When your furry friend greets you with a shower of licks, it’s often interpreted as a sign of affection. And you’re not wrong! However, according to dog cognition researcher Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, there’s a deeper, more primal reason behind this common canine behavior rooted in their evolutionary past.
!Dog licking owner’s face as a sign of affection and communication
To truly understand Why Dogs Lick You, we need to take a step back and look at their ancestors: wolves. As Dr. Horowitz, bestselling author of “The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves,” explained on “CBS Mornings Plus,” dogs descended from wolves, and this lineage plays a significant role in their licking habits. In a wolf pack, when hunters return, they are met with enthusiastic licks around their faces from other pack members.
“The reason they do that is they’re asking the wolf to regurgitate a little bit of what they just hunted,” Horowitz clarifies. “So, your dog’s lick of you when you come home is absolutely a greeting — you know, they’re happy to see you. But also, it’s a little bit of a request for whatever you just ate.” While your domesticated dog isn’t expecting you to regurgitate your dinner, this instinctual behavior remains as a deeply ingrained greeting and a way to engage with you.
Beyond this evolutionary throwback, dogs also use licking as a vital tool to explore and understand their world. “They’re smelling you by licking you,” Horowitz adds. Licking is not just about taste; it’s a sensory experience that provides dogs with a wealth of information about you and their surroundings through their incredibly sensitive noses and taste buds.
Decoding Other Dog Behaviors
Understanding dog licking is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to deciphering your dog’s behavior. As dog owners, we often believe we’re fluent in “dog language,” interpreting barks as requests for walks or whines as pleas for food. “On some level, they are communicating with us. We’re not always good at [interpreting what they’re saying],” Horowitz notes, highlighting the nuances of canine communication.
!Dog exhibiting a guilty look with ears back, showcasing submissive behavior
Take the classic “guilty look” for example. When your dog sports those droopy eyes and tucked tail after perhaps chewing on your favorite shoe, you might assume they’re feeling remorse. However, Horowitz explains that this “guilty look,” characterized by ears back and whimpering, “is actually just a response to us and our thinking that they’ve done something wrong. It’s a submissive or appeasing behavior that they put on that’s super cute and it’s a request to not be punished.” It’s less about guilt and more about avoiding your potential displeasure.
Even a simple tail wag isn’t always straightforward. “It’s more than just happiness,” Horowitz emphasizes. A low tail wag tucked between the legs can signal anxiety, nervousness, or concern. Conversely, a high, flag-like tail wag often indicates interest and excitement. Paying attention to the height and style of the wag provides a more accurate read of your dog’s emotional state.
Experiencing the World Dog’s Way
Dogs inhabit a sensory world that is vastly different from our own, primarily driven by their incredible sense of smell. “The way we see the world — dogs smell it… They’re living in a kind of parallel universe to us,” Horowitz points out. While we rely heavily on sight, dogs perceive and interpret their environment through scent in ways we can barely imagine.
!Dog sniffing the ground during a walk, highlighting their reliance on scent
This difference in perception underscores the importance of allowing dogs to engage with the world in their natural way. “We should let them sniff things. We should appreciate that that’s how they’re seeing the world.” Letting your dog sniff on walks isn’t just them being slow or distracted; it’s them actively gathering information and experiencing their surroundings in a way that is fundamental to their nature.
In conclusion, when your dog licks you, remember it’s a multifaceted behavior. It’s a greeting rooted in their wolf ancestry, a sign of affection and connection with you, and a way for them to explore and understand their world through taste and smell. By understanding these reasons, and by paying attention to their broader behavior cues, we can build stronger bonds with our canine companions and appreciate their unique perspective on the world.
