Show your dog some love by giving them a hug
May 6, 2016
Truer words than these have never been spoken: Dog is a man’s best friend. No matter the mood, looks or personality of an owner, dogs are loyal companions. For all the licks and laughs these wonderful animals give us, we have been led to think that they want some love back, and so we hug them. However, a recent scientific study suggests that dogs actually do not enjoy the embraces of their owners.
This study states that somewhere around 81 percent of dogs get anxiety and stress, or even feel like someone is trying to assert their dominance over them, when their owners hug them. Personally, I love hugging my dog, and the thought that he may not love them as much as I do makes me feel more than a little sad. Because of this, I watched my dog as I gave him a squeeze and I did not find anything irregular about it. Yes, my dog may breath extra hard when I hug him, but he also does that for food, people, walks, bones and many more objects that he loves, so I do not exactly buy the idea that it is because he is “stressed out.” Scrolling through my Twitter page, I saw that others agreed with me. People were tweeting back with adorable pictures of dogs sitting in the arms of their owners. That being said, I do believe that we can show our dogs that we love them in better ways if they do happen to show signs they do not like being hugged.
Dogs are a big source of happiness for many people, so we should treat them like it. Just because a study says dogs do not enjoy the love and affection an owner gives them by hugging them does not mean that they do not love us. Dogs let us sit and pet them for hours at a time, which is a win-win situation for both the human and pet. So while I do not agree that dogs never like hugs, I think we should be careful for the happiness and well-being of our favorite furry friends.
