Can Dogs Show Jealousy? New Study Claims, ‘Yes’

Dogs may be capable of showing basic jealousy, a new study claims. (Of course, this is something that dog owners have known for years, but science has finally taken a crack at it.)

According to a report from Valley News, a psychology professor decided to study for the first time whether dogs and jealousy are actually capable of going together. The nine-month study published in July in the science journal PLOS ONE hints that it could be possible, but other experts aren’t so sure, the news site notes.

“While I will not say that dogs do not experience jealousy, this article does not prove that they actually do,” said Dr. Bonnie Beaver, executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Beaver also said that dogs lack shame. No matter what people think, their so-called “guilty look” of a cowering head, pinned ears, and droopy eyes is a reaction to people throwing tantrums over chewed-up shoes and accidents on the carpet.

However, study author Christine Harris disagree. Harris, a professor of psychology at the University of California, San Diego, said her dogs and jealousy study supports the theory there’s a more basic form of jealousy.

More from the report:

She and a former student worked with 36 dogs, videotaping owners ignoring their pets while petting and talking sweetly to stuffed, animated dogs or jack-o-lantern pails. A pair of independent workers watched the videos for behavior like aggression or attention-seeking.

When people interacted with the stuffed animals, their dogs pushed or touched them 78 percent of the time; tried to get between the owner and toy 30 percent of the time; and snapped at the fake dog 25 percent of the time, Harris said.

There was much less of that behavior when it came to the toy pails. Forty-two percent of the dogs tried to push or touch them; 15 percent tried to get between them; and 1 percent snapped.

Harris believes the dogs saw the stuffed animals as rivals.

Harris continued: “When they see a loved one show affection toward another what appears to be a real being, they engage in real behaviors to try and draw the affection back to them. That’s what you see in humans, too.”

Beaver claimed the study “opens up thoughts about what an animal might be experiencing,” but thought calling it jealousy was going too far, adding that a dog “might be more interested because another ‘social being’ is interacting with the owner.”

Harris said she isn’t claiming dogs have the same “internal experience” as humans, because it’s “impossible to know.”

“Some say that’s not jealous behavior, that dogs don’t have emotions like this,” she said. “Others have said I am being too cautious, and if they have emotions like us, they will have behavior like us.”

Do you believe dogs are capable of jealousy? Share your thoughts in our comments section.

[Image via ShutterStock]