TrooperThorn
Super Boxer
Our youngest, Bebop, is (as we like to say) an "aggressive licker". He is just so full of love, but we know that it can get annoying. More importantly, my 2 year old neice, who loves him, but will get overwhelmed and upset & that's just not acceptible.
Here's what we are trying to do (with moderate degrees of success). We're trying to get "No Licks" as his default mode.
When we come home, he's gated in the kitchen. Before we let him out, we say "No Licks". We put our hand down to pet him, but if he licks, we say "No" and pull our hand back. We keep doing that until we can pet him without him licking. Then we let him out of the kitchen & do the same thing, now that he's kidney beaning like mad. Once we can pet him on the head & put our face in front of his for a few seconds without him licking (he actually will turn his head and not look at us, because it's so hard for him to contain himself), we will say "OK Kisses!" and allow him to lick like crazy. It's kind of funny, because his reward for doing the trick "No Lick", is to do the trick "Kisses".
We will also put out face in front of his and say "No Licks" and if he responds appropriately, he gets a little bit of cheese. We keep repeating that until we finally alow him do to "Kisses", but we always end with "No Licks" and lots of treats.
He's pretty good with us, and we're working up to having him behave for company. I just want him to be able to be a civilized dog that people like having around, then we can take him with us more often when we go visit family!
Molly S.
Here's what we are trying to do (with moderate degrees of success). We're trying to get "No Licks" as his default mode.
When we come home, he's gated in the kitchen. Before we let him out, we say "No Licks". We put our hand down to pet him, but if he licks, we say "No" and pull our hand back. We keep doing that until we can pet him without him licking. Then we let him out of the kitchen & do the same thing, now that he's kidney beaning like mad. Once we can pet him on the head & put our face in front of his for a few seconds without him licking (he actually will turn his head and not look at us, because it's so hard for him to contain himself), we will say "OK Kisses!" and allow him to lick like crazy. It's kind of funny, because his reward for doing the trick "No Lick", is to do the trick "Kisses".
We will also put out face in front of his and say "No Licks" and if he responds appropriately, he gets a little bit of cheese. We keep repeating that until we finally alow him do to "Kisses", but we always end with "No Licks" and lots of treats.
He's pretty good with us, and we're working up to having him behave for company. I just want him to be able to be a civilized dog that people like having around, then we can take him with us more often when we go visit family!
Molly S.