Hi everyone, I have not been here in a while. I hope everyone and their pets are doing great! Our Boston Terrier, Brogan is soon to be a year old. His birthday is November 28th. Where has the time gone?!
Anyway, the past couple of months he has started licking me and my husbands arms, feet, legs, face, whatever he can get to, excessively. I firmly tell him no but he continues to try to do so. I just have to move him and continuously tell him no.
He also licks the furniture over and over and over again and I tell him no but it doesn't work. I don't know what to do and I do not know why he is doing this. Any ideas?
Maybe he is just a very affectionate dog and that is how he shows his love but I can get the annoying part of the ordeal. I have a 8 month year old Shitzu and she is very licky, she likes to lick everyone as soon as they are done taking a shower, and she loves to wake us up with her licking. We are trying to be firm with her on the licking part because it does get excessive and maybe she just does it because she young.
Hi there. It certainly can be annoying lol. I just don't understand it. When we take him for his check up I am going to ask the vet what she thinks. He also likes to lick my legs after I get out of the shower. Silly little boy I tell ya. It could just be something he and your Shih Tzu will have to grow out of.
My dog licks excessively too. She was abandoned and left in an empty house. The vet says that it is an anxiety disorder or a calming method. She licks everything and anything in sight when she is trying to lay down. If any skin is within her reach she licks it. It's a slow lick, almost like she is bathing you except she licks the couch, blanket, toys, shoes, anything like she licks skin. She's actually sitting next to me now licking my leather couch.
My female dog excessively licks as well. As Kteabc stated, she will lick anything in sight, and it too is a slow lick as if bathing. She usually starts off licking herself or me, then she starts licking the couch. If we don't stop her, half the couch cushion will be soaked by the time she is done. She was a rescue, I got her at 8 weeks old, so I've always assumed it's some sort of anxiety issue. I'm glad to have that clarified by other posts.
I have had dogs that liked to lick before, as well. It seems like it is just a habit that they start as a puppy, kind of like kids that start the terrible habit of chewing their fingernails down to the quick. As long as you allow them to do it, the habit will continue, both with the fingernail biters, and the dogs that lick incessantly. Sometimes, it is hard to stop the dogs from doing this bad habit, especially when you have been allowing them to do it, and they have it very ingrained; but if you are firm with them, and scold/stop them every time, even the most determined dogs will usually see the light and stop the behavior.
I have found that a squirt bottle does really well for stopping these behavior issues. It doesn't hurt the dog, but they don't like it, so if you tell them a firm NO, and then spray them, soon they will learn.
Do make sure there is not a medical reason for the licking, and always be sure the dog has fresh water. That is sometimes the reason they will lick you after a bath when your skin is wet.
Just like how others have mentioned, it could perhaps be that your dog is extremely affectionate. Most dogs show their affection by either cuddling or licking their owners. But it could also be a sign that your dog has some sort of OCD (to some extent). My dog had OCD during his later ages. His OCD wasn't necessarily about keeping things clean and proper. He would lick everything around him to rid of any smell that he doesn't find attractive. Sometimes human oils aren't really that attractive to animals. We touch A LOT of things and when you go near them, they would rather have their own smell than your own on you.
I once had a 3/4 toy poodle that we called Licky Micky because she would lick all the time. When she was 3 weeks old her mom got hit by a car, so she had to learn to eat earlier than usual. The people that had her weren't taking good care of her so my cousin "rescued" her and gave her to us.
From night one, she got to sleep in our bed. She would not only lick people, she liked the silky edge of a blanket~ She would lick, and suck it. I don't know how many blanket edges were ruined because of her. One thing I do know is that it wakes you right up when you grab the edge of the blanket where she had been sucking. Ewwwwww... The vet said all the licking and sucking was due to her loosing her mom so young.
My two dogs constantly lick my hands. The sound drives my husband crazy. I always took it as a sign of affectionate. But i'm sure sometimes when they are licking away, it might be something on my hands that tastes good. My dogs also lick the furniture too. Sometimes I catch my shepard with his eyes closed just slowly licking at the chair of our couch. Of course I don't want him doing that but sometimes he just looks like he is so into it, I don't want to interupt him. But I do. I hate when they do that because I have a microfiber couch and it leaves nasty rings on it.
Dogs lick for various reasons. It could be a case of affection. This is why dogs do not lick strangers. It also depends on the dog's stage of development. Puppies are especially compulsive lickers. Dogs also lick surfaces for traces of food and tasty liquids. However, excessive licking could be as a result of hunger, thirst or a mineral deficiency like calcium. If you address this and fail to realise results, it could be a neurological problem and you should visit a vet with the pet.
It's funny, my great grandparents had a golden retriever that did this. If she came over and you didn't pet her she would sit there and lick your leg with her big sloppy tongue until you did. She also licked tables, furniture, and feet. It was kind of weird but they never tried to make her stop. I wonder if it's an oral fixation because she also had a bad habit of chewing on rocks, which really hurt her teeth. Maybe try getting enticing new toys/chew toys that the dog would want to lick and chew on instead? Good luck
Excessive licking could be a sign of anxiety with your dog. To be perfectly sure, you can get your dog to vet for a neurological examination just in case. If you think going to a vet for some medical advice seem a little over the top, maybe you can just add a little more exercise or activity for your dog to deviate his energy. I play fetch with my dog Clio everyday so that she'll get an ample amount of running around even for ljust a few minutes. Sometimes all they need is something else to do that will stimulate their senses.
From what I remember, some of our puppies are lickers but they have outgrown that bad habit when they matured, that's around 1-1/2 to 2 years old. Barbie, our 3-year old pekingese used to do that. Worse, she would be licking her paws as if cleaning them and later we would see that she was licking the floor. Yuck, that's unhealthy. But she stops when we call her attention and we say "dirty" so she would understand.
RE: Excessive licking 
