To us, it’s rude and revolting to lick another human being’s face, but to dogs, this is polite behaviour . Puppies learn to lick their mother’s face from an early age, encouraging her to regurgitate partially-digested food that is soft enough for little puppies to eat. But this puppy-like habit is a not-too-subtle sign that a dog is trying to appease another dog or a human being.
When a dog licks another dog’s or a person’s face, the dog is saying, “I’m acting like a puppy. I’m as defenceless as a puppy. Don’t hurt me.” Dogs also do this in greeting, although they usually sniff under the tail first. If a dog can’t lick a person’s or a higher-ranking dog’s face, the dog will lick its own lips in a gesture of appeasement designed to diffuse any tension.
Dogs may wake their people up by licking their faces as a ritual daily greeting. If a person laughs and pets the dog, then the dog gets positive reinforcement for licking faces. Over time, dogs and even young puppies can learn when it is acceptable to lick and when to keep their tongues in their mouths. If you do not want your dog to lick your face, make sure you don’t have leftover food on your face that may tempt your dog.
Some people train their dogs to lick at the command word “kiss. People may give a facial signal that they want to be licked along with this command. Dogs are excellent readers of silent body language. If a person smiles and asks for “kisses” to a dog often enough, the dog will respond by licking.
Wake Up!
There are dogs that somehow seem to know when a person is in danger and needs to wake up. Housetrained dogs that have access to their owner’s bedrooms will frantically try to wake the owner by licking in order to be let out to do their business. Dogs can be taught when licking is appropriate, but more often it is the dog that decides when to use face-licking or hand-licking to wake someone up. If licking doesn’t work, then the dog may progress to pulling covers off of the bed, whining, barking or pawing a person.
One such dog was a Boxer named Joe , owned by Dave McClay. One wintry day, McClay and Joe were out for a walk when McClay slipped on the ice, fell and became unconscious. He also broke his arm badly. Joe went to work licking his master’s face and pulling at his coat sleeve. McClay woke up and realized he needed to get to a hospital immediately. Joe helped him home, where McClay was able to call for an ambulance.
Additional References
Why Dogs Do That.: A Collection of Curious Canine Behaviors. Tom Davis. Willow Creek Press; 1998.
PetSpeak: You’re Closer Than You Think to a Great Relationship With Your Dog. D. Caroline Coile, et al. Rodale; 2000.
Author’s personal experience.
