Do you hug your dog?  I must confess.  I do it all the time.  That's the first thing I do when I get home from work every day.  They run to me . . . full speed.  I pick them up and give them a big old hug.  They give me kisses on the cheek.  That's our routine.  That's what we do.  And I just assumed we were all good with it.  But, apparently, I'm delusional.  A new article in Psychology Today suggests that 81% of dogs don't like being hugged and the act raises their anxiety levels.  In fact, that article lists a whole string of behaviors that demonstrate just how much your pooch dislikes being hugged.  So, I decided to run an experiment with my dogs to see if they think a hug is a "good touch" or a "bad touch."  Here's what happened-

Well, as you can see in the video, Dolly absolutely loathes my embrace and actually grumbles when I pick her up.  And, after filming the video and reviewing the details of the study, I realized, sadly, that I completely misinterpreted Ellie's reactions.  According to Dr. Stanley Coren, in his Psychology Today article, licking a person's face can be a sign of dog anxiety.  As you watched in the video, Ellie basically lapped my entire face and I mistook that as affection, when what she was really trying to tell me was, "Put me the hell down now!"

I was really hoping that my dogs would have fallen in the small percentile of canines that actually appreciate a hug as a sign of affection.  Unfortunately, my prissy little pooches just want their paws on the ground and my paws off them.  Great!  Awesome.  My heart is full.  NOT!

If you'd like to read more about Dr. Coren's study and see his detailed analysis of dogs and hugs, CLICK HERE!   Just be warned, you may need a hug yourself when you realize that your dog doesn't want you all up in its grill.

More From WOMI-AM