Stop Dog Licking Me Excessively
There are many reasons why you’re dog like to lick you excessively. To stop dog licking, you need to understand the cause of this behaviour. The dog may lick you because:
- To grab attention from you by showing how your dog likes you.
- You might have praise your dog while the dog is licking you, which makes the dog think that this is how to get rewarded.
- Your dog likes the taste of your skin.
- To keep you calm since the dog’s mother licked the dog when he was a puppy. This kept the dog calm and your dog wants to give you the same experience.
Click Here to Stop Dog Behavior Problems
Once you understand the cause this behaviour, you can stop dog licking. Here are the steps to take when preventing your dog from licking excessive.
- Ignore your dog. By ignoring your dog it will be harder for the dog to lick you since you not showing any attention. To do this you should walk away from your dog and pretend that you doing something else for 2 or 3 minutes. Once you done that, you can return back to where you were before. When ignoring your dog, do not push the dog as this shows a aggressive behaviour and the dog will not be very happy.
- Repeat the process. You need to do this every time your dog licks you so the dog will think to himself that “when I lick, you walk away”, which gives the dog a clear mind not to lick you.
- Reward your dog. Once your dog stops licking you. It will be a good time to reward your dog and praise your dog. You must do this gently without making any eye contact as this could trigger the dog to lick you even more.
Smaller dogs or puppy can lick more excessively than bigger dogs since smaller dogs are more energetic and gets very excited especially when sitting on your lap. To prevent this from happening follow these simple steps.
- Hold the dog calmly on your lap as this will reduce the dog’s excitement and when your dog feels calm, gently pick the dog up. Make sure you don’t hold him too tight otherwise your dog will end up getting uncomfortable and aggressive.
- Use verbal communication. When your dog calms down, you must talk to the dog firmly by saying “good dog” or “good boy”. If you say this in a high tone of voice, your dog will get happy and excited and will start licking you again.
- Repeat the process again so your dog will start to understand not to get excited and lick you.
- If your dog does lick you again, put the dog down on the floor and walk away for 2 or 3 minutes and come back and again hold the dog on your lap.
If your dog or puppy still continue to lick you, you can pretend you’re are in pain by squealing or yelping. By doing this your dog will notice you’re in pain since the sound associates the dog. When the dog hears the paining sound, the dog feels as if you’re being hurt by licking and will eventually stop and walk away.
When you feel you want your dog to lick or kiss you, permit the dog to do so and when you want the dog to stop use the command “STOP” or “ENOUGH” calmly. Your dog will get confused if you award your dog for licking and reprimand at times. You must be patient with the dog to stop licking you.
When you do stop the dog licking you, make sure you find another way for your dog to show affection to you since they don’t like to be left alone and want to be with you.