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Mastiff is licking everything.. How to stop it?

vheilman

New Member
Hi all, new to the forum here, but 2nd time mastiff owner. This is for Rugby, a 1 year old bull mastiff male.

Question is how do we stop the licking. We understand there will be slobber(We have a 9yr old OE mastiff), but the licking has to stop.

He licks everyone. Everything. When we come home he comes up and licks your hand, or pants, shirt, bag, or anything and everything. If we're sitting on the couch, every time he walks by, he'll lick something. shoes, knee, etc. He's very slobbery and it is very messy and bothersome to us and especially to anyone coming over. Not sure how to stop it.

It's not a constant, repeated licking, but a 1 time lick. We call it drive-by licking.

He's very sweet, but we'd like to stop this behavior.

Here's a link to his page/story.

https://www.facebook.com/BullmastiffPuppySurgery

Cheers,

Vince
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Hmmm.... no help?
I was curious what other's would suggest on this one...

I'd probably go with an "eh eh" or soft "no" as soon as you start to see the tongue come out... then redirect to a sit & wait, so you can treat and love some.

How's his sniffer? With the cleft palate, does that effect the sense of smell? I'm wondering if he has to lick to "smell" the objects? If that's the case... I'm not sure how you'd help him. :confused:

"Drive-by licking" - LOVE IT!
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
You could try putting a bitter spray on surfaces that you know he is going to lick. It may mean having to spray your hands or clothes for a while until he realizes that you taste gross and decides to stop licking. I have no idea if it would work or not but its an idea.
 

Mustang9846

Well-Known Member
Loki did this when he was young but it was much worse than what you are saying. He would stand and lick the wall over and over for as long as you would let him. The Mitch cabinets, your leg, your hand, the door! Anything he was close too. It class they taught us to use a remote correction like listed above so when he doesn't something I don't like he get a very sharp noise from me. Then when he would look at me I would treat right away. Only took about a week for him to get it and he was really bad. One time he licked the bathroom wall the whole time I was in the shower! And it was a long shower. Yours might be harder to stop using this method since your situation is over much faster, your timing would have to be pretty good for him to get what you are attempting to fix.
 

vheilman

New Member
Thanks for the replies. I didn't think about the potential loss of smell due to cleft palate, but it's possible. I'll let you know if we can stop it. Maybe he'll grow out of it soon.
 

kbuchanan66

Well-Known Member
Barron was what our trainer called an "Obsessive Licker" She said it was an OCD type thing. Barron would do it sort of like a greeting he would lick you from the time you entered the door to the time you walked up the stairs and sat down. She told us to walk in and ignore him completely and walk on by and when he licked you to say "Ah, Ah" or "NO" and continue to walk and ignore. once you got up the stairs we put him into a sit and then pet him. If he licked us again we would say "AH,Ah'' and than walk away. Basically he learned he had to sit to be petted and not lick or the attention would disappear.
 

LizB

Well-Known Member
I definitely think the licking is a replacement for possible disruption in the smell sensors in the nose - excellent suggestion DennasMom. You can decondition him to it as above, with the sharp "Ah" or "No" and get away rapidly to let him know you don't like this. He'll get the idea. Bless his heart! I loved reading about his story and kudos to you for getting him the surgery he needed.