Not all petting is the same, even with dogs. In fact, the way you pet a dog can have quite an impact on its well-being and thus make a difference in its relationship with that person.
A team of German researchers studied the stress behaviour of 28 different dogs depending on where and how they were petted. They focused on the pulse rate, from which the researchers created a complicated analysis to determine the dog's level of excitement, but also to explore whether the dog reacted positively or negatively overall.
The dogs tested were on average about 5 years old and were pets from private households with different origins, breeds and life histories. The respective dog was brought into a room where the dog owner was present but pretended to be neutral. A stranger to the dog stroked the dog in 9 different ways. The nine different ways of petting were:
1. pat the dog on the shoulder.
2) Pat the dog on the chest.
3) Pat the dog on the neck.
4) Hold the dog on the ground while stroking it.
5) Hold one of the dog's front paws.
6) Pat the dog on the head.
7) Scratch the dog at the top of its tail.
8) Hold the dog by the collar and stroke it.
9) Cover the dog's muzzle with one hand.
In the dogs' behaviour, they looked not only for obvious unwillingness or stress, as well as avoidance or stiffening, but also for more subtle signs such as licking the air, lifting their paws or yawning.
The different ways of petting the dog basically triggered very different behaviours in the dogs. Types 4, 8 and 9, where the dogs' freedom of movement was restricted, triggered the most negative reactions in all dogs.
Less annoying but still clearly negative was petting the head and holding the paw.
The dogs reacted most positively to being stroked on the chest and shoulder and being scratched below the spine at the base of the tail.
It is important to note that this is how the dogs reacted to a stranger. People who are familiar to the dog are generally allowed to get away with more without the dog feeling stressed.
