A new study suggests some dogs treat their favourite toys the way humans treat gambling or video games.

The research, led by Alja Mazzini and published in Scientific Reports on Oct. 9, 2025, examined a sample of 105 pet dogs and identified addictive-like behaviour toward toys in 33 of them.

The study recorded behaviours that went beyond eager play, highlighting that dogs with addictive-like behavior toward toys may show intense efforts to access the toy and a marked fixation on it. Some dogs became overexcited before play even began, forcing owners to physically restrain them from snatching the toys; others ignored nearby food and instead attempted to destroy the container holding the toy. This fixation can manifest as prolonged arousal, pacing, or vocalizing when the toy is removed.

“We found that actually, yes, some dogs do go to extremes and show addictive-like behavior,” Alja Mazzini said. As a researcher, she described a range of intense responses that appeared to interfere with normal activity and relaxation, raising concerns about the impacts on the dogs’ overall well-being.

Those extremes carried welfare concerns in the paper’s account. “None of the extremes are good because with those dogs, we see that they really can’t relax after the toys are out of reach or gone,” Mazzini said, linking the observed fixation to sustained arousal and difficulty returning to baseline behaviour. Dogs demonstrating these behaviors may exhibit anxiety or aggression once the toy is taken away, signaling a need for intervention.

Beyond describing behaviours, the researchers flagged practical implications for how owners use toys. “It would be good to be careful when we use toys as a reward,” Mazzini said, urging caution in relying on play objects as the sole or primary reinforcer for some dogs. Understanding a dog’s attachment to toys helps trainers distinguish healthy enrichment from addictive-like behavior, which might prompt concerns about their general behavioral health.

The findings invite comparisons with discussion on signs of compulsive toy seeking and management strategies found on specialist sites and dog-care resources; for context, outlets such as Kinship and Myvetcandy have summarised possible signs and approaches following the study. Toys that engage a dog’s natural predatory and play behaviors, such as those that move unpredictably or can be chased, tend to be the most appealing.

The paper places these behaviours within a comparative framework, asking whether intense, repeated pursuit of a non‑food reward can resemble addictive patterns already studied in other species. The authors used behavioural measures across their sample to identify dogs that showed prolonged fixation or attempts to regain access to toys even when the objects were inaccessible.

For owners and practitioners, the study’s account of extreme cases focused on observable actions: pre‑play agitation requiring physical restraint, ongoing attempts to access a removed toy, and preference for the object over immediate food. Those descriptions formed the basis for the authors’ concern that for some animals, play objects can produce maladaptive patterns of behavior.

The study’s publication in Scientific Reports on Oct. 9, 2025 at 17:21 presents the findings to the wider scientific community and to practitioners who work with canine behaviour. USA TODAY’s N’dea Yancey‑Bragg reported on the research and its implications for owners and trainers.

Where the research leads next will depend on follow‑up studies and clinical discussion within veterinary behavior circles. For now, the paper stands as a documented observation that, in a measured sample, some dogs displayed what the authors called addictive-like responses to toys.

Source

Original reporting: view the original article.