An experiment was conducted to find out.
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There were 3 situations that were introduced to dog parents and their dogs:
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1 The humans ignored their dogs, simultaneously playing with a toy dog that could whine, bark and wag its tail.
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2 The humans ignored their dogs, simultaneously playing with a Halloween pumpkin toy.
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3 The humans didn’t pay any attention to their dogs, but were reading a children musical book.
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Altogether, there were 36 dog-human pairs that took part in the experiment.
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The situation #1 and #2 were used in order to distinguish between simple desire for attention and jealousy, because the latter is not just about attention, but also a threat from another creature.
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The results showed that the dogs that were watching their humans interact with a toy puppy were trying to get their humans’ attention 2-3 times more persistently than in other situations.
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They would touch their people with their paw, squeezed in between their owner and the toy, even tried to bite it. At the same time, only one of the dogs made an attempt to attack the pumpkin or the book.
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This means that the dogs considered the “live” toy a rival, and tried to interact with it like with another dog (like sniffing it under the tail).
The researchers then came to a conclusion that jealousy is a feeling known to dogs too.
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How do your dogs react to attention to anyone/anything other than them? 🐶🤍👇
