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| (Library of Congress Poster) |
Sometimes this seems like a dog-eat-dog world, especially if Rover is making eyes at Fifi behind Fido's tail.
A recent study by San Diego psychologist Christine Harris focused upon what is now termed “canine jealousy.” After dog-owners were asked to “shower affection” on three different objects (“a plush animatronic dog… a plastic jack-o-lantern pail… a children’s book”) in front of their dogs, Harris analyzed the dogs’ responses.
What Harris found is that these dogs exhibited far more agitation when their owners were interacting with the toy dog than when they were interacting with either the pail or the book. Twenty-five percent of them “even snapped at the toy, which barked and whined and wagged its tail, while the owner was playing with it.”
Now this might sound like a far cry from the torments of Othello,
but perhaps it is closer than we would like to imagine. Our all-too-human jealousy might also be lurking within the bosom of a wolf.
Resources
http://news.msn.com/us/dogs-are-capable-of-feeling-jealousy-us-study
Copyright August 5, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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