Just from observing the licking, I'd be inclined to say it seems like submissive behavior, BUT ... Bailley and Meggie are both tireless lickers, and Meggie is emphatically a little tyrant! She tries to bully her sister, and she tries it with us --- but we don't let her get away with it.
I don't have any way of knowing, of course, but I believe it is simply a calming thing most of the time. I have found that both of ours will lay in bed and lazily lick on a hand or arm that is close by - a lot like a baby sucking on a pacifier when it's half asleep. Most of the time the licking is a LOT more vigorous, but maybe it's all the same.
Either of ours will stop immediately if we say any of these - "Stop" "No Lick" or "Enough." Of course how long they stop doing it is another matter altogether. |