Hi,
I think these are important, and I know some dogs tend to not like hugs, but my dog is super affectionate and loves cuddling and climbs all over anyone if given the chance. I actually don’t really believe that all dogs hate hugs, much like people say that dogs find it threatening to be stared at– my dog literally stares at me all day long and looks into my eyes with her face in my face. She is soo close to me and she has never shown any sign of being uncomfortable- she solicits it!
I took a great webinar on dog body language and it was super helpful. A balanced dog will give quite a few signals until they would actually be driven to nip or bite. A dog in pain is less likely to show elaborate signs because their threshold is already higher than that of a normal dog. So when people do come over, now, I tell them to be really hands off and I don’t let her get super close to them. It kind of sucks, because she was always such a lap dog.
