I have a 3 year old Shih-tzu who will obsessively lick my face or hair. I usually push him away but he then tries any way he can to lick some where on my face. If he cant get to me he will lick my pillow or even my headboard. I once tried to see how long he would do it for and he licked my cheek over 100 times until I put a stop to it.
Another strange thing is that he does not bark. Only time he EVER barked was when a chair was knocked over in the kitchen and made a very loud noise. He barked 3 times and I was shocked since I have never heard him make a noise before. He never even cried as a puppy.
We have a Shih Tzu puppy who recently has taken to licking us. I’m trying to break her of the habit. She doesn’t bark much, but I think it just seems that way because my two Chihuahuas bark a lot
I saw somewhere (Cesar Milan?) that obsessive licking could be from a dog that’s craving attention. Is he home all day by himself? I think he also said it was a submissive thing in the dog pack. If you’ve ever watched Cesar Milan, his first thing is to take the dog on a walk to kind of wear them down. Then they can focus on the behavior that you want them to learn.
We have two Shih-Tzus (age 3 and 5) and neither of them are obsessive lickers. They don’t bark a lot but they can be big time barkers when the neighbor dogs are out.