{"id":8295,"date":"2026-01-08T13:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/?p=8295"},"modified":"2026-01-08T13:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:25:36","slug":"the-importance-of-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/the-importance-of-play\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of play"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I was interviewed by Marilyn Mele on her summit <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dogwisdomworkshop.com\/karolina-j23\" target=\"_blank\">What Reactive Dogs Really Need<\/a> on the topic of play, and I thought I&#8217;d share it here on the blog!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want subtitles? Just click the CC-button at the bottom right! Oh, and if you&#8217;re a French Speaker, Benjamin Tr\u00e9visan kindly translated this discussion &#8211; find it <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1O815whOo-y3O0RqdDMgA8Ii2NU_usXg2\/view?usp=sharing\">here!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1152479596?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marilynmele.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Marilyn Mele<\/a> and Karolina Westlund on the Importance of Play<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s an entire module devoted to the topic of play in my online course <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/education\/courses\/animal-emotions\/\" target=\"_blank\">Animal Emotions<\/a>, which opens for enrollment in January! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Here\u2019s what we cover in the interview:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Biological Power of Play:<\/strong> Play is fundamental, and can literally reconfigure and reprogram an animal&#8217;s brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Science of Epigenetics:<\/strong> We discuss how play acts as a major modulator of gene expression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Developing an Optimistic Mindset:<\/strong> We cover how play induces a strong positive emotional state that helps animals become more optimistic. An optimistic animal expects good things to happen and is more likely to be curious rather than fearful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Building Resilience Through &#8220;Rough and Tumble&#8221;:<\/strong> I explain how social play teaches animals to handle slight discomfort (like being chased), learning that positive events follow such moments (like chasing the other); this helps build resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Training for the Unexpected:<\/strong> We talk about how the unpredictable nature of play helps animals learn to deal with unexpected events without being overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Seven Practical Reasons to Use Play:<\/strong> I outline specific ways to use play as a tool for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Strengthening the relationship and adding to the &#8220;relationship bank.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inducing a positive mood and appropriate arousal level to set the stage for learning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Acting as a powerful reinforcer during training instead of just using treats.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creating a <em>place preference <\/em>to help animals feel safe and happy in stressful locations like the vet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Physically inhibiting fear responses in the brain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Managing arousal levels to boost speed for activities like agility.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improving memory consolidation so the animal remembers their training better the next day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Safety and Rehabilitation:<\/strong> We discuss why establishing safety is the first priority for anxious or shutdown animals before they can truly open up to the benefits of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I write, speak and teach on the topic of animal emotions, behaviour, learning and welfare. If you want to be notified whenever I write a blog post, participate in an interview or open my courses for enrollment, just sign up below! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was interviewed by Marilyn Mele on her summit What Reactive Dogs Really Need on the topic of play, and I thought I&#8217;d share it here on the blog! Want subtitles? Just click the CC-button at the bottom right! Oh, and if you&#8217;re a French Speaker, Benjamin Tr\u00e9visan kindly translated this discussion &#8211; find it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8295"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8304,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions\/8304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}