I have to tell you all, I grew around animals. And they are more human-like than some non-animal owners will ever know. And I am not just anthropomorphizing them when I say that. I think I have a pretty dispassionate view of the matter.
Anyways, that is not what this thread is about. What animals hug, and what animals kiss, is my question.
I can tell you my experiences. Dogs don’t hug. At least, not for the reasons we humans do. Hugging is a sign of aggression among dogs. I was not at all surprised when I heard that. But I also know from experience, cats definitely do hug. Here and here are some of my experiences, with the matter.
I know kissing seems to be universal. But is it? I mean, do lizards and snakes kiss? I honestly don’t know, because I never owned a lizard or a snake. And for that matter, do lizards and snakes “hug”. It would seem pretty hard for a snake to do. But it is possible, I suppose.
I have a very affectionate (male) chinchilla. He definitely kisses as a greeting when either me or my daughters play with him. It isn’t some instinctual behavior either. He really doesn’t like strangers to be around him at all and reacts badly when someone new comes around. The kisses seem to be some sort of greeting saying that we are one of the good ones.
I have a hugging dog too–she’s young and of course tends to want to jump up, which I discourage soundly. She’s also very physical and wants to be close so I let her give “big hugs” where she’s allowed to put her feet on my lap then she lays her head on my shoulder and presses against my head. Then she changes over to the other shoulder and she’ll stay there for as long as I’m willing to let her. She also loves it that I hug her back, which is a bit unusual for a dog because you’re restricting their movement, but she apparently finds it comforting.
Both of my cats hug people they like, get right up on their laps and lay on their chest with a paw on either side of the human’s neck then they nuzzle the human’s chin.
I’ve read that before, about dogs not liking to be hugged because it’s a sign of aggression to them.
But domesticated dogs certainly can be affectionate and cuddly (most of them), and obviously enjoy being hugged. I assume, then, that this is a learned response in dogs who have the good fortune to live in a loving household.
This is apparently true for captive dolphins too. They tend to be friendly and playful and I’ve seen trainers hugging them, which they appear to enjoy.
I’ve got a theory about why dolphins might like being hugged by humans: Dolphins, as is well known, have a layer of blubber to keep the heat in, which means they must be relatively cool on the outside. Humans don’t, and radiate away a lot of body heat when they are in water. I suspect this makes humans feel very warm to a dolphin, and I imagine they might like that.
(Okay, I suggested that to a dolphin researcher once, who thought the idea was baloney, FWIW.)
I’ve had dogs that liked to lean against me, so they enjoy body closeness. I had one large dog that would get up on his hind legs and put his front paws on my shoulders. My current dog likes to lick my face when I put it close to hers, so I’d interpret that as kissing behavior.
“The male surrounds the female and encloses her within his gynacophoric canal for the entire adult lives of the worms. As the male feeds on the host’s blood, he passes some of it to the female.”
I wonder why dogs like to lick face. Superficially at least, it looks like a gesture of affection (“kisses”). But I’ve read from time to time that it’s actually, in dog-speak, a dominance behavior. Accordingly, they say, if the human in the household wants to be the alpha male, it’s important to not allow face licking.
I wonder though… Maybe dogs like to lick faces simply because people are salty.
I’d agree that it could be because people are salty. But my dog exhibits no dominance behavior at all. She thoroughly accepts me as the alpha. So I’d characterize her licking more as a submissive behavior.
Our two young Staffordshire Terriers (aka, pitbulls) LOVE to be held and hugged. Bax likes to sleep in my arms and Tallie wraps her arms around me when she’s snoozing. It would be difficult to believe that the physical love isn’t wanted, as they are very clear about stuff they don’t like.
OTOH, our yeller lab likes petting but is a solid “nope” on hugging/cuddling. Same with the border collies – petting is okay, absolutely no love squishing. IMHO, it’s much the same with humans; one of my friends is a kissy/huggy/backscratchy person, the other doesn’t like to be touched at all (it’s funny to watch people who don’t know her very well attempt a bro hug, she turns into a stiff board).
Our big St. Bernard will either lean against us, side-body, or more often she lowers her head and presses forward against us, usually between our legs. We tell people, “That’s how she hugs,” because it certainly does seem like she’s hugging. The other behavior, we sometimes refer to as “herding”. As in, “She’s not letting you walk. She’s herding you.”
My Mastiff puppy is all about cuddling. I don’t think I have ever had a dog that enjoys being close more than this one, and my little guy is practically a shadow.
The puppy is in a class by herself, she leans, she flops, she wants to be right up close and personal all the time. I don’t know if it would be called a hug, per se, since she doesn’t use her “arms” to embrace you, but she does snuggle right in there if you want to hug her.
