Why Do Dogs Love To Lick Their Butts

Licking is a normal behavior of dogs. Dogs cannot talk but they have an effective way of showing their affection to people they like. In order to communicate; a dog will lick other dogs and also humans. The tongue is used by the mother dog to groom the puppies. The bond is strengthened when the dam licks the puppies but this habit is also done to induce the puppies to urinate and defecate.

Dog owners are often perplexed at the habit of the pet to lick the anal area. For sure, this habit is not borne out of the need to show affection or to communicate. A dog with the body all contorted to be able to reach and to lick the rear end would be amusing to watch. A dog owner though would not be amused if the dog that has been licking its butt would jump with alacrity to meet its master with sloppy kisses.

After the puppy has defecated or urinated, the mother dog will lick the pup’s anal area clean. The behavior to lick was learned by dogs from puppyhood. Dogs use their long raspy tongue for grooming purposes. Dog’s version of human’s hand shaking is butt sniffing. If humans make sure that their hands are clean, dogs too would want to keep their butts feces free and this is done by licking. The dog’s inclination to love obnoxious things is one of the turn offs for these animals. Dog owners would always complain about the dogs habit of eating feces and rolling in smelly objects. A dog that licks the butt is simply giving in to the desire to indulge in something smelly

Butt licking can be due the dog’s effort to remove a foreign object. Due to the tendency to eat anything, inedible things like plastic and cloth will be ingested. The plastic, the cloth and other indigestible objects eaten by the dog will come out in the same form. One end of the plastic or the cloth can get stuck inside so that the dog will continuously lick to get the thing out.

Another reason why a dog will continuously lick its butt is an impacted anal gland. 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. An impacted anal gland will make the dog uncomfortable. The dog will be seen scooting and licking the butt constantly to ease the uncomfortable feeling.

Learn more about why dogs lick their butts and dog first aid at Sarah’s Dogs.

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