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Petting Dogs

These photos show people interacting with dogs in a way that gives the people pleasure and happiness. The dogs, however, are not enjoying it.

I refer to the dogs as 'he' for handiness when discussing these photos, though they could equally well be female.

So what's going on for the dogs in these photos?

In the last blog, People Meeting Dogs, we discussed how important personal space is to dogs. People often like to show affection with one another by close contact – hugging etc. so they often do this with dogs too which can cause the dogs stress. Let's look at how the dogs in these photos are telling us this.

Feeling the pressure of restraint

When dogs are restrained as they are in these photos, they can feel trapped and prevented from using the full range of their body language to communicate. 

Photo 1

In Photo 1 the woman is glasping the dog's head so tightly that he can only use his ears to show his discomfort. His ears are held back. I don't know how clear it is here, but when I was selecting this photo I could see that the dog is doing a 'lip lick'.

Lip Licks

Lip licks or nose licks (where the dog flicks their tongue out and licks their own lips, or licks right up to their nose) are very commonly used communication signals in dogs. You see it all the time, in all sorts of circumstances, very often when the dog is concerned or uneasy.

Photo 2
The dog in Photo 2 is doing a very obvious nose lick.  Again, the restraint of the affectionate embrace is causing this sign of stress. The man is also looking directly into the dog's eyes. This often causes dogs concern. The dog is looking away to avoid the man's direct gaze. There is no doubt the man is trying to  show the dog he cares about him. But the mismatch in human and dog communication preferences leaves the dog feeling under pressure.

Photo 3
In Photo 3 the dog is feeling the strain of having the little girl lean right over him, leaning her head down to him. This photo introduces us to panting in dogs being a sign of stress.  Dogs pant when they are too warm, but they also pant when stressed. This dog's tongue is in the 'spatulate' shape associated with stress. Even given his lying down position, he looks as low to the ground as he can get. He looks helpless. A dog who puts up with things. Like the adults above, the little girl doesn't know the effect her affection is having on the dog.

Photo 4
The dog in Photo 4 isn't being held in a restraining embrace, but is under pressure none the less. See how his body is leaning away from the girl? He is panting and is looking past her as if looking at someone not in the photo. It could be that the dog has been told to sit there for the purposes of the photoshoot. Being told to stay in a position he is not comfortable with is a form of restraint too. The dog's discomfort likely comes from the pressure of the girl's focus on him, and her body being inclined towards him.

Photo 5
The dog in Photo 5 is looking in the direction he wants to be. Dogs will look away from what concerns them. It is a way of showing that they do not want any trouble and hope you will take the pressure off them. As in the photos above, the person in the photo and the person taking the photo, are unaware that rather than showing an enjoyable interaction between a person and dog, they are showing a dog wishing to avoid the person's attention.

"But my dog loves hugs"

They maybe do. Some dogs enjoy close physical contact, even to the extent of hugging, but make sure when you say this that you have really observed your dog's body language. I know some dogs that love hugs from people they know and will jump onto your lap and lean comfortably against you for hugs. The crucial thing is to be sure that this is a choice they are making and they are there voluntarily.

Photo 6
The little boy in Photo 6 is trying to look directly into the dog's eyes. He doesn't know not to do this with dogs as people make direct eye contact with each other as part of our social skills. But dogs will feel huge pressure from this kind of interaction.

Photo 7
Here's more face-to-face orientation and leaning towards a dog in Photo 7. The dog is doing his best to get his head out of the way, not easy when being held like that. His eyes are looking away to avoid the woman's gaze and he looks like he might be about to start stress panting. A dog put in this situation will usually wish to turn his head away. 'Head turns' and 'look aways' can be outward signs of stress within the dog. Not being able to do this will add to the dog’s stress.

Just because you're getting your face licked, doesn't necessarily mean your dog is happy!

It could well just mean that your dog is delighted to see you! But licking your face when you're holding them can also be a dog's way of telling you to stop. Not something many people are familiar with. See Photo 8.
Photo 8
See how the dog's legs are held stiffly and the way his eyes are looking directly at the girl. These are not affectionate kisses he is giving her. From his communication he is showing that he would rather end the interaction.

It could be appeasement

A dog licking your face when you're holding them can also be the dog appeasing you to try to get you to stop what you're doing.
Photo 9
Compare Photo 9 with the previous photo. Unlike the dog in Photo 8, the dog here has an indirect gaze and softness in their body. He's not determindly trying to lick the person away like the dog in Photo 8. This looks like appeasement licking and the dog would rather the interaction ended.

Let's “know better”

These photos show children and adults for a reason. Children don't know any better. They can't know the needs of another species unless they are guided by adults. But many adults don't know better either (as shown in these photos) or they underestimate the strain such handling puts on dogs and just let the kids get on with it. Dog bites happen this way. Let's “know better”.

It's great that we want to show love to the dogs in our care, but really think about how we do this

Look for signs of stress such as avoidance, lip licking, yawning, panting, tension, head-turning etc. Don't physically restrain dogs when showing them affection and help children to understand not to restrain them or be 'grabby' with them and not to chase them or run up to them. If we love dogs we can do it in a way the dogs can enjoy too.

More on this topic in the next blog - Petting Dogs Part 2 - Consent Testing


Ursula Linton


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Comments

  1. Unknown26 June 2021 at 04:50

    Most of these photo descriptions are ridiculous. How on earth can you tell body language from a photo like that? My dog is incredibly affectionate, acts like a lot of these dogs in the photos, and she 100% is happy and enjoying the affection, if you stop she even paws you to keep doing it. I don't restrain her in any way and if she wants to leave, she can. Usually if she wants to be left alone she will growl softly yet very obviously so i know when to give her space.
    Unfortunately it seems like you were actually trying to find issues in photos where there just weren't any at all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Other Nations"26 June 2021 at 10:20

    Thank you for your comments. Even though they are critical, I appreciate that you took the time to write them and it shows you feel strongly.
    Dog body language can be very subtle. I looked through lots of stock images and chose these particular ones because they show those subtle stress signals that we can often miss. There were photos much 'worse' that I could've picked which showed the dogs' stress very clearly, but I wanted these subtle ones.
    I agree it can be hard to draw conclusions from a photo. But when we can see the context, as we can here, there are things we can identify with confidence, such as the signs these dogs are displaying that indicate their discomfort.
    It's great that your dog paws at you to keep getting petted! I talk about this exact thing in Part 2 of this blog: Petting Dogs – Part 2 – Consent Testing.
    Kind regards
    Ursula

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