Dog Behavior - 'Grooming' me

[flyhi]

So, I have two Yorkies and one of them, Mugsy, (guy with the ball in my avatar) likes to 'groom' me. I am wondering what this means.

He does it predictably at two certain times - around eating time and in the morning after breakfast. Both pooches sleep with me (of course!) and Mugsy always wakes up first in anticipation of breakfast. I refuse to feed them before a certain time because he will wake me up earlier and earlier if i give in. Sooo, if he wakes up too early and i let him out to go potty, but we go back to bed, he will sit on my chest, put his paws on my face and 'groom' me. He ends up getting the last laugh because it is very difficult to sleep with him sitting on my head, neck, chest, etc. I am not a fan of this, but have let him do it to see what he is going to do. He basically licks every square inch of my face and neck very soft and slowly and if he runs across a rough spot (like a scab from a bug bite or something) he will 'bite' at it without hurting me at all (like an animal biting fleas off of another in the wild). On the weekends, i will feed them and if i go back to bed, the same thing happens.

During the week after i feed him, every morning he will come into my home office with me for about 20 minutes and 'groom' my hands. He will get up on my desk and lick my hands as i try and type on my computer. When he is done, he spends most of his day on the couch or in the backyard sunning himself. He used to be really independent, but has becoming increasingly more dependent this past year. He will be 3 this summer.

My other pooch, who was my first and is now 4, is my shadow. He will not leave my side, or lap, for more than 5 minutes. He does not partake in this grooming behavior.

Anyone out there ever dealt with this? I'm just really curious as to what this means.

thanks

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[Maddsmoltz]

yeah, my calico tries to groom my beard and sometimes my hair if she decides to sleep on top of my head at night.

I have a yorkie too...there was about a one month period where he would obsessively lick my hands. They can become pretty dependent-try ignoring them-especially for a couple hours when you first come home.

 

[sumstorm]

You are inadvertently reinforcing the behaviors you are describing. At least, that would be my best guess via the description. The easy thing to do is remove the reinforcement if you want the behavior to stop. So, if the dog starts licking, remove yourself from the location. It is obnoxious for us to do, but it is the quickest way to eliminate the behavior. Dog gets 'gee, I do A and the thing I like doing A to goes away.' Sometimes the behavior just gets displaced... so the dog now does A to C instead of B.

I am not a fan of dependent dogs...I like owners and dogs to have a good, strong bond, but don't think clinginess and dependency are good for the dog or the owner.

In some cases, you can find a different trigger other than external reinforcement. For example, allergy dogs that like thier feet a lot may displace the behavior to licking objects once thier allergies are under control...the behavior itself has become a habit which may be displaced to other objects (probably because on some level it was reinforced through soothing of the feet) and in these cases, where a behavior has become self-reinforcing, it is harder to alter.

Remember, behaviors that have been reinforced in the past, especially randomly, tend to have extinction bursts if you try to reduce or eliminate them.

 

[flyhi]

sumstorm - i appreciate the response. i think i'm going to have to remove him from the location, as i work from home and my office is usually the culprit. i also try and ignore him when he does it the mornings while i'm still trying to sleep.

i am not a fan of this either. Both of my guys are actually obedience trained, which is sometimes unusual for owners to do with the smaller breeds. Harley has been through advanced obedience and is CGC certified and Mugsy graduated intermediate training and started agility before we moved. I expect a lot out of them and i think they are better for it.

I think i can make the behaviour stop, i am really just curious as to why he does it? i've never experienced this before. What does it mean in a dog's mind? is he anxious? just showing affection? is it a dominance thing??? Why does he feel the need to groom me? He does not get something in return for it - i.e. food or a toy. I suppose he gets my attention, but i'm not sure if that is what he's doing it for.

Maddsmoltz - i am pretty much home 24/7 unless i'm at my one class, the gym or running errands. I'm pretty happy to see them when i get home from being gone and not sure i could just ignore them . I try not to make too much fanfare about my return though. thanks!

 

[Beanjamime]

yeah, my calico tries to groom my beard and sometimes my hair if she decides to sleep on top of my head at night.

I have a yorkie too...there was about a one month period where he would obsessively lick my hands. They can become pretty dependent-try ignoring them-especially for a couple hours when you first come home.

Haha that's kind of like one of my cats. He sits on top of my pillow and tries to chew on my hair when I sleep. I don't have a beard though at least I hope not =). My yorkie used to try and lick people's feet when he was a puppy but I got him to break that gross habit.

 

[MonkeyVet2013]

sumstorm - i appreciate the response. i think i'm going to have to remove him from the location, as i work from home and my office is usually the culprit. i also try and ignore him when he does it the mornings while i'm still trying to sleep.

i am not a fan of this either. Both of my guys are actually obedience trained, which is sometimes unusual for owners to do with the smaller breeds. Harley has been through advanced obedience and is CGC certified and Mugsy graduated intermediate training and started agility before we moved. I expect a lot out of them and i think they are better for it.

I think i can make the behaviour stop, i am really just curious as to why he does it? i've never experienced this before. What does it mean in a dog's mind? is he anxious? just showing affection? is it a dominance thing??? Why does he feel the need to groom me? He does not get something in return for it - i.e. food or a toy. I suppose he gets my attention, but i'm not sure if that is what he's doing it for.

Maddsmoltz - i am pretty much home 24/7 unless i'm at my one class, the gym or running errands. I'm pretty happy to see them when i get home from being gone and not sure i could just ignore them . I try not to make too much fanfare about my return though. thanks!

Sumstorm said it really well with managing this sort of behavior.

As for why, subordinate dogs lick and groom dominant pack members to show submission and develop a bond with stronger members. There are 2 examples in wolf packs: 1) young pups will lick their mother's mouth in hopes of her regurgitating a meal which could relate to your dog's behavior around and before breakfast 2) after a fight, the defeated wolf will often lick the face of the dominant, often alpha, male in submission and respect. You, hopefully, are the alpha of the group so this might be your dog's way of showing they respect your authority.