Just the Thought of You Petting Other Dogs Can Make Your Furry Friend Jealous

Some forces on Earth are as pure as a dog's love for its keeper. Wolves' domestication (which may have started in this cave) change later generations of dogs, changing them from hostile predators into a bunch of human-loving joy (except Prancer).

Pedigree or Breed of Dogs

Our friends with four-legs now come in a wealthy variety of sizes and shapes, but unconcerned of pedigree or breed, they are unified in their love for their humans. Frequently among human relationships love can bring about jealousy, and a recent study released in the journal Psychological Science may have shown the same is true of dogs.

While it is not all that is enjoyable when you get an instance of the Green-Eyed Monster, jealousy is reasoned to be a social behavior that keeps social bonds that are valuable by safeguarding them from intruders.

Envious Behaviors of Dogs

It's easily noticed and interpreted when working with humans (who, importantly, speak) but there has been some research into the envious behaviors of dogs, or if they can get jealous at all. If keepers are to be trusted, then there's much anecdotal proof (who does not want to believe their dog is unique), but little in the way of difficult proof beyond this betrayed beagle whose keeper is petting other dogs on Red Dead Redemption.

In order to discover, the study told people to bring their devoted doggos along to take part in a trial which saw the dogs view a video of their human having interaction with two objects: a fake dog or a fleece cylinder. It was concluded that pulling on the leash would suggest jealousy of the dog, as the same behavior is observed in jealous children.

"The single most constant jealous behavior that we notice in children is an approach response as they make effort to disturb the interaction of their mother with a rival," said Amalia Bastos from The University of Auckland in the video concerning the research. "So, we were attentive to see if dogs would display this also, pulling stronger when they encountered jealousy-inducing situation.

The Video

The video revealed the owners of the dog stroking the objects in distinct conditions to find out if the dog reacts to an inanimate object - the fleece cylinder, in a similar way as a perceived opponent - the fake pup. The dogs did not only get more jealous when the keeper was petting the fake dog - a potential opponent, they even got jealous when a screen was put up concealing the view.

In this situation, the fake dog wasn't in view but that the keepers were stroking something that the dog can still view. Their jealousy, regardless of having the opponent concealed from view, means that whatever they thought was going on at the back of that barrier was something they were not on board with.

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