A play bow is a dog behavior involving lowering the forequarters and leaving the hindquarters raised. It signals playfulness and sometimes that play is continuing.
In a play bow, a dog drops its forequarters while keeping its hindquarters raised. In a related action known as a "play bob", the dog bounces up and down or from side to side without completely lowering the forequarters.[1]
Individual dogs vary considerably in how often they play bow;[1] in one study of sixteen dogs playing in pairs, four of the pairs performed more than three quarters of the observed play bows, and while some dogs never play bowed, one individual performed more than 40% of the play bows.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b Barbara Smuts (2014). Juliane Kaminski; Sarah Marshall-Pescini (eds.). "Social behavior among companion dogs with an emphasis on play". The Social Dog: Behavior and Cognition. Amsterdam: Elsevier. pp. 107–08. ISBN 9780124078185.
- ^ S. E. Byosiere; J. Espinosa; B. Smuts (2016). "Investigating the function of play bow in adult pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris)". Behavioural Processes. 125: 106–13. Cited in: Patricia M. McConnell (March 28, 2016). "A New Look at Play Bows". The Other End of the Leash. Also in: Linda P. Case (June 8, 2016). "I Bow for Your Play". The Science Dog.
External links
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Media related to Play bow at Wikimedia Commons
