Hi! We recently got another lab puppy who is now 7 months old. We have one older dog, too. My question is about licking. She is quite inquisitive with her tongue and likes very much to lick fingers/hands and sometimes our clothes, mostly jumpers/shirts/tops when she wants to snuggle (or wriggle around on top of us!!) and sometimes chins...I think she can't always reach our faces and OH's goatee! We mentioned this to a friend who is a vet, who said that this is quite normal, and could largely be to do with her exploring with her mouth as she is still relatively young and that we should not necessarily discourage for this reason. Our other dog wasn't and isn't a big licker, but came to us at a later age anyway. We find it quite sweet, and affectionate (although she may just be picking up some remnants of food etc. and isn't necessarily being affectionate!) and don't mind hands and fingers, or even clothes (although, it can be a bit annoying to have puppy licks on clean clothes!) but we don't really want her to lick our own, or visitors' faces. We are just conscious that a 7 month old is quite different to an adult dog, and that perhaps this behaviour won't be so tolerable a few months down the line. But, we are worried about mixed messages and whether us allowing this now is going to make things difficult later on. It would be great to hear your experiences and advice!
Personally, I say let puppies be puppies, but I wouldn't tolerate any behaviour that you will not apprieciate when they are adults. Can you give her a toy or chew instead
Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, we can give her a chew toy. She does like to play with one in the evenings on the couch, but when she gets a bit more sleepy and cuddly will turn to us and do this behaviour. But, perhaps we should be a bit more specific with our redirection. Our other dog doesn't really do licking, so we aren't used to this. Do you guys think we should try to stop the licking?
I would be redirecting to another desirable behaviour, a chew toy, brain games, simple training exercises as you do not want the licking to become a habit as she gets older. The only time my dogs lick is when they are over excited, bored or wanting my attention.
