YES, YOUR POOCH HAS FEELINGS!

Here's how to ensure you don't unintentionally upset your pet

- NICI DE WET

AS YOUR dog ever let on that you've hurt his or her feelings? They've probably tried, but you may very well have missed the signals.

Turns out our four-legged friends experience feelings - emotions such as happiness, anxiety and fear - just like us humans. And sometimes we can unintentionally do things that hurt their feelings, which can negatively affect our relationship with them.

Here are five behaviours to avoid.

1 IGNORING THEM

You've just returned from work and you're tired and Rover is irritating you by wanting attention. But consider this: how do you feel when someone close to you gives you the cold shoulder? Not good, right?

"The most common form of emotional maltreatment is emotional neglect, which is the unintentional failure to meet an animal's emotional needs," says Franklin D McMillan, a director at Best Friends Animal Society in the US.