Musing on Monday #13

Did you know dogs feel envy ...... But not guilt

Dogs know when they're not getting a fair shake (tell me about it!)  A 2008 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that when dogs saw other dogs getting treats for a trick they'd been performing unrewarded, the unrewarded dogs became agitated, scratching themselves and avoiding the gaze of the rewarded dogs. They also stopped doing the trick much faster than if they were alone and not getting a reward. The dogs' version of jealousy wasn't as sophisticated as a human's: The animals didn't seem to mind if other dogs got sausage while they just got bread, (point taken I get a big cookie at bedtime - the Dweeb gets little cookies and he doesn't notice at all) and they didn't care if another dog got food for nothing while they had to do tricks for a snack (yeah tell about that too - I have to jump through hoops and the Dweeb just sits there looking like a DWEEB and gets a treat too! ) But, the researchers wrote, the findings were good evidence that being green with envy isn't just a primate thing.

Those puppy-dog eyes Fido gives you when you scold him over knocking over the garbage can for the umpteenth time aren’t a sign of guilt, researchers say. He's just responding to your rebuke.
When dog owners thought their dogs had eaten a forbidden treat and reprimanded them either with words or body language, the pooches looked just as "guilty" regardless of whether or not they had actually eaten the treat. In fact, dogs who were wrongly accused of snack-snatching often looked more guilty than dogs who had really eaten the treat. Turns out those soulful eyes don't reflect any soul-searching, after all.

Personally I think we ALL know we could argue both points of view :)