Hugging Your Dog Stresses it Out

I don't think dogs like this guy very much or he hasn't been around dogs much in a home environment because every dog we have ever had, loved to hug. They often initiate it by burying their heads into you lap when your sitting on the couch.

Another good example of one of those "behavioral' specialists not really have a clue about dog behaviour

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He argues by eliminating a dog’s ability to defend itself by running away will cause an increase in its overall level of anxiety, possibly leading to biting or lashing out if it becomes stressed out enough. He also doesn’t blame pet owners, but feels the problem lies more in many people’s inability to correctly read animal facial expressions for signs of stress.

For anyone who would still like to show a little love to their four-legged friend, Coren instead suggests a kind word and a good pat on the head is enough for your dog to know he’s being appreciated.

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https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...461.html?nhp=1

My dogs love hugs and come running for them. Don't need an expert opinion on that.

Really weird article. Maybe his dog doesn't like him?

It's Stanley Coren. He's not a behavioural researcher. Just a guy who writes a column about dogs, and who is often misinformed. His "study" is not a study: it uses a non-random sample and incorrect methods, and is published in a popular magazine. (This is the same guy who's responsible for the widely distributed scale of intelligence of various breeds, which is nonsense.)

Dogs that show strong attachment to their owners will seek out physical contact. But dogs that are not strongly attached to a person may find hugs stressful. Kids should be taught not to hug dogs for this reason.

My dog likes hugs. :)

My coon hound does not like to be touched except at night he loves to lay on his back on the couch with his head in your lap and have his belly and throat rubbed.

Actually my dog doesn't like hugs. He will walk away and then come right back sit down and lean on you but doesnt like hugs. This dog is at my feet at all times when im home and sleeps in the bed with us. Drives the girls nuts as they love to hug him but no I would not say he is a "hugger". And he is beyond attached and devoted to us. Sometimes I think too attached.

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Originally Posted by welsh

It's Stanley Coren. He's not a behavioural researcher. Just a guy who writes a column about dogs, and who is often misinformed.

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Ha ha...I think he's more than "just a guy"..

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Stanley Coren, PhD., DSc., FRSC, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Pennsylvania and his doctorate in Psychology is from Stanford University. He is best known to the public for his popular books on dogs and on general psychological issues, however within the scientific world he is also a highly respected scientist having done research in a wide range of psychological areas including sensory processes (vision and hearing), neuropsychology (handedness, sleep, birth stress effects and behavior genetics) and cognition (information processing and intelligence). He has published over 400 scientific reports in professional journals as well as 19 books for students and professionals. He has received many honors and awards for his scientific work, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was named as one of the 2000 outstanding scientists of the Twentieth Century by the International Biographical Society. He was also awarded the honorary degree of DSc by Guelph University fo his scientific and other contributions.

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His engaging writing style has made his books for general audiences extremely popular. All of these books, including "The Intelligence of Dogs," "How to Speak Dog," "Why We Love the Dogs We Dog," "The Pawprints of History," "Why Does My Dog Act That Way," "How Dogs Think" and "The Modern Dog." have reached bestseller status. His recent his book for children, "Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?" received the Animal Behavior Society's award for the best "Children's book of the Year" and also the Red Cedar Award for best children's informational book. His book, "Born to Bark" won the Maxwell Medal of Excellence from the Dog Writers Association of America. He has also received the Writer of the Year award, from the International Positive Dog Training Association, for his most recent works.

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https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/stanley-coren-phd-frsc

But I do agree he does seem to be off the mark with this article.

Well, he is a highly qualified guy ... but he's still just a guy. :)

My point is, dogs are not his professional field. It's something he writes about on the side for popular magazines. So when he writes something bogus (like his breed intelligence scale: http://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.html), we shouldn't take it as a sign that researchers who do actually specialize in this field are out to lunch.

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Originally Posted by welsh

So when he writes something bogus (like his breed intelligence scale: http://petrix.com/dogint/intelligence.html)

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Since that intelligence scale was produced by data from 199 'specialists' (obedience judges registered with the AKC and the Canadian Kennel Club) I wouldn't call it bogus....seems rather dismissive of his efforts since it was conclusion drawn from collective data from outside sources :)

But then again, there was that AKC judge that gave that GSD best of breed :)

some background on the test to see where it comes from;

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I decided to look at a random sample of 250 such pictures. I used a variety of criteria to try to keep the data as clean and precise as possible. I only used photos where the dog's face was clearly visible. I also eliminated situations where one might expect the dog's stress level to rise because of factors other than being hugged (such as when someone lifts a large dog off the ground while hugging them). Each picture received one of three possible scores:

1. One could judge that the dog was showing one or more signs of stress or anxiety;
2. One could judge that the dog appeared to be relaxed and at ease;
3. One could decide that the dog's response was ambiguous or neutral.

I can summarize the data quite simply by saying that the results indicated that the Internet contains many pictures of happy people hugging what appear to be unhappy dogs. In all, 81.6% of the photographs researchers scored showed dogs who were giving off at least one sign of discomfort, stress, or anxiety. Only 7.6% of the photographs could rate as showing dogs that were comfortable with being hugged. The remaining 10.8% of the dogs either were showing neutral or ambiguous responses to this form of physical contact.

Nonetheless, around 82% of the photographs show unhappy dogs receiving hugs from their owners or children. This seems consistent with other research which suggests that people, especially children, seem to have difficulty reading signs of stress and anxiety based upon their dogs' facial expressions.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201604/the-data-says-dont-hug-the-dog

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Seems to me that the huger in these pictures could be the ones instilling the stress...I have seen my dogs faces when kids hug them...yes there is anxiety..but not because they don't enjoy huging.

The intelligence scale is dismissed by serious researchers because it does not actually measure intelligence. It measures how biddable dogs are. Biddability is not intelligence: in problem-solving tests, wild canids such as dingoes prove significantly more capable than domestic dogs of any breed, yet on they would be at the bottom of Coren's scale because they simply don't respond to human signals in the same way domestic dogs do. Intelligence has a bunch of different components.

As to his 250 pictures ... a lack of context and the ambiguous nature of some cues makes many photos meaningless. The first example in his article shows a dog that's clearly not happy, but it doesn't tell us why. Perhaps the dog doesn't like that kid? Still photos are a lousy way to assess behaviour (or anything, really).

A proper approach would get a sample of owners and their dogs to interact naturally for a period of time, and would look not only at body language but also at physiological responses such as oxytocin and cortisone levels.

Fact: People are annoyed by unsolicited hugs, too.

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Originally Posted by welsh

Fact: People are annoyed by unsolicited hugs, too.

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I know I am. Dogs have personalities just like people. My 16 year old son doesn't like hugs and his face reflects this but it doesn't stress him out. It's like brussel sprouts - a distasteful requirement imposed by mom but hardly stressful for a well adjusted individual.

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Originally Posted by welsh

The intelligence scale is dismissed by serious researchers

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When it comes to dog behavior specialists you will always find 'serious researchers' who disagree with other 'serious researchers' ....arrogance seems to be a prerequisite in that field. :)

Oh, look.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ogs-hate-hugs/

So it would seem that those that dismissed it, thinking it was faulty 'study', misunderstood the intent of his observations.

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The problem here is that what's being reported as a "study" is, in fact, an op-ed written in the magazine Psychology Today by a single researcher.

"This is a set of casual observations," Stanley Coren, the retired University of British Columbia professor who penned the column, told The Post. He reiterated that his data collection wasn't part of a peer-reviewed study.

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Coren hopes some other scientist will take his idea and run with it, using the untapped online photo dataset to perform a more thorough study fit for publication. But, he added: "I've been retired since 2007. I wasn't going to go open up my old lab just to do this."

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Originally Posted by terrym

Actually my dog doesn't like hugs. He will walk away and then come right back sit down and lean on you but doesnt like hugs. This dog is at my feet at all times when im home and sleeps in the bed with us. Drives the girls nuts as they love to hug him but no I would not say he is a "hugger". And he is beyond attached and devoted to us. Sometimes I think too attached.

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My dog is not a hugger easier, likes to be touch but to be hugged. I think she just needs her space, and so do I....

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Originally Posted by MikePal

So it would seem that those that dismissed it, thinking it was faulty 'study', misunderstood the intent of his observations.

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Well...

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Originally Posted by welsh

His "study" is not a study: it uses a non-random sample and incorrect methods, and is published in a popular magazine.

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Which is exactly what the WaPo thing points out.

I know what his intentions were: to remind people that dogs don't like to be grabbed and squeezed. I didn't dismiss that idea -- because it's true. I dismissed the description of his piece as a "study." And apparently, he would agree.

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Originally Posted by welsh

... but he's still just a guy. :)

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Turns out he's not just a guy...he's a 'retired' guy...with lots of time on his hands. :)

Maybe he tried to hug his dog and was rebuffed, then pondered that the dog must not like be hugged, rather than face the possibility his dog just didn't like be hugged by him.

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Originally Posted by welsh

Oh, look.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ogs-hate-hugs/

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A lot of the crap that gets 'published' on the internet is just click bait junk. If the guy wrote an article that says "dogs like being hugged" no one would read it. But "dogs hate hugs" - everyone has to read it and when everyone disagrees with it, the writer has his article - no matter how wrong/dumb it is - going viral.

It's not even junk science - it's not science at all - it's junk journalism - a guy writing an article that will get people's attention - pretty much on par with the checkout line tabloids, not to be taken seriously by anyone.

When I trained my black lab female in basic obedience the obedience trainer told us to never do the following to our dogs because it could lead to elevated dominance issues & a general lack of respect from the dog toward the trainer or family member.

No hugs
No mindless petting
No talking to the dog like its a baby
Never ever get down on the ground with your dog always stay above the dogs eyes.
Never let any other human pet your dog
Never let a dog you don't know near your dog (people insist on letting their dogs come close to my dog when out on walks) I tell them to back off. This is a key point to protect you & your dog & reduce costly vet bills....
When giving praise never over do it. A simple "good" & re-peat the command (eg: "good down").
No treats for training.
Never show the dog that your angry @ them. Quickly correct the behavior & move on.

Did I listen to him?

Well on most points except for the petting. I do give her the occasional scratch on the head.

My wife & kids would not follow the rules & to a certain degree she does not respect them. When she was a pup she drove them crazy when I wasn't home. To this day she only listens to me & listens very well. All I say to them is I told you so.... :)

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

Did I listen to him?

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God, I hope not.

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

Never let any other human pet your dog
Never let a dog you don't know near your dog (people insist on letting their dogs come close to my dog when out on walks) I tell them to back off. This is a key point to protect you & your dog & reduce costly vet bills....

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belleriver,

I am curious on how you socialized your lab given the above two rules.

Dyth

She is allowed to socialize with other well trained dogs. I do allow certain family members to pet her...:)

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Originally Posted by bellerivercrossbowhunter

Did I listen to him?

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Originally Posted by welsh

God, I hope not.

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No kidding

I think Stanley smoked a little bit too much hash back in his undergrad years. I've never owned any dog that didn't like being hugged. I think Stan might have something like Borderline Personality Disorder, or something along that line.

I have a setter that doesn't like to be touched /hugged. Very aloof dog, and I raised her from birth. Her mother was the opposite. When we are all in the den watching tv , she's lying in the kitchen. Occasionally I insist she lie in my lap- and she will- but looks up to say , "is that enough? Can I go?'

The Jrt is a real snuggler. :)

Wow some dogs really don't like to be hugged.... :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PGthOx62mI