Top 3 Reasons Why Your Dog is Suddenly Licking Everything

While licking is normal, a sudden development where your dog starts to lick everything may indicate that something is wrong with your dog. This could be a mental or physical issue. Here are the most common reasons that may explain the change in behavior.

1. Your dog is in pain

As dog owners, it’s hard to know when your dog is sick. It’s part of their natural instinct to suppress and hide their pain. One signal that does help is by looking at the dog’s licking behavior. Your dog could be sick or injured if he is suddenly starting to lick everything. Licking serves many purposes. One of them is to help the dog self-soothe.

Allergies may also explain the sudden introduction of excessive licking. Watch out for common allergy symptoms such as hives, swelling, and constant licking.

2. Your dog wants attention

Some dogs, especially those that spend a lot of time alone throughout the day, may start to lick everything because they know it gets them attention. You may have unintentionally rewarded the licking behavior by returning some sort of response whenever the dog licks something. It should be fairly obvious if your dog is bored.

Make sure your dog is getting the playtime and interactions he deserves. Do note that the optimal amount of exercise a dog requires may change as he gets older.

3. Your dog is nervous

Some dogs start to lick to everything when they are nervous. It’s not just a self-soothing behavior. Licking may also provide a distraction from whatever is triggering the anxiety and stress. You might notice a certain pattern before your dog starts to lick everything around him. It could be the presence of a stranger or a sudden noise that spooked the dog out.

Your dog could be just acting like a goofy dog and suddenly licking everything for no particular reason. The chances of this being normal, however, is low if your dog wasn’t acting like this before. Take your dog to the vet whenever in doubt.