The researchers found that one-fourth of the dogs snapped at the stuffed object when they were jealous. There was no difference in the number of dogs that lowered their tails. All in all, during the post-interaction phase during which the owner was no longer holding the object, a surprising 36% of dogs snapped and showed aggression at the stuffed dog. The snapping was only displayed by one dog in other tests. This was surprising to the researchers because the dog’s owners believed their dogs to be non-aggressive in temperament prior to testing.
This study also demonstrated that dogs that were attention-seeking and very focused on their owners, while being jealous, were more likely to push against their owners and objects, or touch them.
Most surprising was that these jealous dogs would try to go between both owner and object. This behavior is associated with jealousy in humans and is hypothesized by researchers to distinguish this behavior from anger or other emotions.
The research also assumed that dogs did believe that the stuffed dog was a real dog because of the aggressive behaviors directed at it. A reviewer of the research mentioned that the dogs that did not act aggressively, possibly realized that the object was not a real dog. A high 86% of the tested dogs sniffed the hindquarters of the stuffed dog during testing. Both Dr. Prouvost and Harris believed that had the stuffed dog been a real dog, that there could have been more aggression involved.
With that said, the researchers concluded that the pattern of behaviors displayed by these dogs showed behaviors that were very similar to jealous behavior in humans. None the less only 13.8% of the dogs did not sniff the hindquarters of the stuffed dog.
Researchers believe that this was because they were not in a jealous state since they did not try to go between the owners and the object. Many of the dogs that did not snap showed other jealous behaviors like trying to get in between owner and object. 61.9% would push against their owners, and 57.1% would push against the stuffed dog.
So yes, dogs do feel jealous. According to research in PLOS ONE, domestication may have given rise to this because of how strongly bonded we are with our dogs today. Researchers say that it could also be because dogs are able to track a human gaze or see what their owners are focusing on. The research paper also questions whether jealousy in dogs came about because animals need cooperation from other group members to survive.
First Published in The United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA) &The World CynoSport Rally.
[ad_2]