Wednesday, April 10, 2024

National Hug Your Pet* Day

I realized a bit too late that today was National Hug Your Pet Day, so I asked my husband to take photos of me with the girls before I went to my fitness class last night. That is why I am dressed like that.

Let's first address the elephant in the room. My girls like cuddles on their own time and place. They do not like Girl Human randomly assaulting them on a Tuesday night.

Zelda's tolerating this, but she wants you to know that she's two seconds from scratching my arm.

Hannah for her part is considering whether or not murder is a suitable punishment for this absolute torture. 

Go hug your pets. But only if they want your hug.

*I guess it's really Hug Your Dog Day, but I refuse to leave Zelda out.

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Who's the last person you hugged?


29 comments:

  1. Isn't' every day Hug Your Pet Day? It is in my house. The last person I hugged was my older son because he popped by to do laundry last night, and he was the last person I saw before bed. Everyone in my house gets a goodnight hug (even houseguests!). I am, obviously, a huggy kind of person. That said, I can hear Rex stirring so I'm going to go let him out and, of course, hug him!
    Those are great photos and I like that colour blue on you.

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    1. It is NOT usual for us to hug our girls. They do not, as you can see, enjoy it very much. It's always National Pet Your Pet Day, though!

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  2. It's never too late to celebrate Hug Your Pet day! A long time ago we read that dogs don't like to be hugged, but the way that everyone in my house interprets that is that dogs don't like to be hugged...by anyone other than the family member currently hugging them. We gave Doggo a hug just now and she tolerated it.

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    1. Yeah, H barely likes to be touched at all. She'll sometimes want head scratches and will accept belly rubs all the time, but that's the extent of it. I even have a section of training that is me just touching her everywhere (head, back, tail, feet, mouth) because she's so anti-touch. Tolerating is the best we'll get from Hannah, too.

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  3. Maggie is totally on Team If I Wanted a Hug I Would Let You Know. She is all over my lap, and invites petting and chin scritches regularly, but on her terms and not mine.

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    1. 100%. I do pick Zelda up once every other day or so as a training thing (we call it "animal husbandry" in our house) so that if there is an emergency or we need to get her into her kennel, she's used to being handled and I usually give her a quick cuddle then, but in general, it's definitely pets when Zelda wants pets!

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  4. Hee hee... I like the look on Zelda's face. Yeah, cats aren't big on hugging, but I will hug both cats today anyway! If I accompany it with some chin scratches, they'll tolerate it.

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one over here with a cat who is annoyed with hugs. Her face, though - what a precious little tolerant creature.

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  5. I hugged my daughter on my way out of the house to work. (And, then she chased after me and hugged/hung on me, haha!) My dog Bella is not a hugger - the only human contact she wants is to either be next to you having her belly rubbed or to be on the floor next to your feet barely touching you. Nothing else is acceptable!

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    1. Bella and Hannah are kindred souls. Belly rubs are acceptable, but that's really the limits of her toleration of human touch. Oh, well. She let me get my photo op, so I'm grateful to her.

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  6. Alas, I have no pets to hug, but we have established that kids are not entirely unlike pets, and I did hug both my kids before they said goodbye at the school doors this morning. One child is a VERY enthusiastic hugger. The other is a one-arm + keep-everyone-at-a-distance hugger. It's hilarious because my mom is a VERY enthusiastic hugger and loves to hug everyone. My Dad is the one-arm/distance hugger. I had never noticed the parallel (both my husband and I are relatively huggy, though he is more huggy than I am), so it's funny to have kids that fall at VERY OPPOSITE ends of the spectrum. It's also interesting - to me, likely to no one else and I am really prattling on right now - that my kids penchant for hugging was reflected in their personality at birth. One child LOVED to be snuggled and held. The other child literally pushed up off my chest with full head control about 15 minutes after being born and was forever trying to break out of hugs, swaddles, cuddles etc. Tangent over.

    Love the hugs and I think Hannah is just acting hard to get and actually loves the hugs <3

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    1. It is CRAZY how quickly personality comes out - like right after birth!! CRAZY!!

      I appreciate that you think Hannah loves the hugs, but we all know better.

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  7. That's good really. Lacey does not approved of being picked up. Period.

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  8. Engie--the look on Zelda's and Hannah's faces!! I'm laughing so hard over here.

    The last person I hugged was A as he left to run an "Aaron." Everyone gets hugged good morning and goodnight and goodbye over here. My "rules." Luckily, the human and canine kids like hugging.

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    1. Hannah's face SLAYS me. So much unhappiness in one little body.

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  9. I gave Lucy a hug before I dropped her off for surgery today, wah. Eve delights in inflicting cuddles on Lucy while she's on her fuzzy blanket until Lucy beseeches me with her eyes to control my other child. The last person I hugged was Eve before I left Hamilton to come home ALONE while my husband is in Asia and my dog is at the hospital overnight. I told my neighbour I might come cry on her later though.

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    1. Home alone?! What will you do?! I hope it went well and you didn't need to cry on anyone!

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  10. Hannah is just barely holding it together.

    The last person I hugged was my son Sam when he left my house after lunch to go back to work. I don't hug my cats that often even though they're large, rather chubby, and like to snuggle. Actually, I do hug Piper, the male orange cat. He's more tolerant of that and sleeps through anything. Marlowe, the longhaired female (with tufty feet!) would hold a grudge for half a day if I hugged her.

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    1. Hannah is so disappointed in me.

      When Zelda misbehaves, I frequently give her "corporal cuddles" where I pick her up and squeeze her. It annoys her so much that she usually stops doing whatever the naughty activity was. It's actually reassuring to know there are other people out there with pets who are anti-hug and anti-cuddle.

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  11. I love these photos. I am sure you hug your pets often, but I'm glad you shared these. I hugged my dogs today too, but then, I hug them often.

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    1. LOLOL. I actually rarely hug them because they hate it so much. But they gets lots of attention and cuddles.

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  12. OMG, I was dying at Zelda's face in her picture and then I got to Hannah's photo and I AM DEAD. Their faces are the best.

    I can hug Eloise, although she has a limit on the affection. Lila is VERY stingy with her hugs. I was able to hug her this weekend for about 1 second before she acted like I was trying to murder her. So that was fun!

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    1. I think Zelda looks reasonably comfortable, but Hannah is so disappointed in me. Her face, her body language - that is a dog who wishes she was someplace else!

      Acted like I was trying to murder her?! YES!! Why are pets so dramatic?!

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  13. I love these hugging photos! If I want to hug my cats, they push me away and act like they can't bear it. But if I'm busy or rushed, here they come - it's hugging time! We must have attention NOW!

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    1. Cats are IN CHARGE. You will only get cuddles on their time!

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  14. Haha, obviously you had to 'torture' them on this very important day. LOL

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    1. It's good for them, right? (I have convinced myself that they have to get used to my touch. LOL. It's very self-serving.)

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  15. I'm laughing so hard at their sweet faces; much like me, they can not hide their inner thoughts! Everyday is hug your pet day around here too. ;)

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    1. It would be Hug Your Pet Day here every day if they didn't look at me like I was murdering them when I did hug them! Give your babies extra cuddles for me.

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