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.

I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand I think that dogs and other animals are more than capable of feeling these emotions. On the other hand I am sceptical that humans are necessarily able to determine when an animal is feeling these emotions.

If this research was based (mainly?) on questioning pet-owners then isn't it inevitable that the results will suggest dogs feel jealousy? Afterall, pet-owners are pretty notorious for wanting their pets to love them and be dependent on them. It's pretty damaging for the ego to admit that actually your dog couldn't give a stuff about you and just wants to know where his next meal is coming from (I'm not suggesting this is the case, just playing devils advocate a tad! Although I'm sure sometimes it is the case - Lesley, I've finally started reading Coppinger, can you tell?! Fab book, thank you.). I'm sure we all like to think that our horses feel jealousy too if we give another horse our attention. But is it genuinely jealousy or more of a "gimme the treat/scratch" type behaviours? Is it "I want it" or "I want it because he's got one and it's not fair"?

In the example Morris gives about his own 2 dogs, was Jessie jealous of Silver, or just pissed off because she wasn't receiving the attention she was normally used to receiving? So isn't this just -P? And anyway, what an experiment to conduct on your own dogs!!!!

As for guilt in dogs - again, how often do you hear someone say that the dog deliberately did something it knew was wrong and then looked guilty? I am sure a questionaire of pet-owners will "prove" the existence of guilt too. Yet is it not that the dog performed the behaviour which it needed to perform at the time (for whatever valid reason the dog had at the time) but then anticipated a punishment and was feeling fearful, not guilty?

And pride in horses? Where did that one come from? I've not heard that suggested before. But I guess they often adopt a stature that could be interpreted as pride. Or is it simply surveying the landscape?

Tee hee, I'm obviously not in a mood to let anything pass today! But what do you think? Am I looking at this too simplistically? Or do those enlightened dog-owners amongst you still think that the guilt and jealousy emotions are genuinely there?

Just to reiterate, I do think these emotions exist in these animals, just sceptical that this sort of study can prove things either way. I probably need to read it though!

Catherine

"I'm sure we all like to think that our horses feel jealousy too if we give another horse our attention. But is it genuinely jealousy or more of a "gimme the treat/scratch" type behaviours? Is it "I want it" or "I want it because he's got one and it's not fair"?"

I see your point here, but you could surely argue the same thing of humans?? Just what is genuine jealousy? It goes back to my own theory that emotions are based around our basic, and very much physical, needs.

I doubt it will ever be 'proven' either way, but some famous chappy did once say, "Nothing can be proven or disproven". Possibly as annoying a statement as "Nothing unreal exists"!

I completely agree that it's impossible to accurately determine another animal's emotions, at least until we get them speaking a fluent, human based lingo and we know how much that has been tried...

I see your point here, but you could surely argue the same thing of humans?? Just what is genuine jealousy?

Ummmm, dunno! I would say there needs to be a feeling of resentment towards the other person for having whatever it is you desire. In humans we can use language to determine whether we just want something or whether we resent the person for having it. With animals we can only use their behaviour - if that behaviour is some level of, eg aggression, then we don't know whether the aggression represents resentment towards the animal/person who has the desired something, or whether it is just a tried + tested means of getting it.

Me, pedantic? Anyone would think I didn't have enough work to do. It's not true, honest...

I'm going to regret this...

"I would say there needs to be a feeling of resentment towards the other person for having whatever it is you desire."

Take this one step further and ask why one person would resent another for having something. I might 'resent' someone else for having a flash car (I don't...). If this were so, some pyscho-babblist (like me...) would argue that this is because a flashy car means higher status, more successful = better chance of getting a mate...

Oh blimey, I'm making it sound like we ARE dogs!! Well, I've been called a b*tch before, just not in this way. Eep!