This study by Prato-Previde et al. (2018) examined whether domestic dogs show jealous behaviors when their owner directs attention, petting, and praise toward a cohabiting dog. Drawing inspiration from developmental research on young children, the researchers designed a three-episode test: a Control phase in which the owner ignored both dogs, followed by two Experimental phases in which the owner interacted exclusively with one dog while ignoring the other.
Across conditions, researchers observed several behavioral shifts; however, the only behavior showing a significant increase during the Experimental episodes was monitoring, with ignored dogs spending more time gazing at their owner. Other predicted attention-seeking or interrupting behaviors did not reliably increase, failing to provide unequivocal evidence of jealousy.
The findings revealed substantial individual variability within and between dog pairs. Differences in owner–dog relationships, dynamics within each dyad, and the dogs’ histories likely contributed to diverse behavioral responses. The choice to evaluate cohabiting dogs—who may have established stable social arrangements—may also have dampened overt competitive behaviors.
Overall, the researchers conclude that while the results do not clearly support a full jealousy-like response, they also do not rule out the possibility that dogs may express a primordial form of jealousy under certain naturalistic conditions. More targeted research is needed to determine which social contexts could trigger jealousy-like behaviors and to rule out alternative explanations such as social referencing, attention seeking, or conditioned responses.
Source: Prato-Previde, E., Nicotra, V., Poli, S. F., Pelosi, A., & Valsecchi, P. (2018). Do dogs exhibit jealous behaviors when their owner attends to their companion dog? Animal Cognition, July 26, 2018.
