Hard to say. My Pomeranian never puts up a fight, but after a moment he wants to get down. So maybe for a moment he does like it, but then gets bored and wants down. However, he obviously prefers my partner, and will stay with him longer. So I guess those who say no would be wrong. It may also depend on the individual animal and his owner, and the quality of their relationship.
I agree with Zen. It probably depends on the individual dog. Our yorkie loves to be hugged and cuddled for a couple of minutes, but seems to prefer just lying close beside me. Our female pomeranian who was abused before we adopted her lunges away suddenly after only a few seconds if I try to hug her. Occasionally, she surprises me and lets me hug her for a full minute THEN leaps away suddenly. I consider this progress. Now our pomchi would let you hug him all you want.
Also, I think it may depend on just how independent the dog is. That is one of the other factors with our yorkie and our pomeranian. The pomeranian has a much more independent personality than the yorkie.
Our yorkie lets me hug him if he is sitting next to me and I slip one arm around him, help him to sit on his hind legs, and then hug him close to me for a few minutes.
Another thing I've noticed is that they mostly don't like it when you approach them from behind and put your arms around their neck. If your approach them from the front, they are more receptive to being hugged for a minute or so. I think that mostly, they don't like being restrained by hugging, period. Putting your arm around their neck is extremely confining for a dog. I don't think any HUMAN would like that, either.
