Excessive Licking
My three year old shiba inu, has an excessive licking issue, if he is laying on the couch he will lick the couch, himself, me my fiance. Its too the point that we have kicked him off the furniture because he licks too much. He was licking my fiance's arm the other night and he was soaked. If you push his head away he will just go back to licking. I have not noticed any wounds that he is licking on himself he is usually chewing/licking on his front paws but I have checked them, and they are fine. He's drinking/eating just fine.....
Is there anything I should be worried about???
How do I make it stope???
Is there anything I should be worried about???
How do I make it stope???
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If you are truly concerned talk to your vet or your behaviorist. Otherwise, take it as a compliment.
Kitsune will lick himself for a very long time if not interrupted. I'll put my hand over the spot he is licking and not let him lick my hand. It breaks his concentration and he goes back to napping or whatever he could be doing... his is a boredom thing I think.
If you have a particular spot on the couch he's licking, can you try a spritz of bitter apple? I have it, I've only used it twice, but the dogs definitely have an aversion to it.
Licking is generally an offshoot of mouthing and it gets attention and also is soothing as a way of self-calming or can result out of boredom. Regardless, it can however form into compulsive behavior if it is not curbed.
to stop your dog’s excessive licking is to divert his attention. When he starts to lick his paws, your face, the floor or anything at all, catch his attention and throw a ball or toy for him to fetch.
Here are some links to investigate the cause further.
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dlick.html
http://www.perfectpaws.com/lick.html
Snf
PS: Many dogs like to rub on human hair and scalp. There are scent molecules released off the scalp that makes it ultra interesting.
Also if you are getting new furniture you may want to get a throw cover to place on it and only allow the dog on the cover. Once a dog is used to being on furniture it will be difficult to break that habit.
Anyway, I hope this helps:
This is one of those cases where to teach your dog to stop doing something you will have to first teach her to do it on command. I was able to do this with Lucy without a clicker, but now that I've started using one I'm 100% confident it would be a LOT easier to do using a clicker.
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!