You just came back home after visiting your friend (or family) and playing with their dogs.
Right from the door, you can tell your dog is freaking out. They cannot stop sniffing you.
You can tell he knows you have been with another dog.
After all, her nose can pick up all kinds of smells, especially those of another member of the species.
Almost every pet parent owner has experienced this at least once in their adult life.
Naturally, what comes to your mind when your doggie shows this behavior is if they get jealous over your involvement with another pooch.
Can dogs feel the emotion of jealousy?
If yes, what can you do to get the smell off your clothes and calm your pet down?
We have answers to these questions and more.
Do Dogs Get Jealous If You Come Home Smelling Like Another Dog?
First things first, let’s establish whether dogs get jealous when they catch the smell of another dog on you.
What we know for sure is that dogs have some of the most amazing noses in the animal kingdom.
Their sense of smell is anything between 10,000 -100,000 times better than ours.
Hard to wrap your mind around, right?
Dogs essentially communicate with their noses more than their mouths, eyes, and ears.
While most dog owners are aware of their dogs’ ability to smell even the mildest of scents, they are unsure about their capacity to feel jealous.
When you come home after petting or playing with the neighbor’s dog, your dog will know about it.
She will likely know all there is about the other pooch—the gender, if she just gave birth or not, the mood they were in, what they ate, you name it.
The real question is whether your doggie feels jealous about it.
Dr. Christine Harris, an emotion researcher at UC San Diego, researched this topic and spoke to TODAY Magazine about it.
In her experiment, she played with three border collies belonging to her folks.
As she played with the canines, one dog would push the other two from under her hands so both she can rest her hands on him.
She noticed that all three dogs exhibited the behavior.
“They were unhappy about sharing my attention and resources. That kind of exclusivity made me perceive basic jealous behavior.” She told NBC News.
Dr. Harris’ work was preceded by a study done on canine jealousy.
In the study, researchers played with three things – a fake canine, a pail, and books in the presence of their dogs.
72% of the dogs snapped at the fake canine, pushed it, or touched the owner when the fake canine was involved.
42% and 22% of the doggies showed jealous behavior with the pail and the book respectively.
This further shows that dogs can get jealous of other canines.
You may also want to check:
Do Dogs Get Jealous Of Babies? (Plus Jealousy Signs & How to Deal With Them)
What to Do When You Come Home Smelling Like another Dog
Now that we know dogs feel jealous, what can you do when you come home with the smell of another dog?
1. Give The Dog Attention
To ease your dog’s jealousy and make her calm down after smelling another dog on you, assure her she’s got you by giving her extra attention.
If you are lucky to have a dog that doesn’t walk away when she catches you two-timing her, you can pet her more than usual, play fetch, or simply snuggle with her.
According to PetMD, giving a dog attention does help with jealous behaviors a great deal.
It assures the pet that she’s not being replaced by another dog.
Give the doggie treats and praise her when she behaves well.
Anything to get her to trust you again.
2. Freshen Up
The sensible thing to do to get rid of the smell of another dog is to take a shower and change your clothes.
The other dog is likely to have deposited her dander, slobber, and scent all over your clothes and skin.
What better way to remove them than to jump in the shower and change into fresh clothes?
Use a good-smelling soap and deodorant that masks any smell that may linger on your body.
If you can wash your hair, that would be great as well.
Now come back and play with your dog. She may not even recall what you smelled like a moment ago.
3. Do A Sweep Of The House
Assuming you’ve touched certain spots in your house with the smell of your friend’s dog, you might want to clean them as soon as possible.
These include your carpet, doormat, couch, door knob, and any other surface that may contain the dog smell.
The natural solution is to use vinegar solution or baking soda mixed with some water.
Both are great at removing odors from all kinds of surfaces.
They are also natural and safe for the pet and everybody else.
Spray some on the spots and wipe until you are sure the smell is gone.
That should further mask the smell and calm your dog.
You may also want to check: How to Tell If Your House Smells Like Dog
Parting Thoughts
Dogs are jealous beings. They don’t feel great when you show up with the smell of another dog.
To them, doing that is an act of betrayal.
It is thus upon you to stop the jealousy by giving the dog more attention, freshening up, and cleaning the floors.
If giving attention doesn’t work, the other two should.
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