I honestly never thought much about how my pets thought about these things till I learned to watch the body language of pets. We as humans usually like to be hugged by those we are close to or want to be close to. I know there are exceptions to every rule, so this is not true across the board. We love our pets & we honestly assume that because they like to cuddle with us & be close that they would like us to hug them. I am sorry to burst that bubble, but most of our pets don’t like to be hugged. Holding an animal in a way that restricts their freedom to get away can make them feel fear or anxiety. How do you feel if someone you don’t know well or real comfortable with holds you in a hug. It would probably make you stressed &/or anxious. Hugging is a human thing, pets don’t hug each other like we do. Some pets like to cuddle with their humans or with the other pets in the home, but cuddling & hugging are different. If you watch a family member hug a pet, watch close & you will most likely see some sign of the pets stress. Some pets will try & wiggle away, some pets will lick their lips, ears back, tense up its body, lick its lips or quickly stick its tongue out & in, sniff the air or ground, keep mouth slightly open when not hot, all these are things pets do to calm themselves along with others.
In the above photo I can see that Sam was not thrilled to be held in this matter. We were kids & our dog loved us & we loved him, plus we were clueless that he wasn’t good with this.
Now my dog Echo has about 22% bully breeds in him & this is a breed that seems to like to be hugged. I wanted to test how my dogs feel about being hugged. To make the test fair I made sure my dog was in a place where they could get away easily. I hugged Echo quickly & then let go & made sure he saw that he could easily leave. Echo would come closer & lean into me or sit in front of me & press in. I did the same with Hunter & immediately left as soon as I let go. I have done this numerous times to see if it was not always this way. It was always the same thing & Hunters response is the way most dogs would respond if given the chance.
Another thing I never put much thought into was reaching to pet my pets on the top of their head. I was reading a training book some 10+ years ago on dogs & the author said that dogs don’t like when we reach our hand over their muzzle to pet them on the top of their head. Her next comment was something like ‘you probably don’t believe me, but call your dog over & try it & see.’ I at that time had 2 dogs & two fosters so I decided to try it out. She listed some stress signals to watch for. One dog tried to bump my hand out of the way, one did a tongue thrust, one immediately smelled the ground & the other turned away. I was so surprised & from that point on I watched anytime I would see a dog get petted on the head from over the front. I noticed so many dogs displaying stress signals. Animals do not like this because this is because this is threatening &/or scary to an animal. When your hand goes past their eyes they don’t know what is going to happen. Remember animals don’t think like us, their instinct is surv
If someone asks to pet my dogs, I explain to them where to pet the side of their face, neck but please don’t reach over their head & why. If someone new pets Hunter over his head & he will walk away & he will avoid that person. Echo will try & move your hand or turn his head away from the person.
I hope if you didn’t know this you will watch your pets reaction/response if you try & hug or pet them over head. Know what our pets are attached to us in most cases & may tolerate this. The experts will tell you that most pets do not like these two things, so try & respect them & think what is natural to a pet. I say cuddle in on the sofa, in a chair or on the bed, but be sure your pet can move away if it wants to.
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