Jealousy in Dogs

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http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/08/23/jealousdog_ani_print.html

 

Aug. 23, 2006

Dogs get jealous when jilted, suggests a new study that found canines

feel especially intense jealousy pangs when in a " love triangle " involving

their owner and another, more recently introduced, person or animal.

 

The finding suggests dogs may also experience pride, embarrassment, shame

and other secondary emotions outside of basic emotions such as anger,

anxiety and surprise. Scientists previously thought only humans and

chimpanzees showed behaviors linked to secondary emotions.

 

A genetic propensity for jealousy may even run as deep as a dog's ancient

wolf ancestors.

 

" I would definitely think you would find jealousy in wolves, " said lead

researcher Paul Morris. " For example, sexual jealousy would be an

extremely powerful motivator in the wild state. Jealousy would also relate

to position in hierarchy and alliances between animals within a pack. "

 

Morris is a University of Portsmouth psychologist and a member of the

university's Center for the Study of Emotion. He and colleague

Christine Doe studied 1,000 domestic animal owners in the south of

England.

 

The researchers asked the pet owners to report observations of both

primary and secondary emotions in their animals, which included cats,

pigs, horses, rabbits, rats and hamsters, as well as dogs.

 

All the animals received high scores for secondary emotions, with over 80

percent of owners claiming their dogs showed signs of jealousy.

 

When Morris and Doe interviewed participants about their observations,

owners repeatedly said their pooches seemed jealous when they introduced a

new person or animal to the family.

 

Morris also studied the phenomenon directly with his own two dogs, Silver

and Jessie. He went out of his way to shower Silver with attention, and

then only occasionally gave Jessie her usual head pat.

 

Jessie showed her teeth and snarled, but contained her anger and tried to

push her way back into the mini pack.

 

" Jealousy is at its heart related to the real or anticipated loss of love,

affection and attention, " Morris told Discovery News. " Dog jealousy is

different to human jealousy, in that it is tied to the here and now; dog

jealousy occurs only in the presence of the interloper. So when I talk

about dog jealousy, I see it as a much more primitive and hugely less

elaborate version of human jealousy. "

 

Marc Bekoff, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the

University of Colorado, and the author of numerous studies and books on

animal emotions

most recently two books co-authored with primate researcher Jane Goodall

agrees with the new findings.

 

" I believe that Dr. Morris is right. Dogs and other animals do exhibit

secondary emotions such as jealousy, " Bekoff told Discovery News. " I

ve studied the emotional lives of animals for more than 25 years and was

pleased to see his results. "

 

Morris, who will present his work on canine jealousy at next month's

British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA) Festival of

Science in Norwich, England, next plans to study evidence of guilt in dogs

and pride in horses.

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