Wednesday, August 1, 2012

What makes a dog lick the anal area

By Jerry Welsh


Licking is a natural behavior that dogs learn from puppyhood. Dogs cannot verbalize what they feel and one of the ways by which they can show their affection to humans is by licking. Dogs lick to communicate with humans and with other dogs as well. The tongue is used by the mother dog to groom the puppies. Mother dogs would lick the puppies not only to show affection but to stimulate defecation and urination.

Dogs have the inclination to lick their butts. Apparently, this kind of licking is not done as a show of affection nor is it a way of expressing themselves. Dog owners will be amused to see the efforts of a dog that is trying to lick the rear end. However, it would not be amusing if the dog that was seen licking the butt would lick the master's face to show its affection.

After the puppy has defecated or urinated, the mother dog will lick the pup's anal area clean. Butt licking can be an ingrained habit that was learned by the dog from its mother. Dogs use their long raspy tongue for grooming purposes. Hand shaking is for humans while butt sniffing is for dogs. The butt licking behavior can be the dog's way of ensuring that the rear end is free from dried feces and from the smell of the feces as well. The dog's inclination to love obnoxious things is one of the turn offs for these animals. Dogs love to eat feces and to roll in rotting animals. Given the dog's partiality to feces and smelly things, the habit to lick butts is understandable.

A dog will lick the butt to remove a foreign object from the anal area. Plastics, cloth and other non-edible objects will be ingested because dogs are indiscriminate eaters. The plastic, the cloth and other indigestible objects eaten by the dog will come out in the same form. The dog will be seen licking its butt to remove object dangling from its anus.

The pain and uncomfortable feeling associated with an impacted anal gland will make a dog lick its butt. Normally, the anal glands will be emptied when the dog defecates but because of low quality commercial food, soft stools are formed and results to the impaction of the anal glands. Anal glands that are not expressed will result to the buildup of bacteria. The dog will suffer pain and discomfort if the anal glands are impacted. To alleviate the pain and the discomfort, the dog will be seen constantly scooting and licking the butt.




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