As of: March 18, 2024, 8:00 p.m
By: Sophie Kluß
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A study of supposedly cute dog videos on social media comes to a disturbing conclusion: many people misinterpret the behavior of dogs.
Videos of cute cats or cute dogs are viewed millions of times on social media.
The four-legged friends are too cute in their costumes as they are hugged and cuddled.
But this often happens without consideration for the well-being of the animals.
Scientists from the Cork Pet Behavior Center in Ireland have now analyzed 190 videos with a particularly high number of likes on common social media platforms - with shocking results, as the German Press Agency reports.
“The animals are often placed in critical situations,” is the worrying conclusion of the study, according to dpa.
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People on social media misunderstand dog body language
They are harassed and their needs are ignored.
Nevertheless, the animals lick their mouths, yawn peacefully or blink, so everything is fine.
Not really, experts warn: According to the dpa, all of this is “by no means a sign of well-being.” Dogs use these so-called appeasement signals to show when they feel uncomfortable - but people ignore these signals, misunderstand them or simply don't know them.
However, this not only affects the owners of the dogs, but also the numerous users who watch these videos.
“In many of the videos presented on social media, the dog is visibly not feeling well, but viewers still expressed a 'like' with their like,” dpa summarizes the study by the research team led by pet behavior expert Elizabeth Ann Walsh.
Flattened ears like the dog in the picture also indicate discomfort and insecurity.
© Addictive Stock/Imago
But ignoring dogs' body language not only causes fear and stress for the animals themselves, but can also have serious consequences for humans.
If the animal feels too harassed by the person's rash behavior, it may react aggressively.
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A typical example of actions against dog welfare is hugging and holding animals.
The four-legged friends cannot understand such behavior and react with fear and confusion.
However, their owners would hardly notice this reaction or not at all, according to the experts.
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Dog body language: These signals indicate discomfort
According to the scientists, both their owners and social media users can use these signals to recognize that dogs are feeling unwell or are stressed, anxious and nervous:
Turning your head away
Blink
Freeze
yawning
Licking the human
Ears laid back and panting
When asked by Landtiere.de, Christoph May, press spokesman for the World Animal Welfare Society, gave further examples that indicate stress and discomfort in dogs in the social media videos:
Place your ears back and to the side
Panting
Duck
Position of the tail: “For most dog breeds, lowering or tucking the tail between the legs is a very clear expression of a negative basic feeling,” says May.
Dogs acoustically demonstrate discomfort and constriction by growling, says Christoph May: “After the dog has previously shown various signals, but the threat persists, dogs clearly show their counterpart that the current situation is unpleasant for them They’re desperate for a way to get some distance.”
At the same time, many social media users often find these signals particularly cute or amusing.
However, licking the mouth, for example, is often a sign of submissiveness and not always a sign of love and affection, as many mistakenly assume.
Read here which three mistakes you should definitely avoid when dealing with dogs.
What can users do if they see animal suffering on social media?
The World Animal Protection Society follows a clear motto when it comes to the above-mentioned behaviors and the depiction of animal suffering on social media: “No likes for animal suffering.” It is even better not to react to such posts at all.
Not even by sharing or commenting.
But a lot of information work still needs to be done here, says May. In order to reduce animal suffering on social media, he calls on behalf of the animal protection organization “for stricter regulations to be set up at national and international level that make the networks responsible for their great influence to take over."
A guide for identifying animal suffering content is intended to help users identify relevant content.
According to May, animal suffering content should, in the best case scenario, be consistently reported to the network moderators.
The World Animal Protection Society has also created guidelines for the respective networks.
Another way to counteract dog suffering on social platforms is to educate people about four-legged friends and their body language: “We advocate increased education for both adults and children regarding communication with dogs,” said the research group in the journal
Applied Animal Behavior Science
, in which the Irish study was published.