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Obsessively licking other dogs


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Although I'm certain there's a thread about this hanging around somewhere I haven't been able to track it down.

Aed loves going to the dog park and I really enjoy it too, but he won't stop licking certain other dogs and it's starting to be really stressful to go because I'm always worried about it. He mainly licks their genitals, not specifically boys or girls, neutered or unneutered, I can't find a pattern. He will also lick their ears and mouths from time to time (not sure if it's a normal amount or tied in with the genital licking).

 

The thing is he doesn't do it with most dogs, but maybe every 1/10 or 1/15 he'll find one that he just will not. leave. alone. I'll call him off and he'll leave them be but thirty seconds later it's all he cares about again and we end up having to leave. He also is way more likely to hump the dogs he does it to, which has made me wonder if neutering him may help with this problem but it's hard to tell. The humping doesn't seem to be a dominance thing as compared with the few times I've seen him do it in that way. Lastly, he actually seems super playful when doing the licking and seems to think it's a fun game and will even play with the dog a bit but even that tends to just turn into humping pretty quickly.

I know that the obvious solution is just to train it and work on discouraging it but a big busy dog park isn't really the place to do it and I don't have any friends with dogs who he does this with. Anyone have any experiences or insights on this?

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I know that the obvious solution is just to train it and work on discouraging it but a big busy dog park isn't really the place to do it and I don't have any friends with dogs who he does this with.

 

If it's only a prolbem in the dog park, get Aed nuetered or stop taking him in a big, busy dog park. Or both.

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You think neutering would actually fix it?

 

Unfortunately, there's really no way to know until it's a done deal. It's often not helpful with humping or aggression, and there've been studies suggesting neutering can actually increase aggression.

 

The more ingrained the habit is though, the less likely neutering would have much, if any, effect.

 

Sorry I don't have anything helpful to offer.

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It's not necessarily a sexual behavior. I can't find a good reference right now, but I'm sure a Google search on 'canine pelvic thrusting' or 'obsessive licking' will turn up good research. My offhand guess is that Aed is either excited or stressed by these certain dogs, and the licking is stimulatory, which then triggers the humping. There are other medical causes that could be at play as well. Neutering may or not be the answer.

 

See what you come up with, and good luck!

 

Amy

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Gentlelake/amc - thanks for the input, I have heard that before, probably from you. I'm not really worried about the humping since it's infrequent, but the licking reminds me of the weird tongue thing he does with other dogs' pee sometimes - I've heard it described when male dogs smell a dog in heat and they do the tongue flicking thing but he seems to do it way more often than is likely as a reaction to just the pee of females in heat. So the hope is that if it's more sexual in nature (or something is exciting or stressing him to trigger that) then it's more like to be fixed with neutering. It's hard to tell though. I've done my best not to let it become a habit but who knows.

highway - I mean, you're not wrong that people can be biased against unneutered dogs, for sure, but he humps much less than the majority of neutered males around there. While I'm hopeful at the prospect of neutering fixing the obsessive licking issue I don't think it really factors in with the majority of his behaviors.

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