DOG KISSES – Why do they do it?
We love having our dogs lick our faces -- but why do they do it? Surprisingly, there are a number of reasons why dogs initiate treating our faces like a lollipop! Reasons for “kisses” or more accurately, face licking will vary from dog to dog. Some licking most certainly is a comfort behavior – perhaps related to the licking that occurred between mother and pup. For others, it can be a demonstration of submissiveness or an appeasement behavior if they feel like they did something wrong in our eyes. Likewise, some dogs will lick to displace nervousness. Of course, don’t forget that one of the most important reasons dogs use their tongues this way - grooming behavior! And if you have food on your beard, or the “death by garlic” rigatoni dinner lingers on your breath, what self respecting lab can resist that! Lastly, some rascals will take up face slobbering as an attention demanding behavior. These little (or big) rascals know they will get a rise out of us and they enjoy it!
I’m not trying to throw water on the slurpy love fest going on between you and your pet. I know many of you are saying, “I just know Snicker doodles gives me kisses ‘cause he just LOVES me!” I do believe that some dogs lick as a gesture of affection and goodwill, but most “kissing” is probably more often related to a biological behavior rather than “love”.
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