Licking is one of the first things a dog does to a person and one of the least examined. It has several distinct causes, and they are worth telling apart.
Where it comes from
Maternal care. Bitches lick newborn puppies to stimulate breathing, to clean them, and to prompt urination and defecation in the first weeks. Licking is one of the first experiences a puppy has, and it is associated with care.
Food solicitation. Wild canid puppies lick at the mouths of returning adults to stimulate regurgitation of food. This is the origin of the face-licking greeting that dogs still direct at humans — you have come home, and the ancient programme says to lick your face.
Social bonding. Adult dogs who are comfortable together lick each other’s faces and ears. It is affiliative behaviour.
Appeasement. A lower-status or worried dog licks at the face of another. This is the version that matters most, because it is frequently misread as affection.
Telling them apart
Affectionate licking: relaxed body, loose tail wag, soft eyes, gentle and intermittent, and the dog stops when you move away.
Appeasement licking: often accompanied by other calming signals — lip licking, turning the head, flattened ears, lowered body, whale eye. Comes when a dog is uncomfortable: when hugged, when someone leans over them, when told off, when a stranger is too close.
Attention-seeking: insistent, repetitive, directed at whoever is available, and highly responsive to whether it works. If licking produces stroking, talking or eye contact — even irritated eye contact — it will continue.
Taste: salt on skin after exercise, hand cream, food residue. Obvious from context.
Anxiety-driven: repetitive, hard to interrupt, sometimes with pacing or whining. This is self-soothing, and licking genuinely does release endorphins.
A dog who licks you when you hug them is not returning the hug
Hugging is a primate behaviour. To a dog it is restraint by an animal with its face very close to theirs.
The combination of a yawn, a lip lick, whale eye and a turned head during a hug is a dog asking for it to stop. Children in particular should be taught not to hug dogs, and the licking that accompanies a hug should not be read as consent.
Excessive licking of themselves
Different behaviour, worth separating out.
Licking one spot repeatedly — a paw, a leg, a flank — is a medical sign until proven otherwise:
- Allergies, which most often show as paw licking
- Pain in the joint underneath
- A foreign body, particularly a grass seed between the toes
- Infection or a wound
- Anal gland problems, for licking at the rear
- Nausea, which causes dogs to lick lips, surfaces, and floors persistently
Licking surfaces compulsively — the carpet, the sofa, the floor — is associated with digestive discomfort and nausea in a substantial proportion of cases studied. It is not simply a habit, and it deserves a vet visit.
Acral lick granuloma is a thickened, ulcerated lesion caused by chronic licking, usually on a front leg. It starts for a reason — often pain or itch — and continues as a compulsion. It needs veterinary treatment of both the cause and the behaviour.
The hygiene question
A dog’s mouth is not cleaner than a human’s — the idea is a persistent myth. It contains a different set of bacteria, most of which are harmless to us.
Sensible precautions:
- Do not let dogs lick open wounds, broken skin, or your face if you are immunocompromised
- Be careful with babies and young children, particularly around the face
- Wash your face and hands after enthusiastic face-licking
- Be more careful with raw-fed dogs, who shed Salmonella and other organisms in saliva and faeces at higher rates
- Keep dogs away from food preparation surfaces
Serious infections from dog licking are rare, and the sensible position is ordinary hygiene rather than alarm — with genuine caution for infants, elderly people and anyone with a compromised immune system.
If you want less of it
Licking that has become a nuisance is usually attention-maintained, and the approach is the same as for any attention-seeking behaviour.
- Do not respond. No talking, no pushing away, no eye contact. Stand up and move away
- Reward an alternative. Pay your dog for lying calmly beside you before they start licking
- Give a legitimate outlet. A lick mat with something spread on it, frozen, satisfies the behaviour without involving your face
- Do not tell them off. Attention is attention, and appeasement licking that is punished tends to increase
And if the licking is anxiety-driven rather than social, the licking is not the problem — it is the symptom, and the anxiety is what needs addressing.
