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If you get the feeling that your dog resents the attention you give to other people and animals, you might be right, according to a 2014 study that became the subject of news reports and a meme showing a non-plussed pup: Christine Harris, a psychology professor at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD), co-led a team that gauged the reactions of 36 pooches when they saw their owners behaving sweetly toward a stuffed dog. She said in a 2014 press release: According to the study, 78 percent of the dogs tried to push or touch their owner while they interacted with the stuffed doll; by comparison, 42 percent of them behaved that way when the human was handling an inanimate object, a Jack-O-Lantern pail. When they saw their owner reading a pop-up book that played melodies, only 22 percent of the dogs sought attention. The study did receive some criticism at the time from Laurie Santos, director of the Canine Cognition Center at Yale University, who said that Harris and her team did not measure the dogs' reactions to the stuffed animal or the pail without their owners present, leaving it unclear whether the animals were reacting out of fear. Harris, who is also the editor-in-chief of the journal Emotion Review, told us in a phone interview: Her theory is that jealousy (which is different from envy in that it requires a social triangle Harris says) evolved out of physical need: She also said that her team's findings did not come as a surprise for several dog owners -- many of whom already feel they have observed their dogs displaying emotions. However, she cautioned:
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