Free Play
By Scotty Valadao (Animal Behaviour Consultant (Canine) (ABC of SA™)
Free play with other puppies is excellent as long as it is controlled. We need to remember that if a pup receives a big fright while playing with other pups, that this could well affect its later behaviour (one event learning) with interaction with other dogs. If you are taking your pup to puppy socialization, to please ensure that free play is supervised. I have seen instances where large sized dogs were allowed to bully the smaller breeds resulting in fear behaviour
Free play is wonderful for pups, not only do they learn to control their bite inhibition, they learn to play with other dogs and games of chase and play fight are thoroughly enjoyed and the pup will receive crucial feed back from the other pups when it tends to ‘go over the top’. We, as parents realize the importance of taking our children to play groups and pre school groups, why then do we not award the same importance to playing with other pups for our own pup? We just haven’t thought of it in that way. I would much rather have a dog that is comfortable with other dogs and has canine social skills than one who has been kept in the back yard, wouldn’t you?
Research done by Jaak Panksepp (Adjunct Professor. PhD. University of Massachusetts) has proven that playful interaction with other dogs forms an important part of the pup’s emotional, social and neurological development. Panksepp also says that the more our dogs play as pups, the more impulse control they’ll exhibit as adults. It’s known that dogs that have had fewer opportunities for free play as pups are more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviour as adult dogs.
Where problems sometimes occur is when owners start to interfere either by being pushy and trying to force their pups to play or else grabbing and picking up their pup when any rough play is exhibited. The interaction should be controlled by the instructor who should be qualified to run these classes.
Another area that play should take place in, is with the pups owners. The pup then learns to view its owners as a great source of pleasure and is more likely to grow up liking having humans around. This should not only be limited to the owners, pups should engage in structured games, such as pullies and retrieve games with the different visitors who come to the home. Please note that the owner puts in the rules for these games and supervises them to ensure that they don’t get too rough. The play situation between pup and owners will result in both of you getting to know each other better and if the pup exhibits any fear or other behaviours during play, these can be dealt with there and then, remember prevention is better than cure.
Another point where owners and pups playing can be very beneficial is that it is an ideal opportunity to being in so many different exercises that will benefit both pup and owner. The ‘leave’ command can be used, ‘bite inhibition’ can be worked on, the ‘sit, down, stand’ exercises can be reinforced; the ‘settle’ exercise can be practised, the ‘finished’ cue can be used to finish off a game and I also bring in the cue ‘free’ to reinforce at the same time. Actually if you think about it, every single exercise we teach our dogs can be brought into the play situation and it is a well know fact that all species learn quicker when having fun.
A final point to think about is to bring in the good fun times when the pup is well behaved. If the owner uses play when the pup is misbehaving, it will just reinforce the negative behaviour.
Research done by Jaak Panksepp (Adjunct Professor. PhD. University of Massachusetts) has proven that playful interaction with other dogs forms an important part of the pup’s emotional, social and neurological development. Panksepp also says that the more our dogs play as pups, the more impulse control they’ll exhibit as adults. It’s known that dogs that have had fewer opportunities for free play as pups are more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviour as adult dogs.
Where problems sometimes occur is when owners start to interfere either by being pushy and trying to force their pups to play or else grabbing and picking up their pup when any rough play is exhibited. The interaction should be controlled by the instructor who should be qualified to run these classes.
Another area that play should take place in, is with the pups owners. The pup then learns to view its owners as a great source of pleasure and is more likely to grow up liking having humans around. This should not only be limited to the owners, pups should engage in structured games, such as pullies and retrieve games with the different visitors who come to the home. Please note that the owner puts in the rules for these games and supervises them to ensure that they don’t get too rough. The play situation between pup and owners will result in both of you getting to know each other better and if the pup exhibits any fear or other behaviours during play, these can be dealt with there and then, remember prevention is better than cure.
Another point where owners and pups playing can be very beneficial is that it is an ideal opportunity to being in so many different exercises that will benefit both pup and owner. The ‘leave’ command can be used, ‘bite inhibition’ can be worked on, the ‘sit, down, stand’ exercises can be reinforced; the ‘settle’ exercise can be practised, the ‘finished’ cue can be used to finish off a game and I also bring in the cue ‘free’ to reinforce at the same time. Actually if you think about it, every single exercise we teach our dogs can be brought into the play situation and it is a well know fact that all species learn quicker when having fun.
A final point to think about is to bring in the good fun times when the pup is well behaved. If the owner uses play when the pup is misbehaving, it will just reinforce the negative behaviour.
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