A recent study by scholars at the University of California, San Diego have found that dogs exhibited jealously when their owners demonstrated affection towards an animatronic stuffed dog.
This news may come as no great surprise considering most of us has seen a dog exhibit jealously, especially when a new family member or animal enters the picture. However, experts in this field believe this is a giant leap forward, since this is the first study to directly ask if dogs get jealous.
Here’s some basic information about the study:
- 14 small breed participants for a total of 36 participants.
- Participants were filmed while their owners interacted with the fake dog, children’s book and plastic pumpkin.
- The dogs’ displayed the most jealous reactions when their owner acted fondly towards the fake dog.
- The study suggested that the dogs’ displayed more jealously by social interaction and not interaction with an object.
What do you think? Have you ever had a dog who has displayed jealous behaviors?