Stop dog licking

Why you want to stop a dog licking people

While there are very likely a large number of dog owners that consider licking to be a way that a dog expresses love and affection, it can be very annoying when other people come to the house and the dog greets them with excessive licking.

If you don't have a problem with your dog showing it's affection by licking you or other people all the time, then that is ok. If you like to know a way to stop your dog licking, then please read on.

However not dangerous,
excessive dog licking can be undesirable

Dog licking cannot be considered dangerous behavior the way jumping on people is. When your dog jumps up on somebody coming into the house, injury is possible. Even though licking does not cause injury, it is still not desirable dog behavior and owners should work to stop dog licking. Licking is a habit that can prevent guests from feeling comfortable and it will likely cause embarrassment to the dog owner.

In order to stop dog licking, owners should be consistent in their training from the time the dog is brought home. Dogs will behave towards other people exactly as they behave with the owner. If a dog is allowed to jump on the owner, the dog will think its okay to jump on others. If the dog is allowed to lick his master's hands or face, he will not see anything wrong with licking somebody else's hands or face.

Since consistency is the key when training a dog, it is a good idea to stop dog licking from the start. Some owners might really enjoy a dog that greets him affectionately with licking. Dog licking is a way to get the owners attention and shows real excitement. While this may seem nice, it is a good idea to stop licking and teach the dog other ways of showing excitement.

One of the best ways to stop dog licking is to immediately turn away each time the dog tries to lick. While doing this, the dog owner should not make eye contact with the dog and should simply turn away until the dog quits trying to lick him. After the dog calms down, the dog should be given praise and attention for behaving properly. If a dog tends to lick the hands of people, the owner can stop dog licking like this by simply pulling the hand away and turning away from the dog.

By reinforcing good behavior, the owner will be the training his dog to behave properly. A well trained dog is a real pleasure to be around, whereas a dog that licks and jumps on people is very irritating. If the dog realizes he will get no attention when he licks, he will be much less likely to try licking when other people come to the house.

The dog owner needs to tell people that visit his house what should be done if the dog does try to lick them. He should show the visitors what he does to effectively stop dog licking so his dog will be appreciated rather than resented.

Again: licking is generally not considered really bad behavior for dogs. But if you do have a real problem with it and can't find a way to stop your dog from this "irritating" behavior, then perhaps it is a good idea to have a look at one of the online dog training programs that exist.

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