Friendship and Dog Licking

Dog greetings: One very common way a dog shows his affection toward his owner is by advancing toward them and licking their mouth. All of us that have dogs have gone through this and the natural reaction to this behavior is to just allow the dog to lick out chins. Licking is a gesture of peace that indicates the dog is not a threat. Dogs usually do this with the hope of the superior (the owner in this case) does not attack him. Often time's dogs that do not know a person really well do this.

A special friendship: Some dogs turn licking their owner's mouths into a habit, especially so in the case of dogs that have a good relationship with their owners. This type of behavior was begins when puppies in their still wild state, lick their mothers mouth to get her to regurgitate the food she had in her stomach. Hopefully this does not happen to you when your dog licks your mouth!

Saying hi to a friend" Dogs that know people outside of their "family" greet their friends with their whole bodies. You will be able to notice if a dog is friendly by reading the signals he gives, such as if his body seems relaxed and not tense which is the way his body would look if he were showing an aggressive behavior. A relaxed dogs tail will wag from side to side and his facial expression will be a happy one and his mouth will be open and as if he were smiling.

Jumping dogs: Dogs often times jump on their owner to get close to their face. As puppies it's common for them to want to be as close as possible in order to lick the owner on the mouth. However, this type of behavior is not something that should be encouraged because it will turn into a habit for the puppy and the owner will find himself or herself in problems, imagine your big dog jumping on you every time you walk through the door, or worse yet, whenever visitors come over!