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Bitter apple? Compulsive Licking?
My husky/eskimo mix has always been a terrible licker. I've had her since she was 8 weeks old (now a year) and she has always been like this. I can't take it anymore. She licks and pretty much rapes everyone. She can be exhausted from a walk or playing and laying down. When I pet her, she will lick and jump up to lick more no matter what. If we push her away or ignore her, it gets worse. She will sit and down and listens incredibly well, but once she starts licking all training is done for. I bought some bitter apple. How do I use it correctly?
I am worried that she is going to start rebelling. We just adopted one of our foster dogs. She is a 6 month old black lab. She is incredibly calm and goes into a trance when we pet her. So, we pet her more than Kahlua simply because it is more pleasant to pet a calm dog than one that is on top me trying to remove my nose with her tongue.
Asked by
Lily
on Oct 23rd 2007
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in Other Behavior & Training
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This does not sound like a problem you can address by spraying Bitter Apple.
Bitter Apple works as a deterrent to licking by tasting not-so-nice to your dog. You have to spray it onto the items that your dog licks, frequently, to keep them tasting yucky. I don't think you can do this with your hands, face, or clothing. (Or if you can, you may not want to...)
The other thing you should know is that a lot of dogs actually LIKE the taste of Bitter Apple and other such deterrent sprays. They don't work nearly as well as advertised.
This is really something that needs to be addressed and corrected through training - consistent training. As you've tried the ignore method, maybe it's time to try something else. For example, every time she starts to lick, you could simply take her by the collar and walk her to her crate for a "time out". Don't say anything, just up and walk her to the crate when the licking starts.
If that does not work, try a behaviorist to work on this.
Abby
answered on 10/23/07.
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