We just got a new dog last Wednesday, and I LOVE him to death! He's an australian shepard, and his one bad habit is LICKING. He is constantly licking everything! People, pillows, everything! It drives my mom insane (and I'll admit, me too!) My mom already doesn't want to keep him (we found him and haven't found the owner, so I'm leaning towards keeping him if the owner can't be located) so i need to get him to behave. Does anyone have any suggestions to get him to stop licking everything? He's a great dog, and listens well (minus the licking thing...)Any help at all would be GREAT!!

Thank you!!

A firm NO every time your dog licks and a direct stare into the dogs eye.

Licking is a avenue for excitement and appeasement to flow through. Dogs do it for the love of us, but they don't realize how much we do not like the crazy tongue action.

Ya, that's what I've been trying, and it works sometimes...
Last night he actually seemed to settle down for a while, but then got playful again, and it was all downhill from there lol.
But thank you!!
I'll keep trying!

quote:

Originally posted by angeeleeta:
A firm NO every time your dog licks and a direct stare into the dogs eye.

Licking is a avenue for excitement and appeasement to flow through. Dogs do it for the love of us, but they don't realize how much we do not like the crazy tongue action.

Try not to stare all the time. Some Dogs find that intimidating.

quote:

Originally posted by pootlovesanimals:

quote:

Originally posted by angeeleeta:
A firm NO every time your dog licks and a direct stare into the dogs eye.

Licking is a avenue for excitement and appeasement to flow through. Dogs do it for the love of us, but they don't realize how much we do not like the crazy tongue action.

Try not to stare all the time. Some Dogs find that intimidating.

I also ment to say that they can become aggressive toward you. But like I said, not all dogs do that.

Uhm I would not own or trust a dog you could not look in the eyes. It's somewhat essential to training the watch which should be the beginning of obedience training.

quote:

Originally posted by badkittyamy:
Uhm I would not own or trust a dog you could not look in the eyes. It's somewhat essential to training the watch which should be the beginning of obedience training.

But I'm talking about Staring DOWN a Dog. There's a difference between staring down a dog and looking one in the eye. When you look a dog in the eye, it does not feel threatened. But staring DOWN a dog is a sign of aggressive dominance and a dog can feel threatened if its superiority is in jeapordy. Since we don't know if this dog is a stray or is owned, to stare it down COULD be bad.

well staring at him, or down to him doesn't bother him at all. I've found that if i turn my back to him, he'll get bored, and lies down. The licking thing has slowed down some, but not a whole lot.
But I appreciate everyones help! I'm trying them all!! So any more, I'll be happy to hear!

quote:

Originally posted by pootlovesanimals:
But I'm talking about Staring DOWN a Dog. There's a difference between staring down a dog and looking one in the eye. When you look a dog in the eye, it does not feel threatened. But staring DOWN a dog is a sign of aggressive dominance and a dog can feel threatened if its superiority is in jeapordy. Since we don't know if this dog is a stray or is owned, to stare it down COULD be bad.

As the owner and care taker of the dog, you are the pack leader and should be able to stare a dog down. If your pet dog becomes aggressive towards you for being boss, then that dog is a bad seed and doesn't belong as a pet.

IMO, only good dogs deserve chances, and aggressive dogs that try to harm humans have no place as pets EVER.

That one I'll have to disagree with...
I believe every dog/animal deserves a chance.
I could never turn an animal away just because someone told me they were aggressive.
We had a sheltie that was "aggressive" and after we gave him a chance (6 months with us) he was the best dog ever.
And we ended up having him for 13 years.
Aggressive to one person might just mean abused to another.

quote:

Originally posted by maxbuddy7:
That one I'll have to disagree with...
I believe every dog/animal deserves a chance.
I could never turn an animal away just because someone told me they were aggressive.
We had a sheltie that was "aggressive" and after we gave him a chance (6 months with us) he was the best dog ever.
And we ended up having him for 13 years.
Aggressive to one person might just mean abused to another.

I'm speaking of truly aggressive toward human dogs. They do exist. The kind that snap and bite over food, the ones who rule you and you don't rule them, the kind that try to fight with any other animals around.

They aren't the most common type of dog, almost 100% of dogs are totally in tune with humans, but on the rare occasion that the bad seed pops up, it's not worth anyone's time imo.

Of course you shouldn't turn away any dog because someone said so, it's completely up to you to learn the dogs behaviors and see if you can deal with them.

But if you stare down your dog as reprimand for bad behavior and they become aggressive at you, that is a huge red flag, and an animal that would not be in my house for fear of harm to me, my family, my other pets, or a huge lawsuit waiting to happen.