title: Investigating the function of play bows in adult pet dogs (Canis lupus familiaris).
abstract: Play bows are a common, highly stereotyped canine behavior widely considered to be a 'play signal,' but only one study has researched their function. Bekoff (1995) found that play bows function as behavioral modifiers to help clarify playful intent before or after easily misinterpretable behaviors, such as bite-shakes. To further examine the function of play bows, the current study analyzed five types of behaviors displayed by the bower and the partner immediately before and after a play bow during dyadic play. We found that play bows most often occurred after a brief pause in play. Synchronous behaviors by the bower and the partner, or vulnerable/escape behaviors by the bower (such as running away) and complementary offensive behaviors by the partner (such as chasing) occurred most often after the play bow. These results indicate that during adult dog dyadic play, play bows function to reinitiate play after a pause rather than to mediate offensive or ambiguous actions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor 48109, USA. Electronic address: sarahbyo@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah-Elizabeth
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Byosiere
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Espinosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Smuts
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004285:Dogs / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D057805:Pets / Q000523:psychology*; D010988:Play and Playthings; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Domestic dog; Initiate; Play bow; Social play; Synchrony; Visual signal