Puppy kisses can be a sweet sign of love from your canine, but only if you don’t think too hard about it – dog’s mouths contain more than 600 different types of bacteria.
We certainly don’t walk up to other humans and lick them on the chin to tell them we love them, but there’s a lot about dogs that differs from humans. Dogs have far superior senses of smell and hearing, for example.
Ever wonder what your dog is trying to tell you when they lick you, themselves or random household objects? Here’s what an expert had to say.
When dogs lick your feet or hands, it’s because they’re curious – they’re trying to get more information from you. Though they have fewer taste buds than humans, their tongues are still powerful tools for exploring and understanding their surroundings. Licking a part of your body that has a lot of scent glands helps them make sense of you, says Dr. Rebecca Greenstein, veterinary medical advisor for Rover.
It’s also a sign of affection: “It’s such a normal part of how they communicate and bond with us,” Greenstein says.
Every person has a signature scent. It’s influenced by several biological factors – your health, cleanliness and whether you have a pet, to name a few.
“All of those things together give information to a dog,” Greenstein says. “Some individuals are extremely fascinating to dogs and other times they go ‘no, doesn’t interest me.’”
So it’s a totally normal and even healthy sign of human-dog bonding. There’s no reason to worry.
But if your dog is compulsively licking other things, like table surfaces or carpets or themselves, there may be an underlying concern. Compulsive surface-licking may signal they are trying to soothe dental disease or digestive issues and is a reason to consult the vet.
Dogs regularly lick their paws to groom themselves or remove dirt and debris. But if your dog is licking their paws excessively, they may be trying to communicate to you that something is wrong. Here are the most common reasons:
Physical ailment
If your dog has something stuck in or irritating their paws, they’ll often express that discomfort by licking to soothe or alert you so you can help them get it out.
It could also be a sign of mites, common especially in younger dogs, which live in and around the feet. If your dog has mites, it’ll appear red and itchy and may come with hair loss.
Greenstein recommends thoroughly examining your dog’s paw to look for gravel, cuts, scrapes, swollen areas, discharge, blood or unusual odors, which could be a sign of infection.
But physical ailments aren’t the only cause of paw licking; in fact, they aren’t even the most common: “I find in my practice, people often overestimate the idea that something must be physically in the paw, rather than considering other things that might be going on,” Greenstein says.
Allergies
If you’ve checked your dog’s paw and can’t see anything, it may be another common, but surprising cause – underlying allergies. Excessive licking and licking multiple paws can indicate this, Greenstein says.
The allergy could be environmental, like pollen or dust, or a food sensitivity.
“You don’t necessarily have to have physical contact with the (allergen and the) paw for it to be a sign of allergy, and that’s why most pet parents don’t make that connection,” Greenstein says.
Behavioral
Paw licking is also a self-soothing behavior – it feels good to the dog and may become a habit or an anxious compulsion. Dogs can have anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (called canine compulsive disorder), and it may manifest in paw licking.
This habit can be worrisome if your pet’s licking is damaging their fur or breaking the skin. This is a sign it’s time to see a vet.
“Before we scold our pets for licking too much … firstly, determine if there is a medical basis to this and if there is, we try to diagnose and treat that and once that’s treated and dealt with, if they’re still doing it we may need to prevent the opportunity,” Greenstein says, “to reduce the frequency and severity of self-trauma.”
Common methods include the infamous “cone of shame” or dog booties, which cover the paw. It’s also helpful to divert your pet’s attention to lick something else, like a toy, lick pad or “snuffle mat” which makes an interesting sensory experience for your dog.
It’s a matter of severity and frequency, Greenstein says. You can start by examining the paw to see if it’s just a stuck pine needle or thorn.
“If you notice that they’re just licking constantly, they’re breaking the skin, there’s swelling, it’s affecting all feet or they’re itchy elsewhere or limping, to name a few – then it’s time for a trip to your family vet,” Greenstein says.
Seeing a vet can help diagnose and treat, and it’s important to avoid infection, which dogs will make worse by licking to soothe the pain and itch.
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