Kissing on the mouth is a very natural behavior for dogs. They first started to learn this behavior when they were puppies and their mothers ‘kissed’ them on the mouth as part of the mothering and bonding action taken with their litter. That all sounds very sweet and sentimental, and it is endearing. However, those mothering mouth kisses mean more than just a loving lick between a puppy and its parent. Dogs learn from kissing on the mouth about where you have been, what you have been doing, and who else you may have seen along the way. Dogs mouths and noses are very sensitive, and dogs use their sense of taste and smell to find out all kinds of useful information. Kissing on the mouth is a part of grooming and socializing and it is pleasurable for dogs to lick or kiss as we perceive it. Slobbery kisses may not be our ideal way to communicate, but your dog loves to shower you with kisses.
Kissing on the mouth is your dog’s natural way of showing affection. It is up to you to decide if you want to encourage this or not. Make your own personal boundaries so that you don’t confuse your dog with mixed messages. Dogs just want to make you happy and know how you are when you come home. Your little Chihuahua can hop onto your lap and kiss you on the mouth quite comfortably. This would be a lot more challenging for a Great Dane. Simply have a greeting code of hand licks if that is preferable and more manageable than a kiss on the lips.
Excessive licking can become an obsessive behavior, and this is something you will want to discourage. If you notice your dog is going around licking everything, including you, without stopping then it could be time to check in with an animal behaviorist. It is wise to find out if your dog has some obsessive-compulsive disorder that involves licking. Watch your dog carefully and decide how serious this behavior is. Never punish your dog for an obsessive behavior because it may be caused by anxiety and the punishment will simply make things worse.
Giving you a loving kiss on the mouth is your dog’s all-time high moment of the day. According to Labra-law, kisses on the mouth are what dogs are born to give. Labradors and other lovable breeds just want to show their love for you with a slurpy smooch. So, go ahead and keep within the Labra-law. Make your dog’s day and your own with a big kiss on the mouth, a sign of affection from your dog.
Look out for social causes of anxiety that could be making your dog communicate with you via lip kisses or licking at inappropriate times. There are several social reasons that could make your dog feel insecure. A change of residence, new addition to the family, or early warnings of an illness could be a few possibilities. If you are concerned, seek the help of your vet or an animal behaviorist. When a natural instinctive behavior becomes obsessive then it is important to find a cause for the inappropriate behavior. Your dog is communicating with you as best he can to say, “Please help, I am not feeling quite as I should.”
Is It Safe for Dogs to Lick You?
Its usually relatively harmless to let your dog lick you. However, dont believe the old myth that dogs mouths are cleaner than humans mouths. Dogs mouths contain a lot of natural bacteria, which is part of the reason dog bites are so dangerous. However, this bacteria probably wont cause harm unless it gets into an open wound. But hey, you might just think its gross. And thats okay.
Why Dogs Lick People
Affection: Theres a pretty good chance that your dog is licking you because it loves you. Its why many people call them “kisses.” Dogs show affection by licking people and sometimes even other dogs. Licking is a natural action for dogs. They learned it from the grooming and affection given to them as puppies by their mothers. Dogs might lick your face if they can get to it. If not, they might just go for any available patch of skin, such as hands, arms, legs, and feet. Some dogs tend to lick less than others. This does not necessarily mean that a dog is less affectionate if it does not lick. It might have just learned things differently as a puppy or just not prefer licking.
While we dont know for certain why dogs lick, most experts agree that there is probably a combination of reasons. Licking is not considered a serious behavior problem unless it bothers you. Knowing the reason for your dogs licking might even change the way you feel about it.
Attention-Seeking: Licking behavior that starts as affection often gets reinforced by a persons reaction: laughing, smiling, petting, etc. Maybe your dog is bored or lonely. There you are and it wants your attention. Even negative attention can encourage licking. When a dog is seeking attention, it will feel rewarded by any kind of attention, even the negative type. Pushing it away, saying “no,” or even punishing it still means youre not ignoring it. This can encourage licking.
Instinct: When wolves (and sometimes dogs in the wild) return to their pups after a meal, they regurgitate meat from the hunt. The pups, too young to hunt on their own, will lick the meat from around the mothers mouth. It is believed by some that this licking behavior has been passed down in the DNA, causing dogs to instinctively do it sometimes.
You Taste Good: Once that dog gets to licking you, it might realize you have an intriguing human taste that is a bit salty. Dogs love anything that has an interesting taste. Plus, licking is a way for your dog to explore his world. Youre part of that world after all.
Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior: Although its rare, dogs can suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, often brought on by prolonged stress and anxiety. Licking that occurs constantly (and usually involves the licking of objects, surfaces, and self in addition to humans) may be a real problem. Talk to your veterinarian about your concerns about your dog. Your vet might refer you to an animal behaviorist for help. Your veterinarian or a veterinary behaviorist may also prescribe medication to help relieve anxiety. Though you may think medication should be a last resort, its important to understand that animals cannot learn while in a high state of anxiety. Medication may be used as a tool in conjunction with training. Pharmaceutical treatment may even be used temporarily while your dog goes through training and behavior modification.
Why Does My DOG LICK ME? (Face, Feet, Hand and Ear Licking)
What does it mean when a dog licks your hand? Mothers explain this behavior to their young children with words like “Look dear, Lassie is giving you dog kisses.” Unfortunately, this explanation is often not correct. Licking behaviors can mean many different things, depending upon the context, and dog licks cannot be interpreted simply as kissing and affection.
In Western cultures, we tend to assume that kissing is most often applied directly to the face and sometimes to the hands in formal social contact. Dogs are less focused in their “kissing.” While dogs will lick faces if they get the chance, they will also lick hands, feet, knees, or whatever they can get close enough to get their tongues on.
Of course, people who assume that dogs licking is the equivalent of kissing are not thinking of sexual-romantic kissing. It may be a surprise to hear, but romantic face kissing is not universal — not even close. A cross-cultural analysis of kissing in 168 societies found that less than half (46%) kiss on the face and lips. There are definitely some cultural factors involved, since couples in economically developed and socially stratified cultures are almost 3 times more likely to kiss on the lips than those who live in tribes.
However, putting romance and sex aside, kissing usually takes place as part of a greeting ritual in humans and primates. You kiss Aunt Sylvia or your spouses sister, not as an expression of romantic love, nor even necessarily as an overt sign of affection, but rather as part of a greeting behavior. Kissing often has no more significance than a handshake in this situation and this is often the case in dogs as well.
For dogs, licking can communicate information about relative status, intentions, and state of mind but it is most frequently a peacemaking or pacifying behavior. We all know that after conflict, to pacify a situation, human beings often “kiss and make up.” Similar behavior has been observed by animal behaviorist Frans de Waal in chimpanzees for whom kissing seems to be a form of reconciliation after a spat.
For dogs, most peacemaking behaviors have a common element in that they usually contain aspects of puppy-like behavior. Juvenile behavior is the canine equivalent of a “white flag.” Most canine adults tend to nurture the young of their own species and there appears to be a strong inhibition against actually attacking puppies. Submissive, frightened or weak adults take advantage of this by adopting juvenile postures and performing infantile actions to avoid aggression. Such behaviors usually soften the mood of the threatening animal and will normally avert any sort of physical attack. Many forms of pacifying behavior contain licking components, so it makes sense to look at the early lives of dogs to interpret what these signals were meant to communicate in their earliest stages.