Hello...i have searched through the forums but to my issue is always a little different. Not even sure if this is the best forum for it.

My pup is somewhere around 18 months-2 yrs old. I got her from a shelter this past February. They thought she was part Amer Bulldog and she may have some pit bull in her. She is a very very sweet girl and submissive. She listens to commands very well and we've got the basics down.

I cannot get her to stop licking me. Arm, legs, wherever. ESPECIALLY my face. It is never a specific time, just whenever she is close enough to me. I know that's a submissive behavior. But it drives me crazy. I've tried having her sit/lay down/etc but that doesn't distract her. She understands when i say NO, she understands me looking at her with a "don't even think about it" type of look, but will continue to lick the air around me, and hopefully sneak one in somewhere.

If she is told not to lick me, she will back away but she gets mad at me... not mean or aggressive in any way... uses a low-pitched bark to say "why won't you let me"? Kind of a rur-rur-rur-rur, sounds like a car that won't start.

I usually get frustrated at some point and end up yelling or pushing her away which makes her want to lick me even more!
Any thoughts?
Mary

I'd probably calmly redirect until the habit is broken. I probably would've done this before now, but it'll still work.

Also, I would examine my own response. I'd guess that you are sometimes rewarding this, either laughing or otherwise paying more attention when she does it. That's very confusing to the dog. It has to be black-and-white. I wouldn't yell and push because you may be right that it makes her more determined, perceiving that you are displeased and she'd better do something submissive.

Or another thing is that you could teach kiss and no-kiss. Actually, that might be kinda fun to teach. Do you know marker training? I've never taught this, but I read somewhere about someone else doing it and it made sense to me.

Others here will probably have better ideas, too.

Thanks, Connie. All the training we've done up til now has been marker training. I've tried giving her commands when this starts; that's usually when she starts getting vocal...

When you say redirection, i think sit/down/stay etc. Is that what you mean? Sometimes if there is a toy near i try to use that.

With my lickers (I've got two), I use the "enough" command and offer a treat that is bigger than a normal training treat. When they stop and stare at the treat I mark that event. They have to stop to eat the treat which is as good as a redirect. I've found dry crumbly treats work well for this.

If she's part pit, it may be a little bit of obsession. Mine did it too, and as Melissa and Connie have stated, it is best to teach the "no/enough/all done" command. My pitty would become so obsessed he would try to flip people over if they hid their body parts from him. So, some friends found this funny, and they would roll up in a ball while my pitty would try to use all his strenth to get them to roll over! LOL, but NOT. Also, it may look like fun, and loving, but at some point it just becomes stress for the dog.

Our roommate's dog (also a pit mix) is like this. When he tries to lick me, I just turn my body away. If I turn just my face, he'll lick my arms or whatever bare skin he can find. But if I turn my whole body away he always stops the first or second time. He doesn't even try to lick me anymore for the most part, he'll just come sit next to me. I haven't tried redirecting the behavior because our roommate loves when the dog licks him and will actually sit on the floor and have a lick fest (which I think is soooooo gross). I'm more than positive that the poor pup is confused about why he can lick some people and not others, (but that's just the beginning of the issues with his behavior and our roommate's reinforcement of it). Good luck! I think training the kiss would be fun!