Until about two years ago I know nothing about dogs, and didn't
particularly like them. Then my wife decided to adopt a rescued
papillon. Upon first seeing Bella (the dog) I fell in love with her.

She and her more recently adopted papillon companion, Chablis, love to
lick. Bella licks my face, aiming for nose and eyes. Hands, feet and
anything else are fair game for her. Chablis goes for the ears. Since
the dogs seem to enjoy the licking so much, I let them lick away.

Does anyone know why they might be doing this? Does it tie in with some
sort of ingrained doggy pack behavior?

Thanks.
--
Jerry Bank
Trenton, New Jersey
Music is the language of the gods.

Jerry Bank said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

Does anyone know why they might be doing this? Does it tie
in with some sort of ingrained doggy pack behavior?

Maybe.

One way that dogs will test their limits is by licking other
dogs' flews. Obviously, they know you're not a dog, but that
doesn't mean they won't check it out. Either that, or you ate
chicken.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Sat, 14 May 2005 11:53:34 GMT, Jerry Bank
wrote:

Does anyone know why they might be doing this? Does it tie in with some
sort of ingrained doggy pack behavior?

in addition to what Matt told you, dogs will often groom each other. my
male dog is a licker/groomer. he will lick any exposed skin, especially
the legs. summertime is fun in my house. i assume he does it because
i'm a member of his pack and he likes me. i don't think there's any
ulterior motive.

my other dog is a kisser. she only licks me on the mouth or cheek. she
*does* have an ulterior motive. she kisses to manipulate me--sometimes
it's to appease me and other times it's to get something she wants. i
usually let her get away with it, because it's pretty darned cute. i
also turn it around on her. if she wants something, i might make her
give me a kiss in order to get it.

both of my dogs *can* get obnoxious about it, though, so i think it's
important to teach them to knock it off when told to. especially
elliott. there's nothing quite like standing at the sink, washing
dishes, and suddenly having a sloppy slab of ham plonk itself on the
back of your knee. ugh. so, "icky licky" is a handy command.

--
shelly
http://home.bluemarble.net/~scouvrette || http://cat-sidh.blogspot.com

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, This Is My Story, 1937

Jerry Bank wrote:
Until about two years ago I know nothing about dogs, and didn't
particularly like them. Then my wife decided to adopt a rescued
papillon. Upon first seeing Bella (the dog) I fell in love with her.

She and her more recently adopted papillon companion, Chablis, love to
lick. Bella licks my face, aiming for nose and eyes. Hands, feet and
anything else are fair game for her. Chablis goes for the ears. Since
the dogs seem to enjoy the licking so much, I let them lick away.

Does anyone know why they might be doing this? Does it tie in with some
sort of ingrained doggy pack behavior?

Gordo, my male chihuahua, licks excessively, particularly when he is
getting scritches, and he is also very submissive, your classic
"omega". I suspect there is a relationship there.

I get Gordo's licking under control by using a command, "no
lickies!" ("shardebash" would work just as well), and I temporarily
withdraw the scritches (withdrawal of reinforcement). It hasn't
eliminated the licking, but it's decreased the frequency and
persistence. OK, I'm not consistent - I withdraw scritches only
when the licking is really annoying me, because he does seem to
enjoy it.

FurPaw

--
"Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o'clock in the morning."
- T. S. Eliot

To reply, unleash the dog

shelly wrote in
:

he will lick any exposed skin, especially
the legs. summertime is fun in my house.

Zoe's first summer was extremely challenging for the same reason. Suddenly,
everyone was showing their toes! Why, they must be *asking* for kisses!!

--
Catherine
& Zoe & Queenie
& Rosalie the calico