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Scientists have confirmed what pet owners have always suspected: our pooches may pout when they sense another pup is getting favorable treatment.

Researchers at the University of Vienna in Austria report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA that dogs may be like our human best buds: they get jealous if they feel we're treating another dog better.

Fredericke Range and her colleagues did a series of experiments with dogs that indicated they were happy to "shake hands" whether or not they were rewarded –at least for a while. But that changed if one pup got a treat and the other got nada.

For a long time, scientists believed a sense of equity was a purely human trait. Then in 2003 researchers discovered that capuchin monkeys  complied with requests in return for cucumber slices, but got their backs up when they saw another monkey getting grapes, which they perceived as sweeter, better treats.

The dogs apparently weren't quite as picky. They were eager to please their human experimenters as long as they got something – be it a piece of bread or sausage -- acknowledging their effort. But they became visibly stressed and stopped playing along if they shook hands and got nothing, especially if another dog was rewarded for doing the same thing. They cooperated longer if their canine compeers also were stiffed or if they were being tested alone.

FYI: All of the owners reported their dogs preferred the sausage to the bread, but they didn't act up if their neighbors got the primo prize and they got grain as long as they got a tidbit, too.

The scientists worked with 14 well-trained dogs that either lived together or knew one another. A familiar human companion remained on the scene while researchers did their thing. Range and her colleagues put the dogs through a series of experiments to determine how long each one would follow commands in different circumstances: when rewarded or not, solo or with another pooch on hand.

Beware oh pet owners: the next thing you know your pups and their pals may begin organizing a la George Orwell's Animal Farm.

Photo of Emma by Lisa Stein.

5 Comments

1. 1. StephEd 10:46 PM 12/8/08

   I could have saved them the time on this experiment and told them this. I imagine anyone else who has two or more of the same pet could. My cats have competed for my affection since birth.
   
   p.s. is it just me or does that dog look like satan?

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2. 2. leftystrat 10:48 PM 12/8/08

   I'm trying to figure out why this is news. With all due respect, anyone with a dog and another pet should know that dogs (and other pets) are jealous. I have a dog and a cat that are absolute mirrors of human siblings. They play, fight, and get jealous if the other one gets more attention.
   
   You haven't lived until you've seen a 23lb (not fat-LARGE) tabby and a 28lb black cocker roll around in a ball.

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3. 3. quantumcipher 02:43 AM 12/9/08

   That has to be one of the most disturbing pictures of a dog I've seen in my entire life.

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4. 4. candide 09:20 AM 12/9/08

   Fairness? I don't think so. ENVY yes, JEALOUSY, yes.

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5. 5. hgintis 06:36 PM 12/10/08

   This experiment was not reported very accurately, and because of this, some of the comments are generally not accurate.
   
   First, inequity aversion is different from willingness to contest over who gets what. Of course, in a huge number of species, individuals will fight over who gets the proceeds of their hunting activites. Inequity aversion means: if A gets less than B, A will be willing to sacrifice some of what he got in order to reduces the inequality between A and B.
   
   Note that inequity aversion is exibited when an indivdiual sacrifices to hurt the other individual. Humans do this with some regularity. Despite the fact that inequity aversion as been reported in chimps and Capuchin monkeys, there were in fact serious confounds in the experiments, and the results must be thrown out.
   
   The study with dogs is much better done that any previous studies---the authors learned a lot from the controversies surrounding Capuchins and chimps. What show is not inequity aversion as in humans, but rather something like "I won't participate in an unfair game, even if I would otherwise be perfectly happy with the reward I receive from this game." I read the paper, and I think the evidence is strong that dogs react in this way to inequity.
   
   It may be that dogs also exhibit true inequity aversion, but to show this, the unfortunate dog would have to be able to punish the fortunate dog at a cost to himself. This experiment has not been done, to my knowledge.

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