Summary
Excessive dog licking can be for affection, anxiety, taste of sweat, or medical issues like allergies. To stop it, first identify the cause. Ignore licking to discourage attention-seeking and reward when they stop. Use firm “No” or “Stop” cues. Offer chew toys or treats as alternatives. For taste-driven licking, try citrus or bitter sprays. Address underlying anxiety with a calm environment and training. Consult a vet for potential medical causes. Be patient and consistent. While dog saliva isn’t usually harmful, avoid letting them lick open wounds.
Why Does Your Dog Try to Lick You?
The excessive licking of your dog can be due to many reasons. The nature of licking their favorite things is taught to your canine friend from a very early age.
They learn it from that moment when their mother used to lick them to show her love and affection towards the child.
If your canine friend licks you repeatedly, your attention can be the most common reason behind this.
Dogs often lick their owners when they want their attention, whereas the excessive licking of dogs can also be a sign of your dog’s anxiety.
So, you should first detect the exact reason behind your dog’s excessive licking and then take preventive measures according to the matter noticed.
How Can Excessive Licking of Dogs Become Harmful to Their Owners?
As per research, the saliva of the dog’s mouth doesn’t have enough toxicity to cause a reaction with the fighter cells in the skin barrier. Some bacteria present in the mouth of dogs are zoonotic, which means they are transmissible to humans.
The saliva of dogs can cause harm to humans with normal skin. Still, suppose the owner has been suffering from a skin disease.
In that case, the saliva of the dog can be very harmful to the owner as the reaction of the saliva to the mucous membrane of the owner can interrupt the mechanism happening in the epidermal layer of the skin to fight the pathogens entering the skin, leading to the cause of various skin infections.
Hence, excessive licking of dogs is harmful to the owners because it leads to various infections in the owner’s skin.
What are the Constituents of the Dog’s Saliva?
As per the salivary test done by the veterinarians on dogs of different breeds, the results came out that the saliva of the dog’s mouth secreted by the salivary gland consists of a lot of chemical and proteinaceous compounds like lysozymes and immunoglobulins along with the assortment of antimicrobial enzymes and antimicrobial peptides
all these compounds play a vital role in the lubrication of the food that enters the dog’s mouth for digestion.
Now the question is, do they cause any harm to humans? As per the results of the research done by microbiologists on the constituents of the saliva of dogs, the liquid present in the dog’s mouth contains several microbial particles, but these effects are typical to both the dog and its owner.
So, now we can clearly say that your dog’s licking only harms you if you’re suffering from a severe skin infection. However, if you have normal skin, your dog’s licking can be beneficial for cutting wounds on the skin.
The dog’s saliva possesses some healing properties, and its hesitation fights against the bacteria causing infection.
Along with this, the enzymes present in the saliva of the dog destroy the cell wall of the dangerous bacteria and transfer protease inhibitors and growth factors to the skin during the licking of the dog,
which promotes the healing of wounds on your skin and eventually reduces the irritation and itchiness of the scars.
How to Stop Your Dog from Excessive Licking?
Dog owners suffering from a severe skin disease often search for steps to stop their dogs from licking excessively to prevent themselves from skin complications in the future.
The actions a dog owner can follow to stop the excessive licking of their canine friends are discussed below.
Ignore that Licking Behavior
If you are having problems with your dog’s excessive licking behavior, then all you can do to avoid this behavior is ignore the dog when it licks. T
his can be an effective way to go with it because the dogs lick you to seek your attention, so getting ignorance after trying this licking method will make them understand that this is not the best way to go about seeking their owner’s attention.
Reward the Dog
Ignoring the dog is not enough to make your canine friend realize that licking is not good.
After following the steps mentioned above, when your dog stops licking you, it’s your turn to make him happy.
To make the pet understand, you can only praise him when he doesn’t usually lick you and reward him with his favorite food when the canine friend stops licking you after your ignorance.
This will make the pet understand that avoiding the process of licking gets him rewards and the owner’s attention, too, and eventually, the pet will stop the behavior of excessive licking.
Use a Cue Word Strictly
We all know that all dogs possess different levels of understanding, so some pets might often take your ignorance as usual and continue to lick you to get your attention.
At this point, some strict behavior should be induced into the process.
For this, all you can do is use a cue word that your dog is familiar with and resembles the meaning of stop.
In this situation, the best word to choose is “no” or “stop.” Using this word will make the pet understand that you don’t want him to repeat this process.
Put an Alternative in the Dog’s Mouth
According to research, dogs also lick their owners because they like the taste of human sweat. You can identify the reason by applying the steps mentioned above.
If the dog continues to lick after your stop command and ignorance, he licks you because of your body’s taste.
In this case, to stop your dog from licking you excessively, all you can do is just put an oral alternative into the dog’s mouth,
but make sure that the taste of the choice is one of your dog’s favorite foods. This will make the pet forget about the taste of your sweat, and eventually, the dog’s excessive licking will stop.
Use of Citrus
We all know that dogs always keep on avoiding things that taste bitter. So if you extract some lemon or something else that releases citric acid over that area of your body where your dog licks you,
Then, it can work to stop your dog from licking you excessively, as the smell of the citrus will work as an anti-dog licking agent for you.
Bitter sprays, designed to spray on furniture to stop the dog from chewing, are also an excellent choice, as these are made up of natural products and will cause no harm to your skin.
Take a Bath
Yes, everything is clear about it. Your bath is wholly related to the excessive licking of your dog.
As mentioned above, dogs are fond of the taste of human sweat, so the most effective option is ttaketinbath with a cleansing shampoo or a soap.
This will remove the bacteria causing sweat and the salty taste from your body, and at last, the dog will stop licking you like the taste of the sweat will get removed from your body.
All these steps, as mentioned above, are based on the research done by cynologists on the behavior of dogs licking their owners excessively.
So, if a dog owner is looking for steps to stop their dog from excessively licking, they can entirely rely upon the above-discussed efforts.
So here we are, done with the entire article, and have discussed all the information that can help you complete your search regarding how to stop your dog from excessive licking.
We hope the article has helped you and cleared all your doubts regarding the matter. Thanks for staying with us till the end and reading the entire article.
