The Results Are Only From “Casual Observations”.
It’s a disappointment now that we know! It’s infuriating! Here’s one small silver lining. Coren stated that he based his conclusions on “casual observation” and that the study had not been peer reviewed, so that other scientists could find problems with his work.
You could say that Coren didn’t have a lot of context because his dog pictures were picked randomly from the Internet. He could not see the dogs’ behavior before they were hugged. They may have shown signs of stress due to other factors.
What is the first step?
Don’t expect too much. Evan MacLean is the co-director of Duke University’s Canine Cognition Center. He believes Coren’s results are valid. According to him, he told The Washington Post that “This is an interesting preliminary data which could serve as a great starting point for a complete research.”
Can I hug my dog or not? you might wonder. ” Sorry to tell you, that’s not likely! MacLean also agrees. He said, “I would recommend avoiding touching the dogs – atleast in the traditional humankind hugging.” This is primitive behavior at its most fundamental level. Dogs do not hug like nonhuman chimpanzees.
