[Animals] Did you know that your dog is jealous when he sees you with other animals?

[#Steeven.™]

Has it happened to you that you are walking your dog, you approach another and feel how you are being pulled on the leash, barked or agitated? Many pet owners are aware of these behaviors, and now a study confirmed what many believed: dogs are jealous.

A study led by the University of Auckland tested this type of behavior in 18 dogs and their owners. The results? Dogs are one of the few species in which jealous attitudes are identified, similar to those of children and their mothers.

The study of this type of behavior in animals is of great relevance for scientists, since, to feel jealousy, self-knowledge is required, a mental process that has always been of interest to researchers.

 

What was the study about?
Unlike previous work, this study focused on the pet-owner relationship to recognize these patterns. According to the chief researcher, Amalia Bastos, from the University of Auckland, this made it possible to ensure that the attitudes that were seen corresponded to jealousy and not something else.

"Previous studies confused jealous behavior with gambling, interest or aggression, because they never evaluated the reactions of the dogs to the owner and the social rival who were present in the same room, but did not interact," said the expert.

To test it, the researchers asked the owners to care for a fake dog that played the role of rival for the pet. Despite the fact that they were on the other side of a screen that made it difficult for them to see, they were forcing the straps to get closer to their humans.

Even when the fake dog was replaced by a wool-covered cylinder, the animals showed the same attitudes. In this way, it was proven that dogs feel jealous, when they see or even think that their owners are with another animal.

For Amalia Bastos, this is enough evidence to demonstrate their attitudes, but there is still a lack of research associated with the relationship of cognitive processes in animals.

"It is too early to say if dogs experience jealousy like we do, but it is now clear that they react to situations that induce it, even if they occur out of sight," concluded the researcher.