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Dog Play - Part 2

 This blog about dog play is not a stand alone piece. Please also read Part 1 as it's vitally important when you have dogs or have others' dogs in your care to know when something that might look like play is not play but something else entirely.
So now let's look at signs of good play.

Play as a state of mind

Play can be viewed as a state of mind. It involves its own neural structure in the brain1 and feels good because of the hormones and neurotransmitters it involves which include dopamine, oxytocin and endogenous opioids.

How do dogs let each other know it's play and not real fighting, biting and pursuit?

Play between dogs is made up from fragments of other behaviours such as predation, fighting and mating. Therefore there has to be a way to let each other know that it's “just pretend” so no one gets scared and the enjoyable state of play can take place.

Dogs do this by the use of 'play signals' to each other such as:

Exaggerated, inefficient movements – a clear signal that it's just fun

Self – handicapping and lack of defensive actions – lying on the ground, happily accepting another dog's 'bites' for example

Inhibited bites, with a lack of real targetted direction to them. Mouths will be held open in an exaggerated way. Look at the 'fierce' biting of the two puppies in the photo below to see a good example of this!

The open mouths during play will sometimes be accompanied by a 'wild-eyed' look. The white puppy in the photo below shows this look perfectly!
Lack of body tension - a 'looseness' to the appearance of the dogs' bodies when they are moving in play  

Taking pauses during play - a big part of good play

Taking turns at being the one being pounced on or chased etc. (role reversal)

Play bows – used to invite play, during play and as a way to keep play going

I have a good video to show you of two dogs playing. The dogs' names are Waffles and Molly. Waffles is the yellow labrador-looking dog and Molly is the little tri-coloured dog. They are sisters and live together. Let's watch them playing together:


In the video we see many signs of good play - Waffles lies on her back to invite play and Molly comes in for play biting. Their bodies are soft and relaxed and their mouths are open. 

Throughout this video the dogs demonstrate something essential in play and that is the mutual, voluntary nature of play - both parties must agree to it. In this play session, when one dog wants a break and then later signals a desire to end play, the other dog leaves her be. It is lovely to see.

They take turns chasing each other round the garden. When Waffles takes breaks in play by stopping and having a brief sniff of the ground or the air, Molly waits until Waffles indicates she is ready to play again. There is a lovely example (at around 28 secs. into the video) of the briefest of play bows by Waffles to get the play going again! 
During the biting on the run, it is the softness and lack of tension in their bodies that shows this is play. We can see their tails wagging softly at times during the play too. 

Having taken a few breaks, Waffles decides to end play entirely by standing still and disengaging. Molly seems to check-in with her to see if play will resume and then accepts play is over for now and wanders away.

Waffles then performs a shake-off.
There are different reasons for shake-offs. They are not exclusively used in the circumstances of shaking-off something stressful. They can be seen after play.2 They are also used for regulation of emotion.
I would interpret this shake-off by Waffles in this context as as a way of 're-setting' after play. She is coming back to normal after being in the state of play.

Waffles and Molly giving each other space at the end of the video and standing facing away from each other is polite canine behaviour. Each dog seems to be back in her own world again.

💗This blog is dedicated to the memory of Waffles who died on 23 October 2021

Ursula Linton

References, Notes and Acknowledgements

1. The PLAY system is one of the seven core emotional brain circuit systems first identified by Jaak Panksepp. The state of play as a state of consciousness is discussed by Mechtild Käufer in her book ‘Canine Play Behaviour. The Science of Dogs at Play' 2013 Dogwise publishing.

Photos of puppies (Leela and Liesl) from the Dog Decoder Facebook Page, with kind permission of Jill Breitner.

Video of Waffles and Molly with kind permission of Stef Dua.

2. Notes on shake-offs: I happened to be videoing puppies Pebbles and Bamm Bamm playing and captured a shake-off indicating the end of play:


We can see signs that it is good play. The lighter coloured puppy Bamm Bamm is in a self-handicapping position of lying down, happily accepting the play bites from Pebbles. It is Pebbles who signals the end of play with a shake off and the two puppies head off to do something else instead!

Remember that repeated shake-offs during play is not a good sign (as mentioned in Part 1). That is a sign that a dog is stressed/struggling with what is going on.








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