Your Dog(s) and Hugs

[Slick]

The following exchange happened yesterday, which got me thinking about hugs.

A friend (who only met Leo for maybe the second time) was petting Leo and everyone was happy. Then, she reaches in and gives Leo a big, sustained hug.
Leo: *instant lip licking, whale eyes*
Me: Hey, you should let him go. He doesn't like that.
Friend: *laughs* Nah , I see you hugging him all the time, and he loves...
Leo: *snarl and flail*
Friend: *mortally offended she just got growled at*

I then had a conversation with her on how one should not hug unknown dogs, even friendly unknown dogs, even friendly dogs that you kinda know. I also tried to explain calming signals to her. I only kinda got through to her. I think she mostly was still pretty offended that Leo growled at her.

The thing is, Leo does LOVE hugs...from me! He will worm his way into my arms, burrow his head into me, and just overall be happy as a clam, sitting in my lap with my arms around him. He even likes it when I give him squeezing hugs, and will lean into me for more.

The important keywords here are: "from me". He was not at all cool with someone he didn't know doing it, but unfortunately, my friend has watched me interact with my dog in this way, and thought she could do it too. He first asked politely for her to stop and then not so politely when his signals weren't respected. Thankfully he was just loud, and there was never even a threat of a nip or bite.

So, how are your dogs with hugs? From whom? And what is your general opinion of hugs?

I definitely think it is something to be approached very very cautiously, and with most dogs, not at all. I would never ever hug an unknown dog, and would only ever hug a dog I knew well after they had made it repeatedly clear that THEY wanted one. Too much potential for a bite to the face.

 

[sassafras]

Pip likes hugs from me.
Maisy likes hugs from anyone.
Squash tolerates hugs from me.
Toast does not have time for hugs.

 

[Laurelin]

Summer and Hank are both attention whores who worm their way into any unsuspecting person's arms at the first instance possible. At the dog park I often find Hank being cuddled or held by someone. Summer's a bit more obnoxious about it and just jumps in laps and starts kissing.

Mia likes hugs from me but only sometimes. She will initiate cuddle time. If I try to initiate she gets mad. I do not think there is another person in the world that Mia would be ok with hugging her.

If I hug or cuddle one the other two come up and want a turn getting a cuddle.

 

[frostfell]

Kitty is pretty much a full contact hug-*****, from me. Tight bear hugs with her face jammed into my armpit are her favorite things in the world, she will wiggle so hard she usually falls off my lap

tori was about the same, only a bit more ADD and could only stand to be hugged for a second before she had to go tell the toaster she loves it. or something.

Kitty is very diffident about other people that are not me and doesnt really want anything to do with them, and would definitely never ever be okay with a bear hug from a stranger. Tori is a doofy girl and loves hugs from everyone, but only for a second cuz shes a busy girl, got places to be, things to love on, friends to make. Ninja, her momma, was much the same way. So far havent gotten another Kitty-personality, which is nice. Much prefer the outgoing dogs to the one-man dogs

 

[joce]

My husband refers to me as Elmira. I hug all the critters if they like it or not!!!


I am not touchy feely with other people animals. My grandmas cat fixed me of that when it boxed me in the ears years ago. But I expect my animals to let me touch them all over whenever I want so hugz!



I would not expect my friends to just hug my dogs? Truman goes in for hugs. Blitz does nothing but bring people his jolly boll. My horse Doug gives hugs. I need to make him a therapy horse. I swear he knows who is depressed and searches them out. I had a coworker out once and she later told me she needed it and it was like he comforted her. He is the shoulder to cry on.

 

[amberdyan]

Hugo likes hugs from just about anyone, but hates being lifted off the ground by anyone but me. He will actively seek out loving (and that includes hugs from people who approach him in a friendly manner (if you ignore him, he'll ignore you). He especially loves hugs from children. I don't let just any child run up and hug him, but he will get as close to my nieces and nephew as possible, tail furiously wagging and lay his head on their shoulder so that they'll wrap their arms around him. I don't know what he would do if someone he didn't know initiated a hug.

I do know that once a woman sort of put her arm around him and lifted his front end up and he immediately went stiff and whale eyed so I asked her to put him down.

 

[Elrohwen]

Watson *loves* hugs. Sometimes he just doesn't have time to be hugged and wriggles out, but on the whole he enjoys all sorts of ridiculous cuddling.

He wouldn't appreciate hugs from a person he just met, but once he was comfortable with the person he would be fine.

 

[Moth]

Watson is a big time snuggler with me and the husband. He likes hugs from us and will ask for them.

From other folks he will allow polite affection...but power snuggles are a no go.

Menchi is not a hugging dog...she initiates affection, otherwise she's got no time for that and is too regal for snuggling.

 

[MrsBoats]

Lars likes hugs and loves to be in people's space.

Ocean totally not into hugs or most physical contact. If you've pet him too long or too much...he growls and moves away from you. He is so not touchy feely...but he's a much more serious dog. We accept that is who he is. If someone tried to grab and hug him...they probably would get bitten.

 

[SilveiraB]

Animal loves hugs from EVERYONE.
Dash is pretty neutral about hugs..he'll accept one but he could live without.
Blue is neutral as well.

 

[Stingr69]

Snoop got full body, off the ground hugs from several people when I took him to work one day. Seemed odd to me at first but he pretty much melts into anyones arms. Just lays down and rests his head. He isn't a real reactive dog. Such a good boy.

Ditte is not much of a hugger but she is definitely my lap buddy. She will jump right in there at any opportunity. She does tolerate handling but I would not say she likes hugs. She does have a cute low volume grumble if she does not want to be moved.

 

[Julee]

Bloo adores hugs from me. Sometimes Rick. Everyone else horrifies her.

Em will tolerate hugs from anyone but my brother. She LOVES hugs from small children.

Shadow isn't big on them.

Copper is essentially a large, feral stuffed animal.... she will tolerate ANYTHING you do to her and not mind it.

 

[Samsonyte!]

Sam wants to sit in everyone's laps but if you try to restrain him in any way or pick him up he gets whale eyes and lip licks. He tolerates being picked up but he's definitely not a fan. Anyone can pet him forever though.

Wilson loves hugs from me. He's a very cuddly dog with people he knows and likes. Most people that encounter him in public are very offended that he wants nothing to do with them. And if someone he didn't know tried full on hugging him he'd probably bite out of fear.

 

[Jadex]

Gypsy loves hugs from anyone. Ryker loves hugs from us. He will only let strangers hug him if he's the one to approach them. If they try to approach him then he will be all spooky and wary. Once he decides that they are okay then he loves it.

 

[FG167]

Eden loves hugs from everyone.
Kastle will tolerate hugs from everyone.
Jentry will enthusiastically request a hug while slamming you with her feet, her tongue, an occasional love nibble, and sometimes excited pee (she's special).
Limit is a no-touch unless he offers dog with strangers. Then if he likes you, he will sometimes offer a hug. Do not hug him back LOL With Josh/I he is a demanding, conniving, manipulative little brat who almost ALWAYS has hands on him from someone

We had people over for Easter this weekend. It's my IPO club, they "know" my dogs. So everyone has seen Limit and knows that you just ignore him unless he comes up, then you pet, and that's about it. Eden is everyone's favorite because she fawns all over everyone all the time. They were the only two in the house with all of the people (and honestly, agility combined with my amazing club have really made Limit into a much more comfortable-around-people dog. I'm very pleased). One of the club members' son (he's in his 40s I believe) was there, and "should" know dogs, he does some helper work, etc. He really wanted Limit to like him. Kept enthusiastically exclaiming his name, and going to him with his arms wide, trying to get him to jump up on him and be excited (like he does with me). Limit was polite the first time, ignored him the second time, and actively left the third time - even going to another stranger to ask for pets to get away from this guy. I kept an eye on the interaction and intervened when Limit was showing me he was stressed, but he actually handled it super duper well. No calming signals or whale eyes (he's the king of whale eyes/tucked tail/ears back). It was like "ok buddy, I'm giving you a shot...you aren't very good at this are you? No touchie" LOL He's a very unique dog.

 

[Southpaw]

I dont know if my dogs like hugs, don't honestly observe their reactions that closely. They've never reacted to a hug though. At most they might just wiggle away and then think I'm trying to initiate play.

 

[Ozfozz]

It's funny, at the show yesterday I had to ask a child to not hug Cobain. The dad was all offended as I guess he told his son to give him a hug. So he loudly proclaimed "Well I guess THAT dog isn't nice enough for hugs!"

Thankfully I guess my little bit of polite education to him stopped him from encouraging the kid to hug all the other dogs on the floor for our meet and greet at the time.

Cobain is an active hugger of people he likes. Early mornings, if he hasn't seen me in a while, or when I'm starting to get upset/irritated with something, he will wrap his paws around my shoulders and press his head into mine.
That said, he only really likes hugs, or any contact for that matter, on his terms. He wouldn't typically react poorly, but he will walk away in disgust eventually.

Rigby seeks out hugs and cuddles from people she likes as well. Her's are more aggressive and typically appear in the form of a body slam and head butt if you're not paying attention. If she is on one corner of the bed, and you lie on the other, she will begrudgingly slink over and lie on top of you.

 

[Red.Apricot]

Elsie solicits hugs from me, my boyfriend, my dad, and... that's about it. She likes hugs from us, my sister, and my mom. Maybe our ex-roommates.

Other than that, she'd probably snarl/growl/escalate if someone tried.

 

[BostonBanker]

Both of my dogs love to snuggle with Their People (although Gusto will only snuggle in the house, not in public). Meg will cheerfully accept hugs from me, and would probably tolerate them well from anyone.

Gusto will let me hug him with little to no protest, but he'd honestly much rather just snuggle without being "restrained" by a hug. We've worked a lot on him accepting handling and restraint from me, so he will let me hug him. While I don't think he would bite over someone else hugging him, I do think he's struggle to get loose and head-whip/glare if he couldn't. He'd want to bite, but has pretty good inhibition at this point.

I wouldn't let anyone hug either dog if I could stop it in time. It's unnecessary and the dogs would rather get attention in other ways.

 

[milos_mommy]

Both like hugs from family, not hugs from not-family.

My foster dogs all would have accepted (or initiated) hugs from anyone.