Expert: Melinda - 6/5/2008

Question
I wanted to know if it is common for Yorkies to be obsessed about licking people, all people, anywhere and everywhere.  My Yorkie, who is almost 2, is constantly licking people and it is so aggravating. I am constantly telling her "no lick" bc if you have skin exposed, she wants to lick it. Whether it is feet, hands, face or even your elbow if she is near you and she see's skin she try's to lick it. So is this normal, and do you have any suggestions as to how I can break this habit or obsession that she has?

Answer
Stacy,

Since dogs cannot talk and tell us why they do some of the things they do we have to try and figure it out by process of elimination.  The first thing (and easiest to determine) you need to do is determine if the problem is physical.  Human skin is salty.  Salt is an essential ingredient for animals as much as it is for humans.  Is it possible that she has a salt deficiency?  Have you asked your vet about it?  Could she have some physical reason that is causing her to crave salt? Could she have worms?  Have you had her tested?  

Once you eliminate any physical cause you will have to consider an emotional or mental problem.  If your Yorkie was a human the behavior you describe could be considered a mental disorder like being neurotic or obsessive compulsive disorder(OCD).  It can also be a nervous disorder.  If it were something like that then she would require medication.  A mental disorder will be much harder to diagnose and you would have to work with your vet to figure out the best course of action to take.  They now have anti-depressants and other things available for dogs just like they have for humans.

Once you have determined that there is no physical or mental condition that is causing the behavior you will have to decide on a training method that will stop the behavior.  If she is suffering from a physical or mental disorder and cannot help what she is doing it would be cruel to discipline her or make her feel that she is a bad dog.  I fear that the discipline you would have to use to stop this behavior would have to be severe and could involve obedience training (which can be expensive) or the use of a shock collar.

While the licking seems to be driving you crazy I also have to wonder if your little girl is just a sweet loving dog and she licks people because she is just so happy and loving.  If that is the case then it would be a terrible thing to make her stop because you would be crushing her spirit.  I urge you to think very hard about what the consequences could be if you choose to use discipline as your method of correcting this problem.

If you need to talk to me for clarification you can reach me through my website, (www.petremembrances.com) my contact information is listed there.  I don't envy you the difficult questions you will have to answer or the decision you will have to make to correct the behavior that annoys you so much.