Oh yes he is one of a kind... we sneak him into my office when I work Saturdays so everybody here knows him and sends him presents, yesterday he got new kitty slippers and of course I had to bring pictures in to the office lol I think everybody would be mad at me if I did not bring in new pictures of him daily.

Yumi does the affection licking, and pretty sure the grooming licking. I was thinking about her when reading this because she licked my arm for probably 15 min lastnight, but it was a calm almost sleepy lick. It was right after I fixed her hair, while she was curled up on my lap getting snuggles. It seemed almost like a I'll pet you, you pet me type of thing lol

One of mine did the licking thing with me... I gave a bit of time for them to get over it, which didn't happen. So I grabbed her face by the beard and whiskers, to avoid a bite, (new to me doggy), and I started planting kisses all over her face and head! I would stop and ask, 'Okay, you want some more' and I'd continue a bit longer. And I'd say stuff like, oh sweetie, I love you too! And give a nice long hug. It worked, so now I get greeting kisses and random kisses, but no constant licking.

Peek A Boo wouldn't kiss at all, or even look at me when I first got him. I thought maybe he just wasn't a kissing dog. No bonding, nothing. Now I believe he had shut down at the time. I thought well I'll kiss you then. So I started giving him a kiss on his cheek every night. This went on for a few weeks, till one night, it was like after I kissed him, he turned his head as if to get one on the other side of his face, so I giggled and obliged him. I'd always ask him if he needed or wanted more kisses, something about his body language let me know.

Then, after 8 whole, long months, he turned and gave me a single kiss on my cheek! I cried, I was so happy for that one little kiss. Now sometimes he goes overboard, so I'm very careful and tell him Thankyou for your sweet kisses, I love you too. But you don't need to be licking me all the time! I will still love you, you're my boy! And I give him a big hug and some kisses on his face. I don't think he's offended when I ask him to stop, I would never want to hurt his feelings!

I do think with both of these dogs, the kissing/licking was more that they wanted reassurance from me... when they got it they were fine. And Yes, this post is a bit over the top... seems to be where I'm at alot!:D

I think this post is very sweet. It shows how a little love can be reassuring to us all. I am so glad Peek A Boo warmed up and turned the other cheek!

Awe... now I feel guilty for wanting him to stop with the kisses :)

Licking is a sign of stress, anxiety or boredom. There are many things you can do to replace the behavior. Does he have something he likes to chew? I find that when Gracie gets stressed when certain people come here she will grab her bully stick and start chewing like crazy. She knows she is not allowed to pester certain people so she distracts herself with her chew stick. Once she has gotten it out of her system she is fine. Exercise is also a really good way to help stop an obsession. Distracting the brain to an approved behavior takes some repetition on your part but if you find a few things that he likes to do and get him doing that instead he will stop the licking.

But you don't want him to stop completely, right? Just control it a bit? Now when I pick up Peek A Boo, he'll give me a bunch of kisses! Then, I say Okay! Thankyou very much! Then he backs off with the licking. I also ask him for a kiss, as a trick, so he can get a reward for it. I'm trying to say, allow him to do it, but you initiate/allow it and then you stop it gently. I don't know exactly how much Yorkies understand anything, I believe it's alot, or more than I can imagine. But I think he may think this makes you happy, and he loves being with you!

I think it is a mix of everything with him... Come home and it is happy to see me kisses, right now he is licking my leg as he does every night to fall asleep and then when daddy goes out of town it is anxiety and licking the paint off my kitchen wall.

I got my Maxie at 15 months... he didn't seem capable of offering affection. Then, several months later, as I held him in our 'TV chair', he would very, very, slowly lick me. It wasn't as much a lick as just sticking his tongue out and laying it on my hand or arm for a second or two... My bigger Yorkie will lick your skin off if you let him, but baby Max tries to participate by just pushing his tongue out and then retracting it. I think Max missed a lot of interaction in his formative years... he'll be three next month, and we're still working hard at his social skills.

Have you tried putting a very thin swipe of peanut butter on your arm or hand? (to give him practice licking, lol) Does he drink water okay?

LOL! I hadn't connected the two -- licking and drinking -- but he didn't drink right for a long time and is still pretty sloppy. His water was in one of those cage bottles (like you get for hampsters) so when he would try to drink from a bowl, he wold 'bite' at the water and most of it went up his nose or on the floor! He doesn't snort or choke anymore, but still makes a heck of a mess when he drinks.

Sounds like that poor guy has a broken licker or really just not know how to control his licker :)