My dog is obsessed with faces. If I’m lying on the couch and happen to move my head so that my face isn’t showing, she’ll jump up, run over, and burrow & lick until she can see my face. Then she’ll go lay back down. If I don’t immediately look up or if I purposely hide my face, she’ll work at it with her paws. She’ll “dig” into the couch or comforter, lick some more, and basically try to force her face into mine in order to physically move my head.
This behavior seems friendly enough, i.e., she’s wagging her tail, her ears are forward, she doesn’t bare her teeth, and she doesn’t growl. When she is finally able to see my face, she leaves me alone. It’s not like she keeps licking or jumping on me. She’ll drop everything, though, if she thinks you’re trying to hide your face, and she’ll bolt over to where you are.
What on earth is this sort of behavior rooted in? I looked on a few dog behavior websites and didn’t see any mention of this. Is it common? Is it some sort of domination thing? She’s a very well-behaved, well-trained dog and is typically very submissive, but friendly, with people and other animals. She does this to both me and my husband (I haven’t talked a guest into experimenting with this). Her stats: she’s a 1 ½ year old border collie/lab mix, female, spayed.
Domination thing? Nah, all that’s happened is that you’ve taught her to play a game called “I’ll Hide my Face and you see if you can get me to show it again.”
Dogs are sociable creatures. One day your face happened to be hidden. She nudged at you until you showed your face. You reinforced this behavior positively by expressing “happy” emotions like astonishment, amusement. Then maybe you put your head back in your arms. She repeated her experiment, nudging you until you showed your face. Once again you reinforced this behavior positively. See, if you had ignored her completely then, or simply lifted your head and mumbled, “um?” and then gone back under, she would have stopped.
But now it’s too late, it’s a game, and clearly she enjoys it. If you really want her to stop doing it, you’ll have to stop reinforcing it, in other words, by ignoring her when she nudges you, or by yelling at her angrily, negatively, “Quit that!”
Cool game, actually. Much less intense than “catch”–you can play with your dog and watch TV at the same time.
I was thinking it was some sort of dog behavior thing rooted in pack survival, etc. You know, like digging, or turning around in a circle before she lays down.
A game is much more likely, though! Duh! You’re right that she’s never had negative reinforcement for doing this and I’m sure she interprets my reaction as positive. I don’t mind that she does this - she never bites or hurts me and she settles down as soon as she can see the whites of my eyes. And you’re right about this being easier to play than the usual “tug-of-war with the stuffed animal until my arm feels like it’s going to fall off” game.
So, why do dogs turn around in circles before they lay down?
Also, the turning in circles before lying down goes back to their ancestors (wolves) who used to have to turn around a few times, in order to insure their area was free from enemies or possible pests, before they went to sleep, or even ate a meal they might have had. Kind of like checking your back while walking in a dark parking lot to your car. Just my .02 cents.
Duh! You’re right that she’s never had negative reinforcement for doing this and I’m sure she interprets my reaction as positive. I don’t mind that she does this - she never bites or hurts me and she settles down as soon as she can see the whites of my eyes. And you’re right about this being easier to play than the usual “tug-of-war with the stuffed animal until my arm feels like it’s going to fall off” game.