Go get your baby!" And she dashes towards her pile of stuffed animals, and picks her favorite, ironically a beanie-baby pug! She throws it up and down and all around. She likes to lay on her back and pull the ears. Pets do play, they have a playful mind, like a kid basically.
i think it would depend on the animal. i think since cats are more independent, they have to keep that wild side to them, but dogs completely rely on humans to take care of them.
i feel that animals do play though. y would a dog chase after a ball u just threw and return it to u? i dono if any wild dogs out there that chase somthing else, let it go and chase it agian.
I love how I just read about a 90 pound lap dog pit-bull, and a pug who will though a beanie baby pug up in the air and play catch with herself...
Jasmin, and Cody...my jack Russell terrier named Jackie is amaaazing!, she thinks she is a cat and will lay and walk across the back of the couch, "daddies home" go straight to the front door, "birdies" froggies" C-A-T's" (yes we spell out cat and she knows what it is) you wanna go rollerblading" mail" B-Y-E"i could go on and on things dogs respond to, "Jackie, whata do" she flops down and rolls over for a treat! animals are amazing, and everyone is different...
I believe that animals play, well at least dogs do. I don't really care much for cats mainly because I'm alergic to them. Anyways, I have a dog named chico and he's always crying for me to take his stuffed animal out of his basket so he can play with them. Now that I think about it I never really seen a cat play besides them chasing a string but I guess that goes back to the practicing to hunt theory
I'm no expert when it comes to pets, but in my opinion playing is as natural as hunting. I'm not saying it doesn't help them on their survival skills, I simply disagree with the fact that they play unconsciously. Instead I think that when they play they unconsciously develop survival skills. It's like an infant when he crawls he doesn’t do it as a way to survive, but rather to reach for a toy or something. In my opinion this happens with every creatures; it’s something universal.
This makes since. Humans tend to categorize things in a weird manner. So it makes since that humans think cats are playing when they are really practicing. But i do wonder if the same rule applies to all animals.
When we see two cats chasing each other, people think that cats are playing, but people might not know well I don't know if the cats are playing or chasing each other for the territory.
I think pets definitely play. Actually I got my first pet in my life 6 months ago. He is a German short hair dog who is very cute and always full of energy.
The more I spent time with him, the more he likes playing with me. He has very sharp teeth and he chews up many things just in seconds. But when I put my finger in his mouth, he just use his shart teeth to touch my finger very quickly and gently. He likes doing that because when I get my finger out of his mouth, he will approach his head to my hand and ask me to do it again. He never hurt me, he just like to be close to me, and I like that feeling too.
My dog likes playing hide-and-seek too. Sometimes he will make noise if we are busy doing our own things and didn't give him enough attention. He will just make a little noise and draw out attention, then we will go look for him towards that noise, "Hey, Zack, what are you doing? where are you?" Then he will hide himself in somewhere (although actually we already saw where he is) and waiting for us to get him. And then when we are approaching him, he will suddently run away and stop at somewhere to wait for us continue to get him.....
He is just such a cute and smart dog.
Pets do play. Saying that pets don't play is just like saying nobody plays. No, we don't know they are playing, but just as well as we can't assume that they aren't, we can't just assume that they aren't. Just because they are animals, that doesn't make them strict and al about the wild. Pets obey, disobey, communicate amongst themselves and do plenty of other human-like characteristics. Pets do play.
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