Dogs Hate Hugs, Study Suggests | US News
▻http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-26/dogs-hate-hugs-study-suggests
If you love your dogs, you should hug them, right?
Wrong.
In an article published in Psychology Today, psychology professor and neuropsychological researcher Stanley Coren argues that most dogs are actually stressed out by hugs.
The study analyzed 250 Internet photos of people hugging their dogs, scanning for for known signs of anxiety in the dog, including turning their head away, showing the whites of the eyes and slicked back ears.
Coren’s data revealed that 82 percent of dogs in the photos showed at least one of those signs of stress. About 8 percent of dogs seemed happy with the hug and the remaining 10 percent appeared neutral or showed an ambiguous response toward the gesture.
“Dogs are technically cursorial animals, which is a term that indicates that they are designed for swift running. That implies that in times of stress or threat the first line of defense that a dog uses is not his teeth, but rather his ability to run away,” Coren wrote.
“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.”
Photos de l’article original
The Data Says “Don’t Hug the Dog!” | Psychology Today
▻https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201604/the-data-says-dont-hug-the-dog
Source: Modified from a Humane Society of Greater Rochester photo
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Source: Modified from a Peter Kemmer photo
Creative Commons License