11/04/2022
Today is National Hug Your Dog Day..... but often dogs don't actually like hugs.
Hugging is very unnatural behavior for dogs and the only time they will ever do anything like it is when they huddle together with their pack if there is something really scary happening.
This is why many dogs find it difficult to cope when we scoop them up or hold them tight and although they do try to tell us, it is easy to miss their body language signals.
Signals like 'whale eye', when you can see the whites of their eyes, tension around their mouths, pulling away from us, and yawning (they aren't tired!), are all ways they are desperately attempting to let us know they want to be given some space.
And if we ignore these signs, they may have no choice but to progress to something more obvious like a grumble and if we still fail to listen (a particular problem with children), they will be forced to bite to get their message across.
There are some dogs that do enjoy hugs and closeness from humans but they have generally been trained to accept them from puppyhood.
It is absolutely vital to never hug any dog you don't know extremely well and to ensure your children also know this. In fact may be better to ban them entirely from hugging dogs because it is far, far better to be safe than sorry!
Today is National Hug Your Dog Day..... but often dogs don't actually like hugs.
Hugging is a very unnatural behaviour for dogs and the only time they will ever do anything like it is when they huddle together with their pack if there is something really scary happening.
Which is why many dogs find it difficult to cope with when we scoop them up or hold them tight and although they do try to tell us, it is easy to miss their body language signals.
Signals like 'whale eye', when you can see the whites of their eyes, tension around their mouths, pulling away from us and yawning (they aren't tired!), are all ways they are desperately attempting to let us know they want to be given some space.
And if we ignore these signs, they may have no choice but to progress to something more obvious like a grumble and if we still fail to listen (a particular problem with children), they will be forced to bite to get their message across.
There are some dogs that do enjoy hugs and closeness from humans but they have generally be trained to accept them from puppyhood.
It is absolutely vital to never hug any dog you don't know extremely well and to ensure your children also know this. In fact may be better to ban them entirely from hugging dogs because it is far, far better to be safe than sorry,
