Dogs are pretty awesome creatures; some even call them "man's best friend," and in many ways, they are. However, over the years humans have failed to realize a certain "human"-like trait found in dogs, and that is the ability to show emotions such as jealousy.
A jealous dog is an angry dog we always say. Okay, we didn't actually say that, but if researchers are correct in their assessment of dogs, then who knows what dogs would do when faced with jealously. Humans do all kind of madness; let's hope our dogs fail to pull off the "monkey see, monkey do" thing.
Scholars at the University of California, San Diego, found out that dogs show certain jealous behaviors when their owners show affection toward a stuffed dog that barks wags its tail and whines. The jealous dog will usually try to get between the human and the stuffed dog, and sometimes even push against or snap at the toy.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to folks with several dogs as they will usually compete for space closest to their master. In addition, we've come to understand that some folks apply human feelings to their dogs, as these animals sometimes look on with eyes that appear to be deep with emotion.
As it stands, the study is basically showing that a dog's jealousy is triggered by social interaction and not by their master ignoring them. Furthermore, the study claims that 86 percent of all the dogs used, sniffed the rear of the toy, which could mean they see the stuffed animal as real.
These findings are similar to how human babies at the age of six months react when mother interacts with a realistic looking baby toy, so could this mean dogs show similar emotions to humans? It appears so.
"Many people have assumed that jealousy is a social construction of human beings -- or that it's an emotion specifically tied to sexual and romantic relationships," according to Dr. Christine Harris in a written statement. "Our results challenge these ideas, showing that animals besides ourselves display strong distress whenever a rival usurps a loved one's affection."
Don't want your dog having these human-like emotions? Then don't play with stuffed animals.
