Is licking private parts ever acceptable?
In the dog world, a moderate degree of licking is part of normal grooming behavior. For example, a male or female dog may lick the genital area after urinating as a means of cleaning the area. When this is the case, licking is only related to elimination and is not persistent. Just a quick swipe of the area takes care of business.
It is not as common for dogs to lick the anal area after eliminating; however, if the stool is sticky or watery, the dog may feel the need to tidy up a bit. Normal, firm bowel movements are not usually followed by licking.
Dogs May Engage in Compulsive Licking
If you notice that your dog is licking the same area over and over, you want to take a look to see if something is wrong. Or, he may engage in excessive licking when he’s scared or nervous. While licking can help to relieve stress, obsessive licking is likely to reinforce anxiety and make things worse.
Allergies
If the diagnostic skin tests were negative, it is possible your dog is suffering from allergies. Allergies are one of the most common causes of pruritus, or itchiness. There are generally two types of allergies—environmental and food. A pet with allergies may lick, chew, or scratch, or they may even have secondary digestion problems.
To help treat mild allergies at home, many vets recommend a multimodal approach, which means using a few different therapies that work together. For over-the-counter therapy, using omega-3 fatty acids, a calming shampoo, a topical mousse, or wipes in addition to antihistamines can be very beneficial. Always check with your vet before starting any medications or treatments.
Keep in mind that, many times, your pet may need stronger prescriptions to make them feel better. They may need antibiotics or even prescription anti-itching treatments. All the itching, licking, and grooming can frequently cause a secondary bacterial infection, causing a vicious, painful cycle.
Food trials can take 1-3 months before seeing improvement. Because of this, it is essential for any ear or skin infections to be treated at the same time as the food trial.
To perform a food trial, you and your vet would determine the best diet for your pet—hydrolyzed or novel protein are two very common choices. During the trial, your pet cannot receive any other food. The idea is to prevent any other food allergens in the diet.
If your pet does well on this diet trial, you can slowly start to re-introduce, or challenge, their system with one new food item at a time. If your pet begins licking or overgrooming again, your pet is most likely allergic to the new food item. With time and patience, this challenge can be performed over and over to determine your pet’s allergy profile.
Environmental allergies, or atopy, can be investigated as an underlying cause of pruritus after your dog completes a diet trial. It is very common to have secondary infections in the skin or ears, and these must be treated at the same time, just as with food allergies.
There are many medications to help treat atopy, such as Apoquel, Cytopoint, or Atopica, but the best long-term approach to managing environmental allergies, especially in a younger dog, is to perform allergy skin testing and then begin immunotherapy, or desensitization.
Why Do Dogs Lick Their Private Areas? (Explained and Answered)
All dogs lick, and often, the behavior is perfectly natural. However, some dogs may lick too much, which could be worrying. If an underlying behavioral or medical cause exists for excessive licking, it might require some intervention on your part to help your pup feel better.
It’s not uncommon for a dog to lick because of behavioral reasons rather than medical reasons. Licking that is more than grooming , exploring their world or showing affection should be considered excessive. When considered excessive, licking can cause harm to the underlying skin, or can be compulsive and difficult to curb.
There are quite a few behavioral reasons that could motivate your dog to lick a little too much. Often when this is the underlying cause, it will be just the front feet that are licked, likely because they’re easiest to access!1,2
Dogs may lick because they like the salty taste of their owner’s skin, or as a sign of affection, or out of habit and boredom. Licking can also be calming or soothing to some dogs, much like when people receive a relaxing massage, or a nervous habit, like biting your finger nails.
If the behavior isn’t disruptive or causing trauma to the skin, intervention may not be warranted in every case. Here’s an overview of six common behavioral causes for a dog to excessively lick themselves, objects or you.
If your dog is feeling bored, she might choose to lick herself as a way to alleviate the boredom. Or if she’s anxious, she might lick too much as a way of working out some of that angst.3 The act of licking can release hormones that help your pup relax, like dopamine and endorphins.3 This is a similar mechanism to a nervous person twirling their hair, for example.
Look for clues that could indicate why she’s licking. If it’s when you’re gone, it might be separation anxiety. If it’s while you’ve been at home working all day, it might be boredom.