Just like how an older sib might behave out when a new baby joins the family , a 2014studyfromPLOS ONEsuggests dogs get jealous when they comprehend there is a contender for their owner ' aid .
To essay this , UC San Diego psychology professor Christine Harris and former honors student Caroline Prouvost adapt a test usually enforce to 6 - calendar month - old human baby . 36 dogs and their owners participated . Each pair was videotaped at home as the owner ignored the dog in favor of three different stand - ins : An animize thrust dog that barked and waggle its tail ; a manual laborer - o - lantern ; and a children ’s record with pop - ups and sounds . In the case of the toy dog and the diddlyshit - o - lantern , owners — who were not informed beforehand of sentence of the hypothesis — were instruct to process the object as if it were a genuine frank . The Koran serve as a control ; owners translate aloud as if to a child .
From there , two independent raters watched the picture and coded them for a variety of strong-growing , riotous , and/or attention - look for behaviors that would indicate green-eyed monster . What they found was that most of dogs exhibited some signs of green-eyed monster — primarily campaign or touching the owner or object but also snapping at the miniature — when their possessor interacted with the fake dog . The jack - o - lantern was perceived as less of a scourge and the Quran least of all . Harris also note that 86 percent of dogssniffed the toy dog ’s rearward endat some point , indicating that they consider it to be a real blackguard .
The survey predicts that the jealous behavior would be even more marked in situation where the competition for the owners ' attention was a real dog that respond to the aid . " Our study suggests not only that dogs do engage in what appear to be green-eyed behaviors but also that they were seek to break in up the connection between the owner and a seeming rival , " Harris read . " We ca n’t really speak to the dogs ' immanent experience , of course , but it looks as though they were motivated to protect an important societal family relationship . "
The implication of jealousy in hound may mean that , contrary to some writing on the subject , it is not necessarily a social concept unique to romantic relationships . " Our results challenge these ideas , showing that animals besides ourselves display secure distress whenever a rival usurps a loved one ’s tenderness , " Harris said .
This story has been updated for 2020 .
