Possesive Pups: Behavior patterns in domestic canines

Summary of "Dog Jealousy: Study suggests primordial origins for the 'green-eyed monster'"

By Inga Kiderra

Inga Kiderra reveals information about the first experiment ever done on dog jealousy. Dogs experience jealousy to defend social bonds from other dogs, books, and even empty buckets. During this, the first experiment ever done on jealousy of dogs, the owner treated another object as a dog (petting them and sweet talking them, etc.), and dog felt more jealous. They feel this jealousy because they can sense a threat of their owners gaining a connection to this object instead of the dog themselves. 78% of the dogs felt envious when the owner interacted with a fake dog (a stuffed dog that barked and waged it's tail) and 30% of them tried to get in-between the dog and owner. 42% felt envious when their owner treated a bucket or pail like a dog, and 22% acted jealous when their owner was ignoring them while simply reading a book. Professor Christine Harris and Caroline Prouvost conclude that dogs feel more possessive when their owners are not paying attention to them because they are concerned about losing the relationship with their owner (Kiderra, 2014).

Since December, when we added a new dog named Tanzy to our family, we can see how she is jealous of the dog we already had, Beethoven. My family was wondering if this is natural behavior, just something she does as a puppy, or if this is a behavior specific to her. When I give attention to Beethoven, she tries to get between and get all of the attention, so I am glad I know that this is normal behavior. It is interesting that this is the first experiment ever done on dog jealousy because there has been so much research on human behavior.

University of California - San Diego. (2014, July 23). Dog jealousy: Study suggests primordial origins for the 'green-eyed monster'. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 10, 2014 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140723141716.htm