We love our dogs and consider them family. But that doesn’t mean they appreciate everything humans enjoy. As responsible pet parents, it’s important for us to learn their 4-legged language and communicate in ways they understand and can easily follow. Pay careful attention to your pet’s reactions to the following human behaviors!

Hugs from strangers – Imagine a total stranger coming up to you and giving you a full body hug. It would probably make you feel threatened, uncomfortable and put you on alert.

Dogs don’t express affection in the same way as people. Some dogs tolerate being hugged, but many don’t enjoy it, and it’s certainly not their way of expressing affection. Many feel threatened and fearful, even when hugged by people they know well and love.

Petting a dog’s head – Just as you wouldn’t enjoy it if a total stranger came up and reached their hand over your face and touched the top of your head, dogs don’t like it either. Again, it can easily put them in a position of feeling threatened.

Staring into their eyes – Staring into a dog’s eyes, particularly one you don’t know, doesn’t build a connection. Instead, it makes them feel threatened. They may see it as a sign of dominance and avert your stare. This tells you to stop staring, as they are uncomfortable.

Putting your face right in their face – This is another way that humans express affection, but dogs don’t. Remember that small dogs aren’t babies. Love them, but remember that they are dogs, not children.

Bringing dogs into loud environments – We bring dogs into our human world and we say “adjust.” Some do, many don’t. When dogs can’t orient the source of a sound to determine whether it is safe, they can easily go into sensory overload and develop anxiety behaviors along with health problems.