When you kiss your husband, does your dog try to get your attention? And does that mean that your dog feels jealous? Threatened? Or are we just imagining that?
Many if not all dog owners are sure that their pets have feelings. And we've known for a while that animals exhibit behaviors that look like jealousy, guilt and shame. But it's hard to find out what animals are really feeling. And researchers say that understanding that could give us valuable insights into human emotions, too.
A study published Wednesday in PLoS ONE has brought us a tiny bit closer to proving that dogs do get jealous. Psychologists from the University of California, San Diego adapted a test that has been used on human infants to see whether dogs exhibit jealous behavior.
They videotaped how 36 dogs reacted to their owners ignoring them and instead petting and talking sweetly to a plastic jack-o-lantern or an animated, stuffed dog. When their owners were interacting with the stuffed animals, over three-quarters of the dogs pushed or touched their owners. The dogs also tried to get in between the stuffed animal and the owners, or growled at the plush pets.
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