Why Does My Dog Lick My Face?
I recently read an article in a national publication that caught my attention. The title was exactly the same as this title. The author boasted no last name or any credentials, just Liz. I am always curious about that.
The focus of the article was the anthropomorphism (humanizing) of this dog behavior. The author called it an “expression of affection”, which is of course what we all want to believe. We think of it as kissing, which is entirely a human gesture and something so many of us want to believe of our canine loved ones. Since we have such deep affection for our dogs, we want to believe that they, too, have the same affection for us and express it in a manner that we understand – kissing. We need to understand that yes, dog have feelings, but they do not express them in the same way humans do. Dogs are another species and should be honored and understood for who they are. They are not furry humans.
She also attempted to debunk it as “dominance”.
While this behavior indeed could be part of the reason your dog licks you, it is far more likely a show of respect, not necessarily affection. We humans would rather believe it was affection, but it is respect. Pups learn this behavior initially to get the mother dog (or wolf) to regurgitate food for the litter after hunting. While our dogs are now domesticated, the mothers no longer need to regurgitate their food, but the behavior of licking the mother’s lips and mouth is still present in every puppy I have ever seen, even to get the mother to nurse them.
As the pups grow older (even by weeks) and are exposed to other, older dogs that demand respect from the pups, the pups continue this behavior of licking the mouth as a sign to the older dog of respect. So the behavior metamorphoses from asking the mother to regurgitate to a sign of respect. If a pup does not show this gesture, many older dogs will demand it. When we watch closely, we can see gestures from the other dog such as the curled tongue, a hard eye and even ears that lay back. Some dogs are more relaxed about it, not demanding that gesture from the puppy.
The current ideology in dog training is that dogs do not display “dominant” behavior with one another. “Dominance” has become an evil word among many dog trainers. I choose to replace that word with “RESPECT”. Respect does seem to be an easier word to swallow for most PEOPLE than dominance, but essentially, it represents this behavior well. Pups or older dogs that are disrespectful to another dog that deserves respect may be disciplined by the other dog. I see it every day. The older dog may growl, curl the lip, or even vocally reprimand a youngster for lack of respect.
Licking of the hands, however, is another story. It may very well be licking to get the salt off of your skin!
In a nutshell, licking your chin should be honored by we humans for what it is – respect that has been handed down to our wonderful dogs from their heritage – the wolf. It is not an anthropomorphic gesture of “affection”. Semantics? Maybe. It is an HONOR when your dog licks you on the face. It says your dog respects you. In my book that is the beginning of a wonderful relationship. All relationships require respect to be healthy. One can be affectionate without being respectful.
Caption: “Here, Ozzie shows his respect to Baewulf who demands it, but does it kindly.”
