Mouth Kisses...Gross!

I am sure you've had this happen to you. Your minding you own business. Your dog comes up and decides to lick you right on the lips. Gross, right?

I was listening to the Smart People podcast last night. They had on some dog researcher/expert. They brought up this issue.

Though, it's disgusting to humans to be licked on the face, especially the mouth, by a dog, it's actually a show of respect. Younger dogs lick older dogs on the mouth. It's sort of paying respects like we do when we see Grandma and give her a kiss on the cheek.

Puppies do it for another reason. It causes the Mom dog to regurgitate. Something we humans really don't want to do!

I remember when my brother got his Doberman puppy. Nicki was obsessed with my elderly dog, Sierra. Many times she would walk by Sierra and lick her on the mouth. Sierra never growled or anything. I guess she understood the order of things.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting. It doesn't make the mouth kisses any more tolerable. It's nice to think my dog might actually be trying to show me some respect though. (Finally!)

 

I've never been big on dog kisses. It's a bit disconcerting to watch Mishka cleaning herself and come to me and try to lick my hand. I guess I'm not that kind of doggie person.

 

Or she could be asking you for food.

Yes, it does show respect and the hierarchy. It's also an indication that the puppy wants the mom to feed him (e.g. regurgitate the food).

One of my dogs (RIN) almost gave me a black eye when I stooped down her level. Her nose was big and it went straight for my eye.

I don't want kisses either. LOL.

 

Argon, I don't mind the hand kiss, but the face...no thanks! Especially now that I know about the whole food regurgitation thing. LOL

My brother's dog that I mentioned above didn't kiss people on the mouth. She was a run by kisser and aimed for the elbows--usually after she had just had water. Talk about sloppy.

I often wondered why Sierra didn't growl when Nicki would lick her because it wasn't one lick but 4 or 5. And, then it wasn't one time in an hour, it was like 3 or 4 times as she walked by. Now I understand a bit more about what was being demonstrated.

This reminds me of my sister's Australian Shepherd that she had in the 1990s. This dog got overly excited any time someone visited. So much so that she was always in your face and jumping on you. We found the trick. You had to flip her over on her back and rub her tummy. Then, you had to let her lick your ear. LOL Once she did this, she stopped being a pest. Of course, she had a short attention span. If you left the room and came back, she got excited all over as if she hadn't seen you in days. You had to do the whole ritual again.

 

I think it's incredibly gross. It really grosses me out when people encourage it, too, and actually request "kisses" so that their dogs lick them all over the mouth. It's nice to see that there is a reason to do it naturally, but I don't want to encourage it. Ew.

 

I think those people really wanted a baby.

Do you know the singer/actress, Kristin Chenoweth? She is one of those people with the little dog in the purse. She was on Ellen awhile back and was tongue kissing her dog (not a full mouth thing). It was one of the grossest things I have witnesses. She may have done it to be funny, but it was just disgusting.

 

Mouth kissing with dogs is disgusting. Tongue kissing is even worse . I haven't seen it and I wouldn't like to. Yuck. Homer has never tried to lick my lips nor my face. Well, maybe he doesn't respect me...I still don't want this kiss though

 

Yes, this is definitely something Buddy and Oso both want to do. It isn't like their happy licking you on the hand or even the cheek. No they want to lick you on the mouth. Yes, this is gross maybe its a dogs way of showing you they love you, but there are other ways to express this without having to lick someones mouth.

 

No way. I love my dogs but it doesn't include any kind of kissing. Fortunately my dogs understand that, too. Well, most of the time. If I get too close, they are liable to sneak a lick at my face.