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My 2 year old, recently adopted Red Heeler Mix Sadie is a "sweetheart." She will approach everybody in leash length, or in a room or yard if off-leash, and solicit pets and lick the daylights out of them. This kind of behavior isn't compatible with taking her out in public with me, however--I never know if a dog-hater will be the next one licked, and take out some aggression on her.
I would like to take her to restaurants and parties, but cannot with her like this. Is there any way you can think of to stop this kind of inappropriate behavior? I don't let her behave this way with me (I solicit all affection), but with other people she goes around and licks, licks, licks. I think that if I didn't have to leave her at home while I lived my life, it would be better for both of us.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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I wish I had this problem with Artie. Artie lunges and barks at everyone, instead of licking them. And given the "right" stimulus, I imagine he'd bite too.
Although I understand your concern, I consider you to be lucky.
Start teaching her NO and STOP. I have 2 like that. With continual repetitious NO and STOP they are better when they start I just say STOP. It works for other things they are doing I dont like too.
Dont let her lick sometimes and not others. I have a Jack that would lick our cats to death if she could. But they like it.
Thank you for putting it into perspective, D. I know I am lucky to have an overly friendly dog instead of an aggressive dog, and I do appreciate what I have. I just care for Sadie a great deal and would like to make her my constant companion instead of leaving her isolated while I live my life due to inappropriate behavior.
"recently adopted" is the key here. She may be looking for attention and affection and just very happy that she has a good home! No way to know how badly she had it before you.
"recently adopted" is the key here. She may be looking for attention and affection and just very happy that she has a good home! No way to know how badly she had it before you.
You have a good point. The move to my home was her fourth move in two months, and I have had her for a little over a month. She was brought to the humane society by her original owners who said they had to move, was adopted out, and brought back less than a month later due to a failure to housebreak. We have gotten over that hurdle through diligent crate training, which was my major concern. The licking and not calming down around guests used to be cute, but now it is getting a bit old....
sounds like puppy behaviour in that she is trying to ingratiate herself with those that she considers dominant..... ALL people apparently......
my red heeler mix is almost 4-1/2 now and still displays this behaviour with larger MALE dogs... females she is indifferent to, unless they are in her house and territory.... then she goes all dominant on them.....
point i am trying to get to here..... she has been growing in confidence a LOT in recent months..... taking her to the dog park and out for runs in the woods seems to have helped her with that.... she was always pretty afraid of men, but over the past 6 months or so, she has narrowed that down to boys between about mid-teens to mid-20's...... and has no problem with men out of that age range.... BIG step for her.....
if you can find some way to improve your girl's confidence level, that may help......
What a lover you have there! I'd like to see you curb her behavior in a positive manner. Teach the dog what you want it to do, instead of using "no" (at least too much). Teach her the "sit" and "stay" commands because they help in a variety of situations. When at home, "go to your bed/rug" is really great when company come over. Excessive use of "no" and the dog will want to say "hi, my name's no-no-bad-dog, what's your's?"
I have only had her for a little over a month, and she is showing improvement (she was even more crazily licky at first) so perhaps I should just be patient. She does stop if I say off, and then she comes to me, but she quickly turns around to lick some more.
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