« 5 ways we are killing the earth | Home | Burger King pledges to stop ‘Whopper Virgins Syndrome’ »
Is your dog jealous?
By newsguy | December 8, 2008
“That’s not fair.”
This little phrase is as common as “no” in the toddler community, but you dog might also be thinking it too. The innately intuitive creatures we have grown to love and cherish are more human than we have ever expected.
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that dogs get a feeling of jealously and resentment when the rewards aren’t equal.
They tested this with by using the command “shake my paw” with two different dogs in the same room. Both dogs happily obliged when they saw that all was equal.
However once they started giving one dog a reward and not the other they noticed a difference in the attitudes. While the dog that got the treat of course continued to respond well to the command, the other dog was more hesitant to oblige. Finally that dog gave up completely.
This study condemns the age-old idea of jealousy being a uniquely human trait. Now we see that this ‘man made emotion’ transcends into the animal kingdom.
Though I doubt this is any great surprise to pet owners. We can all see that our pets are more human than not. So remember be fair or you might just have an angry toddler on your hands.
Topics: pets, animals, Just Plain Weird |
December 10th, 2008 at 8:22 am
[…] How smart are dogs??? What do you think? Are they as smart as humans? Is your dog jealous? | News Train […]