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Dog lovers have known since time began that pets get jealous, but now new study has shown that it is true. professor from University of California conducted research into what makes dogs jealous. Dr Christine Harris first decided to investigate canine jealousy after she noticed strange behaviour among her parents' three border collies. She noticed that when she stroked two of pooches at same time, they became aggressive towards each other. Both dogs tried to knock her hand away from other so they could receive maximum attention. She said: "To me, that really fit with core motivation of jealousy….I was petting them with both my hands, not just one. They wanted exclusive attention. That got me to thinking about jealousy in dogs."

Professor Harris adapted jealousy test commonly used on young children. Her research team conducted tests on 36 different dogs in their homes and videoed their reactions. dogs' owner had to read short passage from book while petting toy dog that wagged its tail and Halloween lantern. Harris wanted to see how dogs reacted to their owner petting toy dog, as well as looking at if they had any reaction to petting of lantern. She noticed that dogs were twice as likely to be jealous of toy dog. third of the dogs tried to muscle in between toy and its owner. Professor Harris thinks it is important to understand jealousy more. She said: "Jealousy is third-leading cause of non-accidental homicide across cultures."