Leading article: A dog's life
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Your support makes all the difference.There is, it seems, some scientific basis to the old idea that dog and man are kindred spirits. Researchers from the University of Vienna have discovered that, like us primates, canines feel jealousy. When a dog was denied a tasty treat after performing some service and that treat was conferred on another canine that had done none of the work, the first dog was rather miffed. And well might it be. There is surely enough injustice in this world, without introducing more in the name of scientific research.
But were not these researchers missing something? If they wanted a deeper study into the emotion of jealousy they should have carried out tests not only on the dogs, but their owners too. One suspects that the humans would have been far more jealous of the dogs and their simple lives than the canines were of each other. Think about it: no recession, negative equity, credit card bills; just running, chasing squirrels and some barking. It's a dog's life? If only.
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