I have a dog that is about 18 months old, a male Papillon and he licks everyone he knows incessantly.
He’s not overly friendly at all. If he doesn’t know you, he goes into total Guard Dog mode and barks and sometimes tries to bite people that grab at him, move too quickly, or make funny noises. Not really a danger though, he’s only 7 pounds and can’t break skin. But he has never been the lap dog that my female dog is, even when he was a puppy, he didn’t like being carried around like she did.
But people he knows, geesh, he just licks and licks and licks. Hands, feet, faces, we just call him the lick monster. :rolleyes: He jumps on them and lunges for their face, licking licking
What can I do to make him stop? Most people, well, okay, everyone, finds this very annoying.
I have no answers for you, but I have a dog that’s doing the same thing. My 15 month old pug licks and licks and licks. We have to yell at her to get her to stop licking the couch. Why do they DO that? How can we get her to stop?
And WTF is “Texas Pete”? Hot sauce? Sorry, but I can’t put hot sauce on my couch (or my hands, or the chair that she licks, or the carpet where she licks…)
Sorry, no answer here, either. Just wanted you to know that you are not alone. We have a 3 year old mini-doxie that constantly licks the carpet, the other dogs, people, the couch. We say he is OCD.
It sounds like you have a behavioral problem on your hands that may go deeper than the licking habit. The licking habit is just one of the manifestations of it.
By your description, your dog is relatively neurotic - he’s people-aggressive, reserved with strangers, likely to nip, and goes for the face (with the licking)… and he may be a tad on the dominant side to begin with. So - he’s not exactly a social butterfly, and if he were a large dog, he probably would have already harmed someone.
Truth is, he CAN harm someone - a 5 pound dog can do serious damage to a baby’s face… I got to see that in an obedience class once. NOT pretty.
I’d look into doing some obedience work with your pup. Papillions are really bright little dogs and need something to do.
Look at it this way: Dogs are very much like kids. If they are constantly repeating an unwanted behavior, it’s because it WORKS for them, in some way. So - your little dude is getting SOMETHING out of this behavior, and it’s unlikely he will stop.
I’d find a new set of behaviors to replace these old ones - work with clicker training and teach him that the thing to do when people come is to sit nicely by your side (i.e. more value added for him doing that than for him licking people to death or attacking new people). I’d consider taking him back to obedience school, or maybe even take an agility class (if he’s not dog-aggressive - agility brings out the prey drive in dogs something fierce!)…
If you want to rid yourself of the licking by self-correction, try bitter apple spray or bitter apple hand lotion (they make that now - works well). Gentle on skin, and totally icky to the doggy tastebuds.
Thanks so much for the advice all. I had suspicions that maybe, just maybe the breeder gave him too me too early and he wasn’t weaned properly. He was really tiny when I got him, about 1-1/2 pounds.
I also think he’s picking up bad habits from our large old “guard” dog, who wouldn’t bit anyone, but will follow a stranger around the house barking until someone tells him to cut it out.
They kind of play off each other, the old one is now practically deaf, but he can hear the papillon bark. Once he hears the pappy bark, then he starts barking.
Then the pappy really gets into it, cause, “wow, look, the old man’s upset about something, must be something big, I’ll just bark too!!”
Then the old dog thinks “That little guy must be hearing SOMETHING, better keep barking so they know I’m doing my job”
Pappy (starting to panic now): “Somebody must be breaking in!!! Where is he? Where is he? I"ll tear him to pieces!!”
While Elenfair’s advice sounds great, it would be a bit overwhelming for me. Clicker training? I’m a terrible dog trainer, which is why my dogs are, well, dogzillas.
One is a chronic licker. (She also jumps on people, which is difficult to break her of because she doesn’t jump on me, so I never have to correct her. And other people won’t seem to cooperate and help me.) The Licking Dogzilla saw a behaviorist who recommended Clomipromine (Clomicalm) for anxiety in general and also called it OCD. The drug helped me get Licker to focus on me and be calm enough to obey when I told her to stop and then we’d find something else for her to do. She could stand some retraining right now, but I don’t like having her on the drugs. It doesn’t make her goofy or sleepy or anything, it’s just expensive.
So my suggestion is to ask your vet or look in the phone book to try to find an animal behaviorist who can help you, also, learn those training techniques. (Which is what my behaviorist did with the other dog, who had separation anxiety and was also on the dog-zac for a while.)
Hmmm… what about if your dog is otherwise sane, but still licks? Edith the Pug seems well adjusted. Doesn’t bite people or anything other than her toys (and occasionally her brother doggy, but that’s just playing). She sleeps most of the day. But at night, when she’s active, she either 1) plays with her brother dog, if she can get him to play (he’s older, and gets tired of playing before she does) 2) stares fixedly at one of her toys until we throw it for her, and plays fetch until I decide to once and for all get rid of ALL her toys because I’m so damn sick of playing fetch (I always eventually reconsider, and have never actually thrown a toy away unless it’s worn out) or 3) licks and licks and licks.
So maybe it’s a boredom behavior. But damn, I can’t spend my whole fookin’ life entertaining the dog - she has plenty of stuff to play with (see aforementioned brother dog and toys). Both hubby and I work at home, so she’s never left alone so I doubt she’s lonely.
Another vote for bitter apple spray. The stuff works pretty well and won’t stain most fabrics/wood/etc.
Then there’s always a muzzle, which could help break the habit. Or chew toys, which can also help to break the licking habit.
There’s also a cone, which may prevent the dog from being able to reach certain things like the furniture.
My dog habitually licks her paws, to the point where she makes bare spots sometimes, and I use three techniques to control it: bitter apple, telling her to knock it off, and outright distraction, as in forcing her to do something else to get her mind off licking her paws. I haven’t succeeded in totally eliminating the behavior but at least she is aware now that it is “bad,” which makes it much easier to get her to stop. Good luck.
One of my pet rats licks my hands constantly, but I think it’s more of a grooming/affection thing than anything. She’s got the tiniest little tongue and it’s pretty cute.
Not really of relevance to anything, just wanted to share.
