"My lab loves hugs. My hound hated them (but tolerated them)."

Ha...that is SO my dog! She is a lab, and she seems to just sit there and simply tolerate my overbearing kisses and hugs. Poor dog! You can just see it in her eyes that she's communicating "when is this crazy woman going to leave me alone??".

However, in my defense, she kisses me right back until my face is raw!

gabro - that is too funny. I don't have dogs - I have 2 cats. One of them is very, very affectionate, and the other is affectionate on his terms. When I pick him up to hug, kiss, and baby talk to him when he's not in the mood, he just looks at me like "put me down." He holds still but the second I put him down he bolts down the hall.

My old Border Collie didn't like them and would pull back immediately. He was as friendly as anything, a registered and trained therapy dog, patients could poke, prod, pull his tail, do anything to him and he loved it all except give him a hug from the front over and around his head. Kids could climb on his back and hug him around the neck from that position etc.. it was odd that he just wouldn't let anyone do it from in front of him.

Chows, or at least mine. My vet diagnosed him very early on as a loner. He will tolerate me giving him hugs, but it's painfully obvious that he could do without them. He is now 11 yrs. old and I suspect that this will never change; do ya think??? LOL.

Ha. my dog is the leader of the ANTI-HUGS PACK - he will actually start towards him, arms outstretched, he will glare at us then run away!!! Even asking for a hug will get you a glare - my dog hates them, but then my dog appears to not be a real dog, or he is broken or something like that - hardly eats unless we try and steal his food, sits on his butt like a human and refuses to go fpr walkies or hiking on a regular basis (unless snow is on the ground - then we can not get him back in \the car)...I could go on but then I would suffer a complex because I m\am not really a dog owner at all. It use to be we called him a chicken in a dog suit, now????maybe he was a buddisdt priest in a previous life...it is anyones guess

Hugs are not a natural occurrence for dogs. The whippet mix we rescued loves hugs---and it has helped with her lack of self esteem. The GSD mix tolerates them from kids, but would much rather have a good scratching all over.

One of mine loves them. He crawls into my lap all the time when I'm gardening and could sit for hours with my arms wrapped around him, hug like. But he's part beagle.

I have a Boxer and he loves hugs. In fact I'd like to think that when he gets real close and leans on my as hard as he can that he is actually giving me a hug. Maybe thats just a bully breed thing.

My bully does the same thing jackie. She gets as clost to me as she can and puts all of her weight into it. There is no moving her. :-) Sometimes she even leans back on her back paws (kind of looks like a meercat) and places her front paws on my shoulder. Its really very cute.

You have to remember that Ceasar deals with dogs that are generally very dominant in nature and that have been spoiled rotten or not properly disaplined by their owners. Have you ever seen a dog stand with it's head over the shoulders/neck of another one? That is classic dominant body language and dogs view a hug in much the same way. More submissive dogs accept or even seem to enjoy it but if you have a really pushy type then you could be asking for trouble.

Lisa

I understand Ceasar deals with problem dogs...but he did make a blanket statement....I'm not ceasar hating...I've gotten good tips from him.....I was just curious about the statement...and other peoples take on it.

My dog likes hugs and also likes baby talk from me. I had to laugh at Sephia and her cat. My Henry is like that. I pick him up ..all 20 pounds and hug him and he glares at me and meows. Never bites, or scratches..just gives me a very nasty look. I love cats.