Excessive licking

Whispered

Long post warning

Harley - had always licked more than I like. Every interaction with him is ruined by him trying to lick. And it's not one lick, it's excessively flicking tongue and getting any body part he can. Big slobbery tongue. He has to be kept away from guests because he will try to lick them, if he's not physically liking them he's standing near them flicking his tongue in the direction of their faces. He's not a small boy so when a guest (or my husband and I) are sitting and he does it, it's very very disruptive. If he can't get your face, he'll try lick other body parts.

Just now I leaned down to pick something off the floor and got a tongue in the face. I'm not as quick as I was at getting away from him and it just has to stop. It's annoying and as much as I love him, it's making me not want to be around him or interact with him.

I have tried teaching him not to do it in the following ways;

"Get your ball" works when I can anticipate the licking, but because he does it at any time it can be hard to anticipate. Plus we don't leave toys out all the time due to having two of them. He also won't do this when we have a guest.

I've been calmly timing him out for it, but not only is it not working, because I suspect it's a psychological thing with him I feel bad about it. And he does it so often he's in and out like a yoyo.

I've been simply ignoring it. Totally not working, makes him lick more frantically.

I've tried to reward him when he doesn't do it, but any interaction that brings me close to him causes him to do it.

I've taught him "gimme your bum" which he responds to by swinging his bum around for a back scratch. This is working fine for when I want to interact with him, but there are times I just want to be able to sit on the couch with him.

He's a pretty anxious fella in general - I wonder if this could have anything to do with it.

I know on the gran scheme it's not a bad problem to have, but it is affecting our interactions and I'd like to learn what I am doing wrong that seems to be encouraging this. Thanks.

DBB

Have you tried instead of timing him out, giving him a verbal non-reward marker then immediately removing yourself from his vicinity?
You'd of course back this up with positive reinforcement when you interact with him and he doesn't do it.
How would that sound?:)

Whispered

Thanks. I haven't tried a non reward marker. I will give it a shot.

The incident that happened today that prompted me to ask was not only the face lick. I'm not sure where I went wrong here so I'll talk you through and I'm sure you can explain

I was leaning over, he licked my face, I immediately stood up, turned my back and walked away. Once the licking stopped, I started to give him attention again, back scratch and telling him he's good. Almost straight away he started to lick and I got annoyed and said "stop it" which I know gains nothing, but it was a frustrated reaction.

So I went from good boy to stop it and walking out of the room in the space of ten seconds. Which just feels wrong to me (maybe because I was annoyed too which only makes him worse I'd imagine)

So somewhere after him stopping licking the first time, when I went back to attention I messed up. Did I give him toouch attention too soon after the behaviour I didn't want, too much maybe? It was calm but maybe not calm calm enough for him?

DBB

I think marking the licking instantly with a verbal marker is terribly important for him to make the connection, otherwise it may appear a bit random to him.
Also, you don't have to walk out of the room, just stand up straight (if he licks your face), or put your hands behind your back (if he licks your hands), or take a couple of steps away from him. But always verbally mark the licking before you stand up/move away, so there's a much better chance that he'll realise it's the licking that's causing your reaction. The verbal marker can be said calmly but clearly, and make it one that comes easily to mind just when you need it! I tend to say "ah, ah!", because it comes easily to me, but each to their own
I would see no problem with going back to petting him a few seconds later... but again, any licking prompts the same reaction from you. No licking keeps you petting him. Indeed, the more you do this, the quicker he should make the connection. I would try to make it all as seamless as you can, and try your hardest not to get annoyed or to bark out the verbal non-reward marker
Having said all that, if licking is one of his ways of reducing anxiety, I would give him an outlet for it int he form of Kong Toys or other things that you know he likes to lick!

Whispered

Sounds so logical when reading it. I think I just let it get to the stage that it frustrates me so it's hard to step back and see clearly.

Will start immediately with the non reward marker. Thanks

Kukey

I have the exact same problem with a JRT I have here! She wouldn't be a nervous
anxious dog at all,but the constant licking drives me mad.
My other dogs would very rarely lick you,so to have this one jumping up into your
lap and lick any bare skin she can get at,is very annoying.
She will even lick my dogs faces as they are walking past her,not in a submissive
way but just because she wants to:)
Every time she does it I keep saying no or ah ah,but it's falling on deaf ears:)

DBB

Oh god, I know how easy it is to be so close to a situation that you can't see a way to fix it! It's never any harm to bounce the problem off a few other people to get a different perspective or two

DBB

Kukey wrote: »

Every time she does it I keep saying no or ah ah,but it's falling on deaf ears:)

The important thing is to remove yourself, or the bit of you she's licking, from the situation quickly and calmly, so that she simply cannot lick you any more after you've said the "no!" or "ah, ah".
Just saying "no" or "ah, ah" is meaningless unless you back them up with meaningful action!

Whispered

So wanted to update and thank you again. We've been working hard, no more frustration from me and clearer, quicker "uh oh's"

He's doing well, in controlled situations he knows now that licking achieves nothing. We are still working on generalising that to everywhere, that's going well too though. When he is excited, it's all forgotten but that's to be expected so I'm managing him more before we have an issue. We are still timing out when we have guests and he tries to accost them with sloppy kisses.

He's currently sitting with his head about 8inches from mine on the sofa and no licks!! Impossible a week ago.