Dogs may feel jealousy too

RESEARCH done recently claims to have proved that dogs are able to feel jealousy and envy just as humans and other primates do. Researchers used similarly-trained dogs, asking them to extend their paw under similar circumstances. As soon as the dog "next door" was getting more attention, other canines showed elevated levels of stress, which seemed to point at the fact that they had evolved these feelings in order to survive.

The scientists, working from the University of Vienna in Austria, conducted their study on 33 animals, all very well-trained. The only thing team leader Friederike Range changed when asking each of the dogs to extend its paw were the conditions under which the request occurred. While sometimes the dogs were rewarded, sometimes they were not, but that didn't seem to matter to them, until the couple tests.

During these tests, two dogs were placed next to each other and asked to extend their paws. One of the specimens received a reward – sweets or small sugar cubes – while the other did not. And the reaction was almost instantaneous, the dog that was neglected started exhibiting higher levels of stress, and some even started crying, to manifest their disappointment in the injustice.

The researchers said that this behaviour may have been inherited from their wolf ancestors, who developed a high sense of justice in order to cope with the harsh conditions that they met in the forests during winters, when the pack was only as strong as its weakest member. Probably, the sense of justice kept them on their toes and helped the pack leader make hard decisions very fast.

"The fate of a wolf or coyote pack can really hang on whether an individual pulls its weight. These animals learn not to tolerate unfairness," said Marc Bekoff from the University of Colorado, whose theories were confirmed by this new study.

At the University of Portsmouth a study into the same topic revealed that dogs experience a range of complex, human-like emotions. That particular study in 2006 tested 1000 dogs and uncovered examples where jealous dogs acted as uninvited chaperones between couples sharing romantic moments. It challenges the long-held scientific belief that only humans and chimpanzees were able to experience secondary emotions such as jealousy, guilt, shame and pride.

However, that particular situation is subject to two schools of thought - the second being that dogs do not cuddle - the nearest they get to it is when they are fighting. So when they see two humans, one of them their favourite person, getting up-close with arms around each other they see it as a potential conflict and do what all dogs do to split up the pair before conflict arises... they walk between them to split them up. This is a preventive measure that all dogs whether wild or domesticated will action among themselves.

Dr Morris, an animal behaviour expert, said dog owners showed remarkable consistency in reporting jealous behaviour. He said dogs could feel intense pangs of jealousy and animosity when in a love triangle involving the carer and another person or animal.

Dr Morris said it was readily accepted in the scientific community that dogs, cats, horses and other non-primate animals experience primary emotions such as anger, anxiety and surprise. Secondary emotions such as jealousy, pride, embarrassment and shame were considered to be the exclusive domain of humans and perhaps chimpanzees as they have the cognitive capacities required to support the complex range of secondary emotions. But this thinking, he said, might have to be revised.

"The data clearly suggest that complex emotions are present in a wider range of species than once thought and that animals do indeed have rich emotional lives." Dr Morris presented the research findings at a conference in the United States held by the International Society for Research on Emotions.