Shiba licking
How can i get my Shiba to STOP licking me. Whenever she gets near me or other some other humans she goes into a lick frenzy! I have to hide my body under the blankets in order for her to stop. Normal methods do not work with her. Lotion increases her wanting to lick haha.
any suggestions?
any suggestions?
Comments
If she isn't clicker trained yet, you'll want to start with another behavior like "touch" so you can get the hang of clicker training before you work on the problem behavior. I would suggest reading a book on basic clicker training first. If you don't want to, the idea is very simple. First teach her to associate the click sound with a treat. Five to ten times just click and treat a second later for nothing at all. Then, slowly start shaping the behavior you want. In the case of licking, I would first start clicking and treating when she gets near you. After she gets that down a couple of times, then only click when she touches your skin, then only when she licks. Once you've got her licking you reliably, start adding a cue. I uses "give me the kisses" when I want Lucy to lick me. After she gets that down, stop clicking her for licking you when you haven't given the cue. After a couple of practice sessions like that, you can stop using the clicker and just randomly ask her to give you kisses throughout the day. Let her lick you, but only give her a treat once she stops. Once you've done the initial work with the clicker, never reward her in any way for offering the behavior without the cue. That includes petting, verbal praise, and food rewards. If she does lick you without a command, move away from her and ignore her. If you are on the couch and she has jumped up to lick you, put her (gently!) on the floor and ignore her. It took me a month to get Lucy to reliably stop licking me all the time (and she still has slips every now and then). I'm sure with this approach it will happen much much faster.
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
When Shiba's play they also will yelp when there is potential harm. It works with nibbling and biting issues, I am pretty positive it will work with licking as well.
Snf
I can guarantee you that if your dog is a biter or a nipper that is the suggestion in many dog training techniques.
Shiba's are affectionate and show love in this matter, but it can also be for attention or stress as well.
Licking can be a sign of submission or it can be a sign of dominance. It also probably occurs in some dogs because they like the taste of sweat on the skin or some other product applied by the owner. God knows how difficult it is to break a Shiba of a bad habit as stubborn as they are.
Other suggestions are a squirt bottle, this is usually used more for aggressive dogs, but it helps. As you squirt her just say "NO" or "enough" firmly without yelling at her. Just say it calmly. Keep in mind a Shiba will recognize what a squirt bottle is, and as soon as it not near you here comes the licking machine.
The idea is to let your dog know what is acceptable behavior and what is not.
As far as you creating a shiba scream, it all depends on how confident you are with working with your Shiba as well as it age. Instead of a scream a low friendly growl works just as well.
If you do that once or twice, what is the reaction you get from your dog?
Your Shiba will look at you with that look we all recognize. The one where you can see in their heads when processing thought and rationalism. With that weird look of "what is this" or "what is going on" or what I like to call "I'm going to figure this out". When you get that look put your foot down or our hand back to the position where the licking started. Before the dog even has a chance to rationalize I'm going to lick, PRAISE HER. A few times of this behavior for a as smart as these dogs are is enough for them to recognize good behavior from unwanted behavior.
Shibas can make other noises such as screams, screeches, “yodels”, etc. These noises can be made for a variety of reasons: happy, scared, hurt, anxious and while some get their nails trimmed. If can be blood curdling at times and comical at others, depending on the trigger. The fact is Shiba's communicate in this manner.
Before I end here is an example;
You are at a dog park, and everyone knows the big dogs with no respect who come running up to a Shiba's with a playful or even aggressive approach and no concern of how small they are. My female dog will see that coming, and look at the dog and just do a Shiba yelp. Not a scream but a yelp.
Before the dog gets to her it will stop or slow down. Next thing you know it is on her terms of greeting and social hand shaking. If she chooses to play with them she will play.
A dog does not see a human as a human, they see us as a dog. And we would like to think we are training them at times, sometimes I wonder about that one. :).
Behaving as dogs do without hurting them or yelling at them only amplifies your dogs understanding you are the Alpha dog.
Anyway, because many people can be squeamish or can misinterpret what's going on with the dog, I think it is critical to get the licking, jumping and other dog to human body contact situations under control through immediate voice or other form of command. Otherwise, can you spell legal liability!?
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