My dog, Maggie, had the family to herself for five or six years before we finally admitted another dog into the mix.
To add insult to injury, this new young whippersnapper was a pup, and a very active one at that.
Due to his relentless shenanigans and sheer cuteness, this new pup, Fletch by name, demanded a lot of our time and attention.
Needless to say, Maggie did not like this interloper and made that fact very clear.
She wasn't accustomed to sharing her humans and their attention and didn't want to start now, thank you very much.
So, suddenly our sweet, always agreeable, always at our feet Maggie was never around.
She would go outside and stay there all day - and she was an indoor dog.
She was literally sulking! We'd call her repeatedly and she would ignore us.
In the past she had been a very obedient dog.
When we tried to pet her, she would pull away.
This behavior continued for four to five months until finally a measured acceptance settled in and she and Fletch actually became good friends.
So when someone asks the question, "Do dogs get jealous?" my personal answer would be - yes indeed, they do.
Maggie was clearly jealous of our attentions to Fletch.
Our current dog can't stand to see me use my laptop.
She'll come over and plop her paw on top of the keyboard, or get her head under my hand and force me to pet her instead.
She doesn't like sharing her attention - even with an inanimate object! But what do the experts have to say about this question of dogs and jealousy? According to expert dog trainer Cesar Millan, dogs do not get jealous.
One may want what another has, such as the attention of his master.
It is how the human reacts to that that sets the tone.
If one dog is receiving attention, another may try to get some too.
But, according to Cesar, that is not jealousy; he's just making his wishes known.
If the human encourages both dogs to come to him and share the attention, the dogs don't object.
However, not every expert is in agreement with Cesar's take on this issue.
In fact, scientists in California conducted an experiment to study a dog's responses to different situations.
One was their response to their master interacting with a stuffed dog.
The dogs' reactions all indicated they were feeling at least a basic sense of jealousy over that human's attention to this stuffed toy - enough so that those conducting the test felt comfortable labeling the dogs' behavior as "jealousy.
" Most dogs pawed or otherwise attempted to get their owner's attention.
Some dogs even barked their displeasure.
Have you ever tried hugging your mate or significant other in front of your dog? If it's anything like ours, it responds immediately.
Ours tries to place herself between us and push us apart.
Fletch, on the other hand, would bark his displeasure.
So, in regard to the issue of jealousy and dogs, I would say the jury is still out.
Personally, I lean in favor of those Californians in saying, Yes, to some basic degree they do.
How about you?
To add insult to injury, this new young whippersnapper was a pup, and a very active one at that.
Due to his relentless shenanigans and sheer cuteness, this new pup, Fletch by name, demanded a lot of our time and attention.
Needless to say, Maggie did not like this interloper and made that fact very clear.
She wasn't accustomed to sharing her humans and their attention and didn't want to start now, thank you very much.
So, suddenly our sweet, always agreeable, always at our feet Maggie was never around.
She would go outside and stay there all day - and she was an indoor dog.
She was literally sulking! We'd call her repeatedly and she would ignore us.
In the past she had been a very obedient dog.
When we tried to pet her, she would pull away.
This behavior continued for four to five months until finally a measured acceptance settled in and she and Fletch actually became good friends.
So when someone asks the question, "Do dogs get jealous?" my personal answer would be - yes indeed, they do.
Maggie was clearly jealous of our attentions to Fletch.
Our current dog can't stand to see me use my laptop.
She'll come over and plop her paw on top of the keyboard, or get her head under my hand and force me to pet her instead.
She doesn't like sharing her attention - even with an inanimate object! But what do the experts have to say about this question of dogs and jealousy? According to expert dog trainer Cesar Millan, dogs do not get jealous.
One may want what another has, such as the attention of his master.
It is how the human reacts to that that sets the tone.
If one dog is receiving attention, another may try to get some too.
But, according to Cesar, that is not jealousy; he's just making his wishes known.
If the human encourages both dogs to come to him and share the attention, the dogs don't object.
However, not every expert is in agreement with Cesar's take on this issue.
In fact, scientists in California conducted an experiment to study a dog's responses to different situations.
One was their response to their master interacting with a stuffed dog.
The dogs' reactions all indicated they were feeling at least a basic sense of jealousy over that human's attention to this stuffed toy - enough so that those conducting the test felt comfortable labeling the dogs' behavior as "jealousy.
" Most dogs pawed or otherwise attempted to get their owner's attention.
Some dogs even barked their displeasure.
Have you ever tried hugging your mate or significant other in front of your dog? If it's anything like ours, it responds immediately.
Ours tries to place herself between us and push us apart.
Fletch, on the other hand, would bark his displeasure.
So, in regard to the issue of jealousy and dogs, I would say the jury is still out.
Personally, I lean in favor of those Californians in saying, Yes, to some basic degree they do.
How about you?
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