mp3rude

I recently received an email which made me feel nauseous. In it, a concerned dog owner explained how his dog isn�t great with children because when they put their arms around the dog�s neck and hug it, or get up close to the dog�s face, the dog responds by snapping or growling. The email goes on to explain that the dog has never bitten or made contact but the behaviour is a concern because their toddler loves to interact with the dog and other children just want to hug it because of how cute it looks. This isn�t the first email I�ve received about dogs that behave aggressively when people (especially children or strangers) get too close, hug or grab a dog and it won�t be the last. In fact, in my work as an animal behaviourist and consultant, human-directed aggression is a common issue I�m called in to assist with. Image 1: Do you think this dog is enjoying being hugged?  What�s wrong with hugging dogs? So why do some dogs respond aggressively to being hugged? What�s wrong with