Lick Lick Licking!

[slimbek]

It feels bad to ask about stopping a dog from licking - but our boy just seems to go a bit crazy with it all.
He is not causing harm to himself, or licking furniture etc. It is from an affection point of view as any time anyone tries to pet him, or he jumps up for a cuddle, he constantly tries to lick hands/faces/heads/arms/clothes etc. It frustrates us and any guests and we just don't want dog slobber on us (especially as we have a 6 month old now and germs etc.)

Can this be reduced? I know it's just because he loves everyone!! - but is it possible to train this into a time-and-a-place thing?

Any tips?

 

[648117]

Lewis does this too, especially licking hands (but only with family members, he hates everyone else in the world) but I hate dogs licking me.

I think I've read somewhere that dogs licking humans is actually a learn't behaviour. When they are puppies they get a good reaction and attention from people when they lick them so they keep doing it.

Holly doesn't lick very often and the only other dog that my family have gotten as a puppy pretty much never licked (it was very rare indeed for her to lick or "kiss"), I think this is because no one in my family really likes the dogs licking so it does not get encouraged.

Whereas Lewis who we got in December as a three year old licks and the Cavalier that we got as a one year old licked. Although no one purposely does anything about it, it does/did seem to decrease in frequency.
The Cavalier would still happily lick people if given permission - I kind of made it into a game with him that we sometimes played when I could go and wash straight after.

You could try putting something unpleasant on your skin for your dog to lick, but I'm not sure how well it would work and it sounds like you want to retain some licking.

I would suggest you completely ignore the behaviour or redirect. Do the same sort of thing that you do with puppies that bite.
When your dog licks you could stand up and walk away/leave the room/put the dog on the floor, or give it a toy to lick/play with.

And you could put the licking on cue, like "give me a kiss" or turn it into a game and then your dog has permission to slobber all over your face

 

[Linda A]

Spice is a licker. I've never been able to stop it but she does quit when I say 'no licking.' That I can live with. LOL!