Don’t hug your dog – it hates it

[intrepidity]

It may come as a shock to owners, but dogs hate being cuddled, a study has shown.

Animal psychologists say dogs feel stressed and unhappy when they are embraced by their owners, because it stops them being able to run away.

In a study which analysed 250 pictures of dogs as they were being hugged, eight out of 10 animals looked visibly uncomfortable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/04/26/dont-hug-your-dog--it-hates-it-say-animal-psychologists/

This sucks. Not surprising, but really, really sucks.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Sample Size Too Small

OK, so i'm biased, but i just don't buy the conclusions and the idea that they can tell from a picture is specious.

I know that i'm only hugging my doggie because that 95 pound thug tries to curl up on my lap and pushes his head against my chest.

When i grab hold, his tail goes nuts and he wouldn't leave if someone was on fire.

[Major Nikon]

8. One of my dogs loves it and another hates it

My aussie will jump up on my lap and goes nuts with joy when I give her a hug. My border collie hates it and wants to get out immediately.

[Throd]

25. Same here. Chihuahua love it, pug hates it.

[RebelOne]

44. Not my Chihuahua.

My Chihuahua hates it. If I hug her, she struggles to get away. But I live with my son who breeds English bulldogs, and we have 9 of them. They all love to be hugged and think they are lap dogs.

[dorkzilla]

53. Same here

Lab hates it, pit bull MAKES me hug her. She also leans her head in for kisses.

[polly7]

12. Mine does the same - except he'll push his head under my arm

until I quit what I'm doing and give him a hug. He's about 110 lbs. now so his tail wagging sounds like someone's beating on a drum.

I think it depends on how trusting they feel with us, but it does make sense that maybe most, naturally, would find it confining.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. I See Your Point

But, this isn't my first dog (probably not your first beastie either) and i've had the same behavior from all of them.

Now, the cats. . . .that's a different thing!

[polly7]

16. I have too ....... but then I'm a hugger of all animals.

and I actually do kiss frogs.

Cats I love too ....... but I see your point. Mine allows me to hug him only probably because he's looking for weak spots to attack next.

[LoveMyCali]

47. I have two cats

One craves cuddles and the other will turn me to ribbons trying to push off to get out of there. My sisters two dogs are both cuddle bugs. One is a pit/boxer mix and the other some kind of mini shepherd mix.

I think their data was flawed.

[polly7]

71. I think so too. Your furry friends sound adorable - I love how they all have their own

personalities.

My big Great Pyrenees- cross I adopted from the Humane Society took me a long time to get to understand (even as much as I do) - he's so different in temperament than any other dog I've ever had. But so much fun.

[whatthehey]

2. Define cuddle

Held in full encircled arms while it's standing up? Probably true. But I can't sit down without my smaller dog jumping on my lap and settling into the crook of my arm asking for a tummy tub. And if I move my legs in bed she scooches up to be in the L shape of my knees every time.

[ScreamingMeemie]

3. Until we are able to actually talk to dogs... BS. My dog used to come to me for cuddles

all the time. Just as with people, it's going to depend on the dog.

[Behind the Aegis]

34. "Just as with people, it's going to depend on the dog."

YUP!


Dogs are people too!

I have four chihuahuas, three LOVE being cuddled, one likes it for about 3 seconds and then is all..."that's good...I am done!"

[razorman]

4. This is not news, to anyone who knows dogs.

They see hugging as an aggressive, dominant behavior. It is not natural to them. They enjoy pleasant eye contact, petting, and leaning on their humans.

[2naSalit]

5. and so looking at a photo

is used as evidence... maybe they should have used a video or something that includes an entire interaction. Methodology is flawed... I call a null hypothesis and poorly planned methodology along with a miniature sample size.

[Quackers]

6. I call BS on that study. nt

[mercuryblues]

7. tell that

my neighbors beast of a dog. He comes over to visit me every morning for hugs and pets. If I'm busy and ignore him he lets his dissatisfaction known. He will nudge my arm with his nose and lay on top of my feet, so I can't move until he gets his morning affection. OK I can move, but he is too darned cute.

[annabanana]

9. My dog "dogs" me until she gets her full compliment of

morning mushes. .

It's not hard to hug a dog in a way they will like. You just have to figure out what a doggie hug is.

[Orrex]

10. Well, people don't like getting their legs humped, but dogs keep doing it.

Keeping hugging those sons of bitches until they stop getting busy with your shinbone, I say.

[jberryhill]

29. Yes, but do their legs like it

[KamaAina]

11. Reason No. 8,675 to have cats.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. We Have Both

So there!

[Fumesucker]

60. Yes, cats just love to be hugged...

[Blue_Tires]

65. More like 8,675 scratches when you try to hug it

[ileus]

14. Odd....my dogs still come around knowing they're gonna get hugged.

If they hate it so bad you'd think they'd stay away.....kinda like the long haired cat that I see once a day.

[bamademo]

17. Why does my 75 pound dog hug me? Why does he lay on top of me and begged to be hugged?

He's not being dominant? He is totally subservient. He just loves me and wants my affection. Never once has he growled or bared his teeth at me. He head butts me and lays his head on my lap, looks up and me and wags his tail.

[iscooterliberally]

18. Here's what Super-Sam thinks about this study...

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Great Pic!

Perfect for the topic as well.

[iscooterliberally]

23. Thanks ProfessorGAC!

Anytime there's a storm Samson hugs the crap out of me and he weighs 85 pounds. That's 6.07143 stone in Great Britain. Anyway, I find that everything has to be taken in context. Sometimes they like hugging, and sometimes they don't. It all depends on the situation. The good thing about this article is that we should always observe the tell tale signs of when the dog is happy or uncomfortable. I hug my dogs when I first get home because they love it at that time, but give them a bone, or take them to the dog park there's no hugging. That's when they're busy doing important dog stuff.

[Act_of_Reparation]

20. Apparently, we know what dogs are thinking just by looking at pictures of them.

Seems legit.

[hollysmom]

21. The dog I have now actually is the hugger in our relationship. She throws her paws around me

and pulls me closer to her. I have the scars to prove it when she digs in her nails. She also is a head nuzzler, where she pushes me back trying to get her head under my arms - so that is not a good selection.

my previous dog was very stand offish, did not like to be physically close, but felt she made a connection when she put her paw on my knee and stared into my eyes. She was kind of an empath, where this connection seemed to take away pain or troubles,so many came to visit her (not me for sure when they had problems. But no hugging.

[shenmue]

22. Chief Inspector Murphy says "Pah!"

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[procon]

24. Dogs are as individual as people.

All my dogs are different. Some were big cuddlers, loved to be held and enjoyed being lap dogs. Others were content to snuggle on the rug at my feet. The dog I have now is very independent and prefers to be alone, although she welcomes the company of the cats. Part of that is her breed characteristics, and I understand that, but with her it's to a greater degree than any of the others I've had. She's happy to get her head petted so she can get a cookie, then leaves me in the living room to go stretch out for a snooze in the bedroom; I feel snubbed. (sigh)

[lunatica]

26. Not true

This is Bullshit.

Dogs love being hugged by their owners. This is really stupid!

They don't like being hugged by people they don't know. Maybe that was the experiment.

[Capt. Obvious]

27. What's next? No doggie kisses?

[lagomorph777]

28. In my experience (lots) 8 out of 10 dogs hate having their picture taken

That's why they look miserable.

My dogs (like many posters in this thread) demand hugs regularly.

[Brickbat]

30. "In a study which analysed 250 pictures of dogs as they were being hugged, eight out of 10 animals

looked visibly uncomfortable."

Honestly, I'd guess that the looking uncomfortable either came from people making a big fuss with the camera, or being unsympathetic owners in the first place.

[Whiskeytide]

31. My lab mix would enthusiastically drop a deuce ...

... on this study.

He loves hugs. I think it has a lot to do with how they're raised. A dog who is hugged a lot is likely to interpret it as affection. They are, after all, intelligent animals who can learn and interpret behavior.

His go to move, however, is to stick his nose in a person's crotch and push while you scratch his neck and back. He would literally do that all day. Makes for some embarrassing moments when he meets someone new, but he's the boss around here so what can I do?

[Svafa]

32. Dogs don't hug other dogs.

When a dog puts its front legs around another dog, it is playing, fighting, or attempting to mount the other dog. Our own dogs probably tolerate and may even assume we are trying to play when we hug them, but they can get stressed if they're not in the mood to play.

This is the reason I get a really bad feeling when I see pictures people share of their kids hanging all over dogs. The dog often looks stressed. It is a bite situation waiting to happen.

[Aristus]

33. I would say this study is flawed.

It depends on the dog. I had a dog once who loved to be hugged. If she wasn't getting a hug, she would jump in my lap, stand up on her hind legs, and place her forelegs on my chest, and lean the side of her head against my chest. If I wrapped my arms around her, she could stay like that for hours, even though she was standing on her tiptoes.

I had another dog that didn't like being hugged so much, but loved to be petted, and wasn't shy about demanding attention. If I was sitting down, she come over, shove her muzzle under the palm of my hand, and nod my hand back to her head until I started petting her. This too, could go on for hours.

[HughBeaumont]

35. Brutus the Wonder Dachshund would beg to differ.

He loves belly rubs and hugs. Especially since now he's an only dog.

[Runningdawg]

36. Yes I agree

some dogs like it and some don't. It could just be the breed, I have always had Boston Terriers and they have all liked being cuddled. The one I have now likes to be swaddled like a baby when she goes to bed at night. If you don't do it she will carry around her blanket and annoy you until you do.

[Oneironaut]

37. Not really cuddling - Just hugging. This has been known.

Dogs hate being hugged. They love cuddling. Cuddle away!

[GummyBearz]

38. Then tell them to stop licking humans on the face. Most of us dont like that either

Two way street.

[maxsolomon]

39. They like it when you sniff their butts

GET ON IT AMERICA

[Bucky]

40. stop stereotyping dogs!

"Animals are people too, ya know."

--Radar O'Reilly

[retread]

41. From Patricia McConnell's book The Other End of the Leash.

"We, as primates, have arms with which to hug one another, and hugging is found in all primate species (ape, chimp, etc.) as an expression of love, endearment, support, or as a gesture of mutual fear or sadness. So humans naturally think of hugging as an expression of positive or supportive emotions.

Canines, on the other hand, being quadrupeds, do not have free "arms" and thus have evolved to have no understanding of a "hug." However, the closest gestures or body language that dogs have to a hug would be either mounting or placing a paw or head on top of another dog's neck or back. Aside from true sexual mounting, (which is indeed a rare occurrence with most dogs since, in America at least, most pet owners have their pets spayed or neutered, and even a fertile bitch's estrus occurs only two times a year), the great majority of mounting is dominance-seeking behavior. Placing a head or paws on top of another dog are also often assertions of dominance, which, if not accepted submissively by the other dog, can turn into ritualized aggression. There are other common canine expressions of dominance that resemble aspects of a human hug, such as leaning, where an assertive or dominating dog will lean on another dog to make it move.

(An important and frequent exception to all of the above, however, is when dogs, especially puppies, are playing or play fighting. In these cases, the gestures still ultimately mean the same, but you can think of "playing" as being "rehearsal" or "pretend practice" for later when a dog may need to understand and use these communicative gestures in a real situation.)"

[trumad]

42. My Standard Poodle loves it...

Now if you're talking about my wife...well...

[Egnever]

43. Looked visibly uncomfortable

Seriously?

[Skittles]

45. I think they are confusing dogs with cats

yes INDEED

[Rex]

46. That is partially true.

And partially false. Dogs don't know how to hug, it is not in their behavior to perform such a task. So the look is one of, 'what the fuck do I do now?' IOW, I would not say they hate hugs as much as say they are nervous at not knowing how to respond. Dogs always want to please their human and not knowing how to respond back is distressing.

Some dogs learn how to hug and what hugs are. I guess those are the 2 out of 10 that can have learned experiences.

[PufPuf23]

48. I had a beagle that loved to get "dust busted".

People told me that this was dog abuse.

Then they came to visit and realized that we had a dog that would carry "her" dust buster and drop at their feet and gaze and wag expectant and have near convulsions of addictive pleasure from dust busting. Beats a bath in winter too when no swimming. I had a second beagle that also enjoyed the ritual of dust busting but not a true aficionado.

The same dog had what I referred to as "teddy beagle" and "beagle in bondage" moves.

Teddy beagle was general cuddling with a hug (and avoiding a French kiss).

Beagle in bondage was more a play move where one embraced her from behind and lifted off the ground and released after a strong wiggle. Then she would run around and bark before re-initiating the cycle. Repeat until the human was tired.

Daphne responded to the phrases "teddy beagle" and "beagle in bondage" as well as "dog death" which meant to run to and sit on her house bed. This was a really happy and human oriented dog.

Daphne could climb some trees, use a playground slide, liked to get on neighbors roof for sunbathing on her back, and threw her food bowl at you when she wanted to be fed.

We would take her kayaking and river rafting -"white water beagleing"- and backpacking.

Bad traits is that she liked to roll in cow shit and we called horse turds "beagle biscuits" as she would eat rather than relinquish.

Some dogs like to be hugged and the family dogs I have had (beagles and a German short hair) liked to cuddle and be lap dogs.

All had unique personalities and talents (and were spoiled with attention and affection).

[ileus]

49. Next up: Dogs shouldn't be kept as pets, they should be wild and free.

[Ilsa]

50. My dog gets in the middle of my hugs with my kids.

He wants to be included.

He also will come to my recliner, put his front paws between or outside my legs, inviting me to hug him, chest to chest, with neck cuddles.

[Nevernose]

51. Bigger news: Scientists have psychic powers!

It's amazing that they can tell exactly what a dog is thinking based on photographs.

Furthermore, the scientists lambast people for treating the dogs a certain way, namely as if they are human family members, and then go on to assign human emotions to those dogs, based on the dogs' (human-resembling) facial expressions.

Everyone involved with this is fucking stupid.

[Monk06]

52. No golden Labs were interviewed for this survey

[redstateblues]

54. My Daisy loves her doggie hug!

[jomin41]

55. Gawd people. A STUDY analyzed PICTURES...

They didn't interview a thousand dogs. It's just somebody's opinion.

[milestogo]

56. Maybe they think they will get human germs.

My dog allows me to cuddle him and then he shakes it off.

I figure that they think humans are dirty just as we think dogs are dirty.

[xmas74]

57. My dog jumps up and asks for it.

He's disappointed if you dont hug and kiss on him when you come home. He will pout about it.

[pnwmom]

58. Most of those pics don't look like what I'd call hugging.

For example, holding a dog's face in your hands? What dog would like that? That's not hugging.

But no one could watch our dog jump into my husband's lap -- practically melting into him while she gets held and petted, and licking his face whenever he stops -- and say that she doesn't like it.

[a la izquierda]

59. My chihuahua loves to be picked up and hugged...

then again, I think he probably feels safer in my arms than on the ground with his two bigger brothers.
My big dog (Vizsla mix) hates it, but he is getting soft in his old age. Middle dog is indifferent.

[baldguy]

61. My 65-lb Pit Bull climbs up into my lap just to get a hug.

[Orrex]

62. Everyone here is ignoring the follow up to this study

Scientists now have irrefutable evidence that if they say nice things about dogs, people will immediately believe those things without question, and no subsequent evidence to the contrary can dissuade them.

But if scientists make a less-than-perfectly-rosy observation about dogs, then people will dismiss those observations outright, and no subsequent supporting evidence can persuade them otherwise.

Conclusion: everything nice about dogs is true, and everything that people don't want to be true about dogs is false.

[ProfessorGAC]

66. Come On, Orrex

Nobody here said any such thing, and you know it.

But a sample size of 250 PICTURES(!) is not sufficient to draw conclusions and the methodology is clearly ridiculous.

Just because people love their doggies doesn't mean they can't see this study as flawed. Not just because it contradicts their bias, but because the study is nonsensical.

[Orrex]

67. Well, I hoped that my silly tone was clear.

Especially since it followed this post

Also, I'm kind of riffing on the common trend of rationalizing dogs' bad behavior ("they were abused" or "their human is to blame" or whatever) while praising their good behavior as somehow inherent.

If people want to hug their dogs, far be it from me to get in the way.

[ProfessorGAC]

68. My Fault!

I missed that in your post. Forget i said anything.

[Orrex]

69. No fault.

It's a failure of the medium.

[treestar]

63. how come they come up to you and sit next to you?

I could see they would not want to be squeezed, but a lot of them seem to like to cuddle.

[Rocket_Scientist65]

64. Sorry.....

but this pic of my beloved boxer Zoe who passed away just before Christmas after 11 happy years proves otherwise.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[GummyBearz]

70. That dog is in a clear state of distress and an animal shelter should be called immediately

Just kidding

Nice looking dog, I miss having one around