Dog jealousy is real and dogs are capable of feeling jealous of things that catch their owners' attention.

The results of the first experiment on dog jealousy published in the July issue of the PLOS ONE journal shows that jealousy is an emotion not exclusive to humans. It is also observed in other animals, researchers said.

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The study's results reveal that one does not have to possess a complex mind to feel jealousy. Emotion researcher Christine Harris from the University of California led the study on dog jealousy.

She said it's important to understand jealousy because it's one of the top three causes of "non-accidental homicide" in any culture.

In the past, scientists thought jealousy required complex minds. They noted it could not only involve sex, but also siblings, colleagues, and friends.

Charles Darwin suggested that dogs might also be capable of feeling jealous of other dogs.

The dog jealousy study involved 36 small dogs in their own homes. Researchers videotaped the dogs while the test was conducted.

As part of the experiment, owners ignored their dogs and turned their attention to stuffed dogs that wagged its tail and barked, jack-o'-lanterns and musical children's books.

The research group worked with dogs less than 35 pounds (15.8 kilograms) to gain easier control in case the dogs went berserk.

As instructed, the dog owners treated the stuffed toys and jack-o'-lanterns like real dogs and read aloud to these things from childrens' books.

The experiment found that dogs acted more jealous when the owners interacted affectionately with the stuffed toys compared with the other things.

The dogs were almost twice as likely to touch or push their owners when they interacted with the toy dogs compared to the jack-o'-lanterns, and three times more when they read the books.

In addition, the canines attempted to interfere with their owners' interaction with the stuffed dogs in one out of three instances.

Harris said the dogs tried acting more affectionate and displaying aggressive behavior to regain their owners' attention. The findings suggest the canines viewed the toy dogs as their rivals.

Some of the dogs did not display jealous behaviors when their owners spoke sweetly to the stuffed toys. It could be because they were smart enough not to be fooled by the inanimate objects.

It could also be these dogs weren't smart enough to realize they were supposed to get jealous over these things, or because they may not have a very strong bond with their owners.

Researchers are now considering conducting another experiment involving toy dogs that do not move or bark, other kinds of stuffed toys or other animals.