Your chihuahua licks your ears, right? Some dogs never do this, but for others, licking ears can become an addiction.
As a dog owner, you may notice not all your dogs have this obsession.
If your chihuahua likes to lick your ears, continue reading to figure out why, what to watch out for, and how to stop the behavior if you need to.
Reasons why your chihuahua licks your ears
There are many possible reasons for this unusual behavior. If your chihuahua is licking your ears, it could be for one or more of the following reasons:
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Respect:
When they lick the mouths of older dogs, puppies show that they respect them. It is also a sign that a dog wants to make peace, and young dogs often use it to get older dogs to play with them. The same thing can be said about why your chihuahua is licking your ears: your dog is trying to tell you, “I value and admire you.”
Comforting Sign
Chihuahuas only lick the ears of people with whom they are familiar. If your chihuahua licks your ears, it means he feels at ease when you’re present. Consider taking it as a great compliment, notably if you rescued the chihuahua and it’s the first time he or she is done it. It means you’ve earned your dog’s trust.
Mutual Grooming
Different dogs including chihuahuas groom each other in different ways. They love to lick human skin, especially hands, feet, faces, and if the owner is wearing short sleeves or shorts, legs or arms.
Licking their family members is a way for chihuahuas to bond with them, strengthen their social structure, and show how much they love and appreciate them.
Nursing chihuahuas lick their puppies a lot to clean them and help them digest and circulate blood.
Exploration
We all know that dogs including chihuahuas use their noses to figure out what’s going on around them. Because of this, they are great animals for search and rescue. But what some people don’t know is that chihuahuas also use their mouths to look around. Taste can tell them things about their world that a simple sniff might not. This is why owners ma notice that their puppies like to chew on items. If your dog loves to lick your ears, it may be trying to figure out where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing.
Your Chihuahua likes to taste
Chihuahuas like to eat some pretty gross things. This can be earwax or other things. Even though it sounds dirty, some dogs like the taste and saltiness of their earwax. Your dog might like to lick your ears, no matter how clean they are, because it tastes good to them.
Should You Stop your chihuahua’s ear Licking?
If you don’t mind that your chihuahua is licking your ears, there’s no reason to stop the dog. Your pooch is showing you that he feels safe and happy by licking you. If you both like it, let him lick.
But not everyone likes it when their ears are licked. If you’d rather your chihuahua stop, just stand up and move away from him. You can also give him a treat or ask him in a happy voice, and get him to do something else.
Like any other behavior, licking should be stopped right away if you don’t like it, not after it has been going on for a while. The sooner you stop your chihuahua from doing something, the faster he will move on and the less likely he will be to do it again.
If you let your chihuahua carry, he won’t know what he did wrong as you get more and more annoyed and finally push him away. It’s best to stop him as soon as he starts to do something wrong.
If you have any kind of wound, like a cut, scrape, or piercing that you just got, you should not let your chihuahua lick it because it could get infected.
When it turns to addiction
Dogs show this behavior in many different ways. They can be licking themselves (usually their paws, which can cause sores), other things (like your carpet, furniture, doors, etc.), you, or both.
Licking too much is never a good thing and needs to be fixed.
The reason chihuahuas do this is because licking makes them feel good and calms them down. Chihuahuas who are nervous, anxious, or stressed out tend to use this stress reliever too much and in unhealthy ways. A dog trainer or behaviorist might need to take a look at them.
Dogs can be taught to deal with stress in other ways, such as by chewing or sniffing.
If your chihuahua has a deeper behavior problem. As aggression or separation anxiety needs to be dealt with in a different training session. When you help your dog deal with his behavior problems, he will lick himself less.
Your Chihuahua Lick Your Kids’ Ears
When you notice that your chihuahua likes to lick your kid’s ears, you have to stop it immediately because of the following reasons:
When your kid is a Baby
Firstly, you should always keep an eye on your baby and dog.
If you let your chihuahua lick your baby’s ears. He might end up putting his tongue and mouth all over the baby’s face. This is dangerous, so you should definitely try to stop your dog from doing it. Put the baby out of reach and use baby gates or exercise pens to keep the dog away from the baby.
Toddlers
Dogs should also not be allowed to lick toddlers’ ears. This is tempting because they are right at the dog’s level – many dogs cannot resist and just have to go and lick the kid’s ears.
This is likely to lead to escalations further down the line. As the toddler might not appreciate the dog approaching at all times and may push, hit or kick him. Be smart about your kid’s and dog’s interactions and do not let this happen.
Last word
Ear licking is a natural and common thing for chihuahuas to do. As long as it doesn’t bother you and your dog doesn’t start licking his ears all the time or lick the ears of babies and young children. There’s nothing wrong with it.
If your chihuahua obsessively licks something, you should talk to a trainer about how to stop it.
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