Hi Cheri! I forgot to tell you, that your probably right that the odor also might be a factor. During summer I used a repellent against midges and then Socks licked my legs even more than during winter time.

Some months ago I produced a juice of garlic and treated my legs with it!!! I thought maybe some garlics a day keep the dog away. Crazy, it kept my husband away but attracted Socks even more!

I do use a body cream regularly, but in the evening, before I go to bed. In the morning I take my shower. So the smell of the cream should be washed away. Or do you think a dog would smell even the tiniest residue?

I think it's certainly possible, with a dog's superior sense of smell, that they could detect the odor of a lotion that you use on a nightly basis, even though you shower every morning. Still, I don't know what your dog's reason is for his behavior. This is just one possibility out of many.

Cessation of kicking is a reward by itself. These sorts of daily life behaviors I don't bother using treats with. Good house manners are simply an expected part of life.

 Quote: Christina Stockinger

Damned, it now dawns on me slowly, that it was highly idiotic to reward after the kicking. This is a correction and she will connect those two things. Stupid I! I'm desensitizing her against the correction. It must be either a reward if she stops for a while after my "Quit" or a correction and then no reward.

Do you agree with this?

Yes, you risk building a behavior chain. So the dog ends up thinking "lick her and get kicked for a treat" rather than understanding that the cessation of licking got the treat. You can however reward settling down afterwards. You just don't want the treat to immediately follow the correction.

Dogs LOVE, LOVE garlic!

Having been involved in SAR (Thunder was trained in cadaver among other SAR odors) I can tell you that a dog's nose will forever amaze me because of things I've seen.

Yes, Bob, it's nailed in my mind now!Giving her a treat after kicking she will see it in the end as positive. Sorry, this was really an act of dim-wittedness.
Same for the garlic treatment!

Cheri, although I knew that dogs have an extraordinery sense for odor, I think, I underestimated it. Of course you cannot know the reason of Socks behavior. But an odor could be a part of an explanation. Sometimes varios factors work together.

 Quote: Cathy Goessman

Cessation of kicking is a reward by itself. These sorts of daily life behaviors I don't bother using treats with. Good house manners are simply an expected part of life.

Thanks Cathy, I agree fully. This folly I'll never commit again!

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Sorry, no idea where this "inline image" comes from. No significance. Cannot delete any more.

Sorry, Christina, in both of my posts in this thread, I referred to the dog in question as a male, and I now realize it's a female. My only excuse is I know you have multiple dogs, and the name "Socks" is kind of gender-neutral.

 Quote: Christina Stockinger

I'm waiting meanwhile longer than a few seconds. Then she doesn't re-start licking for a while, it varies, 2 min, 5 min ..., but suddenly she comes and licks again. I give her my word for "quit" but she doesn't stop, unless I really kick her.

I wanted to avoid her to associate the reward with licking, as you're saying. But maybe I'm waiting too long and she might associate the reward already with something else?

About this (quoted above), surely you know Socks well enough and can be observant enough of her approaching you to know when she is about to try to start licking you again? I would try being very proactive and give her whatever command you use just before she attempts to start the behavior again. I do this with my dogs all the time when I am outside with them and wanting to keep them from chowing down on grass/dirt. Similarly, if they're looking out the window, and I see a cat or squirrel they are about to bark at, they get the command preemptively. It takes close watching and good timing, but it goes a long way if you can interrupt their thought process just as they are about to start the behavior.

Like Cathy, I have an expectation of my dogs that they will practice good household manners and social skills. Of course, as puppies, or new dogs to my family, they would be taught that which they do not know, with appropriate rewards for good behavior, but once they understand the desired behavior, there are no rewards for complying with a command of "Leave It" or "Enough."

Thanks Cheri. That's exactly it!

I've been doing this on walks when seeing a distraction coming towards us. If I saw it was a high level distraction,I made an about turn and walked away.

In other cases I succeeded (mostly) with a preparatory "No" or "Leave it" and a reward or engagement event. Nothing's perfect, but here I know this is the direction I want to go. I have also learned to estimate the thresholds better.

That's why it annoyes me so much for being so stupid in that licking circus. Well I will have to restart this as I've talked with Bob about it, and yes, thanks dog, I can read Socks in between well enough to know, au wei!, now she will relapse in that addiction again. So I can warn her early enough. Very important, I think. And rewards only until she has really understood.

If I had thought logically I would have done it. It's like when they respect entering the house. Then I never reard. It's just a fixed house rule for an outside dog.

By the way, that you thought, Socks were a male, is very normal. It is really a gender neutral name, as men as women wear socks (sometimes), my hubby often two different ones!