03/07/2024
This is, in addition to the dog's welfare, is important to be considerate of, as it can lead to a dog bite. Dogs can be averse to petting for a number of reasons including fear, anxiety, pain, and some dogs are just not fond of prolonged petting sessions or more rough petting styles. If you are unsure about your dog's interest in petting, it's helpful to only gently pet them in in an area like their chest or along the back for 1-2 seconds, and see what the dog's response it - do they solicit more petting such as by nudging your hand? If yes, pet again for another couple of seconds, and if no then take a break from the petting.
In March 2024 a study by Walsh et al. looked at how humans and dogs communicate during play, petting, and hugging. By examining popular videos on media-sharing platforms, researchers compared dog behaviours with viewer reactions.
The study reviewed 30 top videos for "play" and 80 for "hugging" and "petting."
Findings were problematic as people often don't understand dogs' body language or sounds. Dogs in the videos showed many signs of stress, likely because their signals were misunderstood during play, petting, and hugging. This misunderstanding can cause dogs to feel uncomfortable, anxious, fearful, distressed, or confused, harming the human-dog bond and the dog's welfare. In some cases, dogs might even display defensive or aggressive behaviour. The study also found a worrying number of videos with stressed dogs.
More education for both adults and children is needed to understand canine communication and respecting dogs' needs during interactions.
