A psychologist has warned hugging a dog can raise its stress levels and possibly lead to biting. Stanley Coren argues that dogs are made to run away when they get stressed, but hugging them means they can’t do that, making them stressed or anxious.
If a canine’s anxiety gets to a particular level of intensity, then it may bite, according to the expert.
To illustrate his point, Mr Coren recounts taking his dogs to a “Doggy De-Stress Day” event at a university where students can pet pooches to lower their own stress levels.
But in an op-ed published in Psychology Today Mr Coren argues that lowering their stress by hugging a furry friend can raise the dog’s own level.
He describes a woman hugging his own six-month-old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever puppy, which turned its head, broke off eye contact and slicked down its ears in response.
The pschologist adds that behaviorists believe depriving a dog of such a 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.
Signs of stress or anxiety in dogs include baring their teeth at the extreme end, but also a common sign is when a dog turns its head away from what’s bothering it.
Other signs include showing a “whale eye” where you can see the white portion of their eyes, licking their lips, lowering their ears and yawning or raising a paw.
A study by Mr Coren of a random sample of 250 images online of people hugging dogs showed in 81.6 percent of the photos the canines featured displayed at least one sign of stress, anxiety or discomfort.
Mr Coren writes that only 7.6 percent of the images could show dogs which were comfortable being embraced while the remaining 10.8 percent revealed signs of neutral or ambiguous responses.
He adds that his findings appear consistent with other research suggesting people find it difficult to read signs of stress in their dogs faces.
Children are particularly unable to read the signs of stress or anxiety in canines, research shows.
The most vulnerable group are youngsters aged from five to nine-years-old with under 15s accounting for 60 percent of the 350,000 to 400,000 people treated in emergency wards annually in the US alone.
Mr Coren points to a Czech study published in the Journal of Nursing, Social Studies and Public Health which shows only one in three children recognise dogs’ displays of fearfulness.
In the study, 41 percent of the girls correctly recognised an image of a fearful dog through its body language, while only 29 percent of the boys did.
The author of Gods, Ghosts and Black Dogs, concludes: “The clear recommendation to come out of this research is to save your hugs for your two-footed family members and lovers.
“It is clearly better from the dog’s point of view if you express your fondness for your pet with a pat, a kind word, and maybe a treat.”
