Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Your Emotional Rescue Dog

Prolly not news to dog owners but now the scientific community is saying so:
Dogs are prone to complex emotions such as jealousy and pride, according to scientific research that sheds new light on their relationship with humans.
Canines do not like seeing their owners offering affection to other creatures, especially other dogs, and react negatively when their owners bring home new partners, the research found.
Check. And check.

Psychologists previously believed most animals lack the "sense of self" needed to experience so-called secondary emotions such as jealousy, embarrassment, empathy or guilt.
Sense of self? OH YES!  

CNN has an article on the same study:

Friederike Range and colleagues at the University of Vienna in Austria asked 33 trained dogs to extend a paw to a human.

The animals performed the trick virtually all of the time whether they were given a reward or not -- when alone or with another dog.

But the dogs' enthusiasm waned when they saw other dogs being rewarded but received nothing themselves.

Well duh.  Just having a guess that the researchers were NOT dog owners.

Biscuits for everyone!

2 comments:

Caveat said...

They can count, too. At night we get a few kibbles as our bedtime snack.

They are all watching and counting to make sure they each get the same number each time around (this is 3 or 4, not much).

I always wind up with one each, saying their names in order. As soon as the last one is doled out, they all pack it up and get ready to snooze.

Yeah, they're, um, smart. Can I get a headline? Or what?

Tiki, Kirby, and StanLee said...

Cats too. When I take my pill like a good girl, I get a treat. My kitty brother and woofie brother both get very upset if they do not get a treat too. They both come running when they see the pill shooter.

Tiki