CHILDREN HUGGING DOGS - ALLOW OR NOT? This is the comment/question raised by Mark Pyne on a previous post of mine.. I thought I would respond to this comment, as a post of its own. Question: Realising you are still on a break. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on GS dogs being hugged by small children. (Or full stop for that matter) ..... I see so many pics posted continually online with this occurring, and I wince each & every time. After having GSs for 30 yrs, I have NEVER had one that loved being hugged by anyone, let alone a little person. .... I know it is a great feeling to love your pet, but they dont necessarily get that part of us that wants to hug! ... Reply: Hi Mark Pyne In general I totally agree with you. Parents shouldnt allow this. Most cannot read the dogs body language, and therefore missing cues from the dog before its level of tolerance has been breached. My GSD for example doesnt mind being hugged and is quite happy to accept it, due mainly to the way I raised him. However I still do not allow ANYBODY to hug him, and especially children. Its not that my dog will bite them.. But if I allow this type of behaviour, how can I educate parents and children NOT to do it? You hear of so many stories of children being bitten, and the dogs owner saying, but Rover has never shown any aggression before... Dogs dont related to hugs the way humans do. A dog can relate a hug as an invasion of its personal space, and with no way to exit the situation, but to react. To many dogs a hug can be a threatening gesture. We need to get away from placing human reasoning and values on to our dogs. A classic example is that Youtube video going around showing the Schnauzer overly stressed from anxiety. It has had around 10 million views. 90% of the comments are.. Oh how lovely, that dog loves its owner so much Who said dogs dont love Newspapers saying the dog passed out from joy ... etc, etc. It just goes to show how little society still understands dogs. And we wonder why so many children get bitten. I put a lot of blame on these childrens TV shows, that humanise dogs way too much, and not educating children and their parents proper dog behaviour and psychology. I also put a lot of blame on those that insist that pack instinct and dominance in dogs is a myth!!! Pushing these views, is just asking for trouble! We need to start treating dogs as dogs, and not as our fury little friends, that just love us so much!
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 01:55:28 +0000
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