Jealous?

[Wrath]

Okay, I have to know...do dogs get jealous?

Jaxom seems to get very jealous anytime Dee gets attention from us. We had him since he was a pup and he was an only dog until a month or so ago, so for the first 10 months of his life he had complete attention from us. They get along great, constantly playing, wrestling, even playing peek-a-boo with each other (so cute) but he definitely ACTS jealous if we giver her affection. He has to come over and butt her out of the way and push his head into our hands as if saying 'hey, what about me?' When we're playing catch with her, he's got to bring the rope over. When we're training her, he's got to get in front of her and show her how it's done. It's cute, but we don't let him get away with it too much...fortunately there are two of us, so we can share. =)

[fbkeays]

I firmly believe that dogs can be jealous. One of my dogs, I have a green collar for him. He matches it perfectly:D He can't stand it if one of his special people even looks at another of my dogs. He throws temper tamtrums, flings himself between the other dog and person, goes into a whining/snarling frenzy.

[Burnsway]

No dogs do not get jealous the way we see it in my opinion. In my opinion it's more of a dominant I own you attitude then jealousy.

Example, hubby hugs wife, dog wiggles in-between, Jealous? nope but a subtle hey she is mine!

Your petting one dog when the other comes up and pushes their way in, Jealous? No, again the dog in a subtle way is saying you belong to him and the other dog needs to move on.
problem is with Dominant dogs the subtle hints can get more pushy later.

I tell the dog doing it to knock it off, back up a bit, and their turn is coming....;)

OK OK sometimes I'm a little weak and give in, nobody's perfect.......:o

[Storm]

It is a hierarchy thing, rank differs from dog to dog and depending on the dog as anindividual, by enabling him to call the shots can be possible cause for veru unruly behavior. You are in charge and you dictate what behavior is acceptable or not, within reason offcourse been a fair, responsible "dictator".;)

[Carina43]

I agree it's more heirarchal than jealousy (or jealousy as we humans experience it, anyhow.) Daphne is the same way, she gets VERY pushy when we give one of the boys attention. She's afraid of Phoebe, so she just whines and acts snotty when Phoebe is getting hugs.

We're working on her down-stays when she gets like this! She's not a fast learner, but she's slowly getting it.

[poohbearsmom]

Is a very human behavior... I think a lot of the time, we see a behavior, and for lack of better knowledge, we paste a "human" quality on our dogs, IMHO... The "noodling" in to get the attention is definitely not jealousy... I concur with the others on this. Dogs are painfully honest.. what you see is what you get. It's a matter of learning to read what you're seeing.

I think this is where a lot of people run into trouble with their dogs... they treat dogs as if they are actually human, saying things like "he knew better!!"... when in reality.. he did not. (i.e. dog pees on the carpet)... I don't believe that dogs do things (i.e. chew the couch, dig up the yard, eat the gutters... ) in order to "get back at us for not being there"... They just do it, because there's nothing else to do, and they have not been properly guided, (or completely guided) to learn what is acceptable and what is not.

We would really be doing all of dogkind a service if we lifted these human qualities, and the expectations we have of them, and we begin to treat them as dogs.... Expecting a dog to act like a human gives them pretty big shoes to fill.. ;)

They are dogs, they possess instinctual behaviors, and they learn what is acceptable behavior (or not) and exhibit it. Can dogs manipulate a situation? Yes. Do they do so in order to deceive us, like a human would? No. They do it because they gain something from it.. It's up to us, when they join our world to teach them the ropes..

Sorry about the soapbox! It just seems that there have been so many posts lately in which people are seemingly "missing the boat" regarding the why's of their dog's behavior.

In a case like fbkeay's, I would rectify that situation in a heartbeat... just as Storm posted:

You are in charge and you dictate what behavior is acceptable or not, within reason offcourse been a fair, responsible "dictator".

Couldn't have said it better.....

Ciao'

Elisabeth

[Burnsway]

Yea, what they said...........:D

[Wrath]

I definitly don't like to attribute human qualities to animal behavior, but here is something to consider. What causes jealousy in people? Isn't it generally based on what people perceive themselves as deserving, what they want, and whether or not they get it versus someone else who does? Aren't the stimulii for feelings of 'jealousy' in humans very similar to what evokes similar reactions in our fuzzy companions? I'm not suggesting that dogs are like humans, but maybe we're a bit more like dogs (and other animals) with our supposedly complex and sophisticated human qualites than we care to admit.

I don't think that it's completely a dominance issue either. Dee also tries to butt in when affection, play, or training is being dished out to Jaxom...she's just not as physical about implanting herself into the middle of things, her tactic is usually to zip in behind Jaxom as if to say 'Hey, I'm over here just in case you've got some extra'. When they see my wife and I cuddling, they generally come over to get some affection too. When we're eating, they try to stare us down with hopeful looks and wagging tails. You should see the circus that ensues when trying to work behaviors with one or the other. I'm trying to work Jaxom's down, Dee trots over, he pops up, I say 'ahh ahh...down' and she drops. He get's miffed, she pops up, I'm going 'I don't care anymore who does down, someone better drop'...it's like a 3 stooges episode sans ladder and hammer. When SERIOUSLY working with them, they're seperated...usually with a trip outside to the yard for practice.

Why should this be chained to dominance issues? If a dog sees food and decides he wants to eat some of it, we don't attribute that to dominance. I don't think I could stand the stress of thinking everything our dogs do is because they're trying to start a coup and claim leadership.

[fbkeays]

Wrath I completely agree with you. I also don't like to "humanize" dogs. I love my dogs and would do the world for them, but they are not my children, they are not my furbabies, they are my dogs! From observing them, I do think they can get jealous of each other. They act like a bunch of 3 year old children sometimes. If one dog gets something, the others want theirs too. I don't think it is a dominance issure either. My most "green" dog is my least dominate dog. So if it was purely a dominance thing, he would not even be in the picture. But he will come in and body bash the other, more dominate dog, out of the way. If he gets corrected by the other dog, he then throws a temper tantrum (the best way to describe it) just out of range of the other dog's teeth.

[Burnsway]

He has to come over and butt her out of the way and push his head into our hands as if saying 'hey, what about me?'

He can't stand it if one of his special people even looks at another of my dogs. He throws temper tamtrums, flings himself between the other dog and person, goes into a whining/snarling frenzy

OK you guys for sake of argument we will make it a human emotion to make a point, if your teenage child acted this way while you were hugging your spouse or talking to another teenager would you let them get away with it?

If you told your Teen to knock it off after letting them do it for so long they would probably run off moping. Tell your Rottweiler to knock it off after letting them do it through maturity and they will probably growl, snap or bite you.

Still want to call it jealousy?

[poohbearsmom]

Is attaching a human quality to a non human species..

This is the stuff that puts dogs in the gas chamber, folks.... :o

Dogs are simple. They have hardwired drives installed that assist them in the quest for survival. What makes it so difficult for the average Joe to train them is the inability to accept that. Like I said before, dogs are painfully honest animals... what you see is what you get..When we twist what we see into something that's easier for us to understand (a human behavior, emotion, etc...) we open up a hole can of inconsistant treatment of them....

You can bet your bottom dollar that they are an intelligent species... but, they live in the HERE AND THE NOW. They DO NOT plot against us. The DO NOT eat the pillow to piss us of..They do not exhibit emotions in the way WE exhibit emotions. We do NOT do them ANY favorsby thinking they are anything other than what they are - DOGS.

It's an awfully egotistical person who wishes for their dog to emulate them. Why would anyone WANT to put that much pressure on a dog. Why not just accept a dog for what it is - and work with that????????

Yes, dogs learn ways to "manipulate" the system... so, if your dog has pushed it's way to the front of the "petting line", then it's only because he's succeeded on a previous attempt, and gained the gratification he sought in the first place. PERIOD.

Do your dogs a favor, and let them be dogs. ;)

Respectfully,

Elisabeth

[JoJo]

I happen to agree with Elisabeth, dogs are not capable of human emotions. We as humans just have wishful thinking that they did. It makes life so much more easier that way!

My personal opinion is that your dog has been allowed to just have bad manners and his "pecking order" needs to be put back in place. He's showing his "learned" behavior as it's been excepted for all this time. Jealousy? Nope.....learned behavior, yep! In other words, you "spared the rod, and spoiled the "dog"! Time for discipline, but with fairness. For remember, you taught him how to act and what was exceptable. ;)

JoJo

[damp]

Great post Pooh!!

Fortunately dogs are highly superior to human emotions, such as jealousy, teasing/cunning, grudge etc.

That why dogs are so wonderful living creatures.

[ILoveRotts]

Burnsway.

"No dogs do not get jealous the way we see it in my opinion. In my opinion it's more of a dominant I own you attitude then jealousy."


Isn't that kind of the same as human jealous? In base terms, my husband would be jealous of another man because he feels I'm his however you want to quantify that. A 1st child is jealous when the 2nd child is getting attention from Mommy because he feels Mommy is his.....

Sounds the same to me
;)

[Leon]

I also think that dogs do get jealous, when I embrase my girlfriend our dog always jumps on us. When I pet another dog, he always comes quickly and stand in between us. Give two dogs two bones, there always is one that wants both of them. I know that this is dominancy but its the same behaviour as jealousy. In my opinion this is jealous behaviour. You also see this by humans.