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Originally Posted by GuinnessStout  Ok... I get it, it is now a battle of who can last the longest.. In this case I can honestly say he will win and I just need to learn to live with it lol
No not saying I am a bad owner that will not work to train their pup, just saying I already know I would never win this battle with a pup that even licks the sir in his sleep. And I sure years from now when he is gone  I will miss that little tongue (just typing that makes me want to cry) |
LOL. That's kind of what I thought. Just live with it as much as possible because it would be a two month campaign of never allowing him to get away with a single lick without going into retraining/redirection mode, a separate home obedience program, power walks where you really run/walk him good and hard and you would have to find out which he method responded to better in the retraining/redirection.
One thing you could start to do if you've a mind to is just get up and walk away if he gets to licking too intensely or use a prop to interfere. Usually, lickers are trying to get to our mouths to appease us at first, like puppies do their mommie's muzzle or pack members do an alpha, that's how they start. They are looking for reassurance. I don't know your dog but oftentimes the need to appease can come from a sense of anxiety, insecurity so a good training program to teach him responsibility, impulse control and to work hard to learn obedience or some such program could give him a sense of accomplishment and self-assurance as you commend and praise his accomplishments and see him for the over-achiever he can be. It gives them self-esteem and they appease less. Earthdog work or something like that works, too.
Or licking can reinforce some dogs' sense of control over their human and they love the feeling they get from "owning" us as we kind of giggle, laugh and jerk our heads/faces out of the way, exude a lot of energy which they feed on and they know we won't stop them, really.
Working on the reasons for the licking, giving him more work and a sense of self-accomplishment can help if he's appeasing. And redirecting him, interfering with his licking by sticking a little book or magazine up between or getting up and walking away is a stopgap and take some of his enjoyment out of the obsessive/controlling part of it when it's smothering. Holding on to your prop or keeping it beside you can dissuade him, give you a tad of power back and having a stuffed kong to offer him at this moment can redirect his energies to something equally fun that he can control and master.
Unless you want to get into a whole program of retraining him, I'd try to manage and live with and sort of appreciate it for what it is - a dog doing what he can to get on in life his little way. And you do probably laugh a lot from those Santa moments! Enjoy your Guiness! He's really one-of-a-kind.