Dogs Feel Envy

December 08, 2008

Researchers have just proven what those of us with canine friends have suspected for a long time: Dogs feel envy. And the scientists have got photos to show this too, as you'll soon see.

Friederike Range of the University of Vienna and colleagues conducted experiments with pairs of pet dogs and their owners. While the dogs sat next to each other with their owners behind them, an experimenter prompted one of the two to put its paw in the person's hand. If the pup did so, it usually received a tasty piece of sausage or bread. In some cases, the person rewarded just one dog while the other dog watched. When this observant pooch then stuck out its paw, hoping for the tasty treat, it often got nada.

A paper on the study is in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

How would you feel if you did work while others received compensation and you didn't? In this case, the dog developed a resentment towards its more rewarded companion and began to snub the person, as you can see.

The subject is asked for the paw by the experimenter and obeys by giving the paw. The partner dog is sitting next to the subject and waiting for its turn. The owner is standing in the middle behind the two dogs. Photos courtesy of Friederike Range.

The  subject is following closely that the partner is receiving a food reward for  its action.

After the subject has not received food for giving the paw in the last trials and observing that the partner did receive food, the subject is refusing to give the paw and avoids looking at the experimenter.

It's now believed that dog envy may be an evolutionary precursor to primate emotions, including those felt by humans and monkeys. If you really want to experience a snub, watch a monkey that's been ripped off. Prior studies show that monkeys will go on strike, refusing to participate in anything where they feel their effort has received inferior compensation.

Comments

[mattie]

Hi Jennifer. Cute stories. Thank you. Put your dog envy story on our site for something entertaining and light. Liked the rest of them too. Will have to check back to read some more. Thank you. http://citizensagainstproobamamediabias.blogspot.com/2008/12/curiosity-dog-envy.html

[HOLLY]

They didnt need to do a bunch of fancy research to know this!! All they had to do was ask dog owners!! My "Beauty" is the queen of sensitivity. If Im sad, shes sad for me, if I show attention to another dog, she is very jealous and if I come home smelling like another dog, she swears I am cheating on her and will eat my underwear the next day!! So all they had to do was ask us!!

[Jen Viegas]

Mattie, thanks for the link and for finding us here.
Holly, your note cracked me up! "She swears I am cheating on her..." Isn't that the truth. My pets have exhibited similar behavior (minus the underwear chewing:).

[Katie]

I loved this! We see this everyday with our two puppies - one is a rat terrier and the other is a jack russell. We had the jack first and she has never been overly affectionate. When we got the rat terrier, the jack was immediately jealous because the rat is so much more affectionate. The rat wants to be touching us all the time and sitting with us all the time; the jack gets so upset! But when we try to hold her, she wiggles away. So funny.

[Jen Viegas]

Hey Katie- Just thinking about a rat terrier and a jack russell together provides quite a mental visual. That's a great duo. I've got to figure out some easy way of having you all send in photos of your pets, as I'd love to see them and share them here.
Please give your dogs an extra pat on the head today for me.-Jen

[Jade]

I love this post! I've always known dogs can experience a full range of emotions, but it's nice to have a more official word. I once had a professional dog groomer (and an owner of around 6-7 dogs!) tell me that dogs don't have feelings like people do when I asked her if the rest of her dogs got jealous after she brought 3 of them to work and left the rest at home. All I could do was stare at her and nod slowly.

[jasen]

i Love pets most especially dog they r human best friend !!!i love it thumbs up

[Janna P]

I agree with all of the above--anyone who's ever petted one dog with others around realizes that dogs 'get' envy ;) But it's great to have a place to point non-animal lovers to: "See!" I find it interesting that the pair of dogs seem to be siblings, adding a bit of sibling rivalry to the mix. And as an owner of a Border Collie, I also find it interesting that "snubbing" dog above is definitely a B.C. They are *so* sensitive about things like that, the poor babies. God forbid I should not reward something I asked mine to do :) Thankfully, they never ask for much, do they?

[Weggy]

This... doesn't prove that dogs feel envy. What is proves is that... dogs don't repeated behaviors that aren't somehow reinforced. They did not prove WHY the dog did what it did. The dog was asked to perform a behavior. Instead of being rewarded, food was withheld. So instead repeating the same rewardless behavior, the dog tried something different - not giving paw. This is basic problem solving on the part of the dog. "Giving paw did't get me a treat. I won't do that again, it must be something else." This is the bases of training tricks in dogs, by the way.

This does not prove envy in dogs. Sorry. I'm a seasoned dog person, and I love them very much, but I love them for what they are, not for being furry little humans. It's possible that dogs feel envy, but this is has no bearing on that.

[Weggy]

I wanted to add... ESPECIALLY when the dog is made AWARE that there is a reward present that he is not being given. Hence why the dog is willing to give paw the first time, but not after a being made aware that a reward is present, but not delivered to him.

If your dog gets "jealous" of you petting other dogs, it's because he "owns" you in his mind. BIG problem. Not cute. Not endearing. Not just one of those dog things. Indicative of a serious assumed rank issue. Your dog should not feel free to have a say in who you touch.

Wise dog people know this. Dog LOVERS have a hard time facing this.

It's for their best interest to love them for what they are, not what we think they should be...

[Janna P]

To Weggy:
I agree & disagree. Dogs *aren't* furry humans--I counsel that very strongly all the time. Their motivations are always their own and will *always* be shaped to fit canine instincts. And yet--humans have manipulated dogs through countless centuries to work & live alongside us, and we have selected genetically, along with working abilities, to get them to be more 'human-like.' Maybe even done as part of the 'working abilities' so that we/they can work with them/us more effectively.
I'm also a "seasoned dog person" who has studied animal behavior for most of my life. I believe the 'envy' (or at the very least, 'hurt feelings') wasn't shown in the fact that the dog didn't repeat the behavior for lack of a treat--it was that he snubbed both the other dog, *&* the experimenter. Sorry, but my experiences have been that when a dog wants attention or a treat, they are very much in-your-face, to humans or any other species. Mine in particular will go through her whole retinue of tricks to figure out what will get her the reward. She *doesn't* ignore or avoid me. She only does that when she resents what I'm doing (usually calling her inside *g*) or if I'm 'too harsh.'
With the whole petting pushiness--I agree too, that it can get out of hand if you don't take steps to prevent that. But I don't know that it's "ownership" of the human so much as "hey--I want to be scratched!" or even "ownership" of their place in your pack. The *reason* for the envy (the boss might accept an outsider into the pack that could take *my* place & privileges) may have a different base than ours would have--but it's there. A rose is a rose, y'know? And a dog is a mammal with a brain structure built very much like ours. (Don't mean to offend, really, just pointing out a key argument of the article)

[Jennifer T]

I agree with Janna. We should check the actual published paper to see if Frederike controlled for reward absence. In other words, she should have a condition where a subject dog is rewarded or not, with another "decoy" dog beside it who is not involved in the experiment. If the subject starts to withhold its paw when it is not rewarded - EVEN THOUGH THE DECOY IS NOT REWARDED EITHER - then it is simple extinction of the behavior due to lack of reward - NOT ENVY.

[Jennifer Viegas]

You can read the abstract for the paper at:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/12/08/0810957105.abstract?sid=64925ecf-92f4-40f9-8eb4-541da53180fa

The full study may be downloaded there too, but I believe there's a fee.