Animal psychologists say dogs feel stressed and unhappy when they are embraced by their owners because it stops them being able to run away.
The researchers looked at 250 pictures of dogs as they were being hugged and decided that eight out of 10 of the dogs showed at least one sign of discomfort, stress or anxiety.
The study was the work of Stanley Coren, a canine expert and professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.
"Dogs are designed for swift running," Coren wrote in Psychology Today.
"That implies that in times of stress or threat the first line of defence that a dog uses is not his teeth but his ability to run away.
"Behaviourists believe that depriving a dog of that course of action by immobilising him with a hug can increase his stress and, if the dog's anxiety becomes significantly intense, he might bite."
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