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guest_
· 4 years ago
· FIRST
It’s cute when dogs hug. Fun fact though- in canine behavior, “hugging” is a sign of dominance. It’s a way of saying: “I am in your personal space, you aren’t going to do anything about it.” When dogs play they often will do this as well- as dog play- much like a good deal of human sport- is often about dominance- or “play” at dominance- for the same reasons that be it football or a fighting sport the rules are set up to try and keep people from getting badly hurt or killed- the point being to show who is dominant without actually risking your life as such a huge risk for the common social need to establish a “hierarchy” would prove to not be very good for a social species in general. So when you hug your dog or your dog hugs you or another dog, the message there is the one giving the hug is “top dog.”
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creativedragonbaby
· 4 years ago
I thought the “hugging” in this sense is usually them going side by side, or trying to get into the humping position
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guest_
· 4 years ago
Humping behavior- at least when it isn’t actually an attempt to hump.... can be a few things. It CAN be a dominance behavior- but it can also be either simply a release of pent up energy and excitement- such as when a dog has been playing and play suddenly stops but the dog is “wound up,” or when a dog hasn’t been able to otherwise release energy. It can also be a type of neurotic behavior in dogs with anxiety or other mental issues, or who just haven’t been socialized well- somewhat like a human child jumping and climbing all over a person- but with humping.
guest_
· 4 years ago
Or at least that’s what most canine behaviorists agree on. To be honest- we can’t REALLY say definitively. I mean, we have to observe dogs and try to interpret what their behaviors mean- and the paradox is that we have to try to relate them in terms humans can understand- but at the same time dogs likely process things very differently than us, meaning we can’t rely completely on empathy or sympathetic correlations. I mean- who’s to say that “happiness” or “sadness” are the same emotions? There are very likely and seemingly observably some parallels- but we really don’t KNOW- it’s all just educated guessing and observation.
