Be warned: the answer involves more regurgitation than you might think. <\/p>
Here\u2019s a question for anyone forced to wipe canine saliva off their face today: why do dogs lick people?<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, at the moment, it\u2019s not possible to know exactly what dogs are thinking as they try to mop your entire face with their tongue. However, experts have several ideas about the function of this behaviour.<\/p>\n
The foremost functions: dogs lick you to say hello and gain attention. \u201cIt\u2019s essentially a social behaviour that comes from their evolutionary history,\u201d says Dr Emily Blackwell,<\/a> lecturer in companion animal behaviour and welfare at the University of Bristol. \u201cIt\u2019s a greeting and can be taken as a compliment.\u201d<\/p>\n So far, so adorable. However, the reason dogs instinctively carry out this behaviour is less sickeningly cute and more just a bit sickening. \u201cPuppies generally learned to lick their mother to greet her, and also encourage her to get food. The mother will then regurgitate material for the pup to eat,\u201d says Blackwell.<\/p>\n Now, this absolutely does not mean you should immediately vomit on any dog that licks you. Particularly if it\u2019s a stranger\u2019s. As Blackwell says, for adult dogs, this is primarily a social behaviour and meant as a greeting.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Interestingly, Blackwell adds that it\u2019s rare you\u2019ll see an adult dog licking the face of another canine \u2013 it\u2019s simply a puppy-like behaviour dogs perform for humans. Why? It\u2019s thought that by becoming a dog\u2019s primary caregiver throughout life, we encourage a kind of life-long puppyhood.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see other prolonged puppy behaviour in domesticated dogs,\u201d says Blackwell. \u201cFor instance, simply the level of vocalisations that we see in domesticated adult dogs is far more like that of puppies than non-domesticated domesticated adult dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n This retention of juvenile behaviour into adulthood even has a name among experts: neoteny. And it\u2019s not only common to dogs, but other domesticated animals, such as cats (see: Why do cats knead?<\/a>).<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n Currently, there\u2019s no consensus whether encouraging juvenile traits in our pets is a good thing or not. However, according to Blackwell, we should at least be aware of how human behaviour influences them \u2013 particularly when we\u2019re not around.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have huge expectations for our dogs: we expected them to be quiet and silent and leave us alone while we\u2019re away from the house. Yet, the default setting for any puppy (and thus most domesticated adult dogs) is to scream like hell if they\u2019re separated from the social group. In fact, as much as 80 per cent of domesticated dogs have a negative psychological reaction to being left alone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re failing our pets in this area. However, dogs are highly flexible species and can be taught from a young age that being left alone is okay. By leaving them very gradually for longer periods in a relaxed environment can help.\u201d<\/p>\n As Blackwell says, as long as you don\u2019t have any open wounds, there\u2019s no harm in letting your dog lick your face. However, understandably, some people aren\u2019t thrilled to be covered in doggy drool.<\/p>\n Yet however unpleasant you find it, it\u2019s important to avoid punishing your pet. \u201cSome people may react badly and tell off their dog after they get licked. But this is unlikely to make the dog feel good \u2013 the licking is a greeting to them,\u201d says Blackwell.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine if you tried to shake somebody\u2019s hand and they slapped you away. You\u2019d probably be quite hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n The solution, instead, is to teach the dog an alternative greeting. \u201cIt\u2019s all about positive reinforcement,\u201d Blackwell explains.<\/p>\n \u201cCover your face with your hand and they\u2019ll lick your hand instead \u2013 reward this behaviour and they\u2019ll likely to target this same area next time.\u201d<\/p>\n Simply repeat this reward whenever your pooch licks your hand and eventually they\u2019ll gift you with a greeting that doesn\u2019t require a wet wipe afterwards.<\/p>\n About our expert<\/strong> Read more about dogs:<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> <\/body><\/html>\n Be warned: the answer involves more regurgitation than you might think. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25435,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people.jpg",1200,541,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people-300x135.jpg",300,135,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people-768x346.jpg",768,346,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people-1024x462.jpg",800,361,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people.jpg",1200,541,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/03\/the-rather-gross-reason-your-dog-loves-to-lick-people.jpg",1200,541,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Be warned: the answer involves more regurgitation than you might think.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/25434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How to stop a dog licking your face<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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