We know that dogs care about people paying attention to them, and we know that dogs generally enjoy human attention. Even so, it’s intriguing to learn that being observed by people has a strong effect on one of their species-typical behaviors—in this case, play.
Predictably, there’s great interest in a new study showing that dogs play more when their owners are paying attention to them. There’s always great interest in anything related to canine play, not the least because it’s fun to watch.
The study reported on in the journal Animal Cognition, “Owner attention facilitates social play in dog–dog dyads (Canis lupus familiaris): evidence for an interspecific audience effect” is the first to directly evaluate an audience’s effects on canine play.
via Whisker Therapy