How Hugging Your Dogs Can Stress Them Out

No matter how cuddly you dog, canine expert Stanley Coren warns pet owners that hugging their dogs, even as a show of affection, can give them stress and anxiety.

According to Coren's post in Psychology Today, dogs can feel uncomfortable when hugged since they may feel immobilized and their primary defensive mechanism is to run. Dogs can also view hugging as an exertion of dominance.

Many incidents of children being bitten by dogs were caused by the child innocently grabbing the dog for a hug.

Coren observed 250 photos of dogs being hugged and characterize their stress levels by noting subtle body language such as turning head away from the source of the anxiety, closed eyes, more visible white area in the eyes, lowering ears behind their head and even licking their lips.

"Behaviorists believe that depriving a dog of that course of action by immobilizing him with a hug can increase his stress level and, if the dog's anxiety becomes significantly intense, he may bite," noted Coren.

Among the photos observed, about 81.6 percent of dogs being hugged showed at least one sign of stress or anxiety, while the remaining photos showed that dogs are comfortable being hugged.

While the study is purely observational and was not submitted to peer-review, some psychologists believe that there are also dogs that love and enjoy hugging just like humans.

In a report from Stuff, dog behavior specialist Mark Gall noted that hugging your prized pooch won't be an issue as long as you've got good leadership over your dog.

"But many dogs can be very tactile animals. They just love it. [They're] all about the touch. They don't hug and high-five each other in the wild, obviously, but when they lick each other on the muzzle that's their version of a hug," continued Gall.

Before hugging your dog make sure that he is comfortable with it by observing their subtle body responses to everything you do. If they show any stress indicators mentioned beforehand, it is better to give them more time to adapt to you.

Children also need to be taught to hug dogs with care, especially a new dog or stranger's dog. Hugging cannot give any long lasting trauma for the dog, but it can inflict some injuries to humans.