Its funny but I would say the opposite about the times and touchy feely
When I was a kid we didnt hug our friends or anything like that
Hugging was something you did with someone you were dating or was forced on you by an old relative

But come my sisters class and they were all hugging all the time
and now looking at the schoolkids around here hugging is the norm - even the boys hug each other - which wouldnt have happened in my day

Not saying either one is right or wrong but if a stranger invaded my space like that then they would remain a stranger. I hug some of my close friends - but not constantly

I'll freely admit that I'm a novice to dog training and keeping when compared to most here but if its generally accepted that he is cruel to animals how come he has never been prosecuted?

Is it just that there is a belief, amongst the powers that be, that sometime you have to be cruel to be kind?

Its the 1st time I've seen that clip and I it looks so wrong, but I'm aware that in isolation things often don't reflect the broader picture. I don't generally watch his TV programs as I find them egocentric rather than finding them actually cruel.

I think I heard somewhere that the RSPCA had threatened to prosecute him if he used his normal methods on his UK tour, not sure where I heard it or if it's true. The USA is a different place with different laws (and they vary from state to state), there are enough big organisations that do not agree with CM's methods that if there was a way to prosecute him successfully it would have been done I guess money and fame talk, and lawsuits aren't cheap things

Same here, when I was wee, I certainly didn't hug friends, just close relatives.

I'd be gob smacked if someone I hardly knew hugged me .

I think he has been threatened with prosecution in the U S, but has settled out of court .

We're all different, I LOVE it if someone I hardly know hugs me - whether it be male or female. I take it as a huge compliment. But, we are indeed all different, there are no rights or wrongs here.

I do remember nearly passing out though a few years when my father - very much the old soldier, stiff upper lip, boys don't cry, etc. etc. - embraced my brother!! He ALWAYS but ALWAYS shook my brother by the hand, but from this moment onwards they embrace - not kiss, but embrace. It's lovely.

As for CM, some is good, a lot is bad. I personally think he has lost his way. I would not go as far as to say he is actually Cruel with a capital C, but I have seen him do things - kick Shadow for instance, and the labrador who attacked him - that are plain wrong. Maybe he lost his temper - like OH did with Ben at the weekend, when he roared at him and scared the poor dog witless. He then smacked him on the bottom because he had the temerity to walk into the conservatory whilst OH was doing some staining ... big deal!! A professional should NEVER lose his temper, but I guess CM is only human, OH is only human.

Unless things are different over there I don't see that you can settle out of court with a prosecution, only if you are being sued.

Not enough hugs in the world but too many people see it as a sexual thing.

The best hug I ever had from a stranger, was the morning after I lost one of my beloved dogs, I was up on the green with just the one, and they all knew what had happened, and this lady who I'd never, even seen before, just opened her arms and said "come here" and she hugged me to death, I cried buckets, and it really helped, I will never forget that lady.

When we moved here earlier this year, I used to see an older lady out with a black gsd in the mornings, and then one morning she was walking alone, so I asked her where the dog was........ I did the same to her as that other lady did to me and I know it helped her. That's life isn't it, you experience something good, and you want to pass it on I'm a very touchy, feely, friendly type, it got me into a lot of trouble in my youth, lots of guys took it the wrong way and would then tell me off for being a.....well, I don't think I can type what they called me but the shortened version would be a pt lol!!!

Again I agree with you Nikki, CM used to have some good and some bad, but it seems he's reverted to the real bad now

I don't know about that, I'd be more inclined to say it's just an individual thing. My mother is a touchy feely kind of person, like you she likes physical contact, me on the other hand, does not. The only ones who get hugs from me are the dogs, and that's not a joke, I can count on one hand the number of times I've initiated a hug (and that's not an exaggeration on my part I swear )those people were in either physical or emotional distress. I will tolerate people hugging me, but unless ordered to, I won't reciprocate.
It used to make me feel awkward, but I'm desensitized now to the point that when someone does it, I feel absolutely nothing, I just don't care.

I'm sure that's not normal, oh well.

Just to dip back on topic, the protest group formed on a popular social networking site has attracted over1,OOO members in 2-3 days.