Do Dogs Have Mid Life Crises?

[samoyedman]

HI Snook, I thought it was a given dogs dream. Mine sometimes semi-convulses and lets out whimpers while he is asleep and I thought that was him dreaming.

Some tests did indicate dogs may experience jealousy but not in the same complex way as human

True story. Was once on my bed with a member of the opposite sex when the white creature in my banner below suddenly jumped up on the bed and tried to get between us when we were getting closer.

Edited September 4, 2012 by samoyedman

[Esky the husky]

Appeasement behaviour is not equal to guilt.

The dog is giving signals to try and calm down the angry human not admitting guilt for the behaviour.

You would get the same behaviour from a dog that's not guilty of anything

[MadWoofter]

Some tests did indicate dogs may experience jealousy but not in the same complex way as humans.

LOL - Tess & Fleming are sooooo jealous if one or the other is getting a pat. The one missing out will come racing over and shove their head in the way so they don't miss out :laugh: . I couldn't ever have a third dog as I don't have enough hands to spread the pats :)

[corvus]

Here's a review of research on guilt in dogs: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/2012/05/31/do-dogs-feel-guilty/ It includes the "I came home and he looked guilty before I even found the mess" anecdotes.

[Longclaw]

HI Snook, I thought it was a given dogs dream. Mine sometimes semi-convulses and lets out whimpers while he is asleep and I thought that was him dreaming.

Some tests did indicate dogs may experience jealousy but not in the same complex way as human

True story. Was once on my bed with a member of the opposite sex when the white creature in my banner below suddenly jumped up on the bed and tried to get between us when we were getting closer.

Dreams: mine definitely seem to, too! Must post the video of Tali Borzoi having one.

As for the second part of your post... we call this chaperoning, it happens alllll the time :laugh:

[espinay2]

HI Snook, I thought it was a given dogs dream. Mine sometimes semi-convulses and lets out whimpers while he is asleep and I thought that was him dreaming.

Some tests did indicate dogs may experience jealousy but not in the same complex way as human

True story. Was once on my bed with a member of the opposite sex when the white creature in my banner below suddenly jumped up on the bed and tried to get between us when we were getting closer.

It is not about jealousy. Getting between or 'splitting up' is a typical calming signal a dog will display when a situation is getting 'heated' or 'tense' and they want to calm things down.

http://www.abetterpet.com/abetterpet2/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/CalmingSignalsA.pdf

[Dame Aussie]

HI Snook, I thought it was a given dogs dream. Mine sometimes semi-convulses and lets out whimpers while he is asleep and I thought that was him dreaming.

Some tests did indicate dogs may experience jealousy but not in the same complex way as human

True story. Was once on my bed with a member of the opposite sex when the white creature in my banner below suddenly jumped up on the bed and tried to get between us when we were getting closer.

It is not about jealousy. Getting between or 'splitting up' is a typical calming signal a dog will display when a situation is getting 'heated' or 'tense' and they want to calm things down.

http://www.abetterpet.com/abetterpet2/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/CalmingSignalsA.pdf

Thanks for that link espinay, Lili does this sometimes if we're sitting together on the couch, I assumed it was jealousy or just her wanting to be a part of it but that's really interesting.