The Science and Art of Play
There is no doubt that "adulting" as the current expression goes can suck the joy right out of life. Knowing that there are bills to pay, or a house to clean, children to bathe, vet appointments to organize, laundry to do and so on makes taking time to smell the flowers, be silly and have fun difficult to put it politely! Practicing good self-care at any particular moment may or may not include time for fun in a given moment. Overall fun and joy are important considerations to make room for when possible in life.
There are many important studies about play we will look at in this class but one I want to consider now is the Bobo Doll Experiment ( https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html). In a nutshell, children who had watched models be aggressive were more aggressive in many (every 5 seconds) measured ways. I share this study not so you go punch a Bobo Doll (as tempting as that is sometimes!) but to highlight the role models play in influencing behaviour. We are lucky here at FDSA to have excellent role models who can illustrate good dog play for us - USE THEM. Go look in your library and look for an example of an instructor playing well with their dog. (What kind of play are they doing? Why did you like the example you found? What would be hard for you with your dog?). In the next lecture, we are going to be looking at three specific examples. We will work through them together so go practice your analytical skills before we start!
Creativity
Sometimes a block to play is not believing that we are creative or artistic. Opening up creativity can leave people feeling unskilled, unworthy and not particularly happy. Sigh. That said, if you want to improve play with others (of whatever species) carefully looking at what get's your creativity flowing and considering what you WANT to practice and work with will make a significant difference to your playability. (Is that a word? It is now!)
Dogs have little inhibition about practicing until they get it right!
There are a number of factors that can cause our blocks though ... perfection paralysis is one block that is we learn to fear doing "it" whatever it is, wrong. If it can't be perfect it won't be fun, it won't be right. I hate to say it again but mistakes and errors often provide us with more learning than success. We know this in theory but internalizing it can be so so hard. Sigh.
Resistance is futile ... By that I mean it's time to get playing. Get experimenting, get sharing why you aren't happy with the way you play so we can work together on being better. It's a GAME ... it's FUN ... (or it will be). I so badly want to say there is no wrong to play - but of course, there are things we do that can block play ... but they are whoops moments - not tragic mistakes that can't be overcome! I cannot tell you how absolutelyI believe that.
How long do you need to work on the human side skill of playing? Not very long at all - can you give active, hands-on play 5 minutes every other day? That's 15 minutes in a week - and you don't even always need a partner to do it! Starting to work on the skills and beliefs inherent in play will make all the difference to play. (We'll talk soon about the doubting voices that may be in your head - aka the monsters soon - for now push them aside). Set a timer if 5 minutes seems too long or short. If 5 minutes makes you anxious test playing for 2 minutes and see how that feels.
There are three exercises this week:
1) Analysing three people/dog play interactions
2) the "What if " play tool
3) Process Vs Outcome in play
Gold students may want to pick and choose which activity they do - or may want to post on all three
Homework: If you have questions arising from this lecture feel free to ask. Please determine when you will be able to set aside time for play practice (either on your own or with a play partner)
Instructor: Andrea Harrison
