Licking the floor?

Marti

Marti

Member
Owned by
1 cocker
Charley has always been very healthy. Last night out of the blue he started licking the floor. He was quickly walking around the living room licking the carpet! At first I thought the kids had spilled something but he was licking all over the room. When I went to remove him from whatever he was licking, there was nothing there but he acted like I was trying to take him away from his favorite food ever. It was very strange. I placed him on the hardwood to see what he would do there and he kept doing the same behavior. I ended up placing him in his crate and watching him. He licked the crate for a few minutes and then finally stopped. I had also checked inside and around his mouth and there was nothing visible. Has anyone ever seen this behavior before or know what it means?
 
I think it's a little bit of an obsessive thing, to be honest with you. My old dog Farley is a compulsive licker. He typically licks his paws or "wrists", but will lick the couch, rug or toys if he needs an alternative. He's been doing it for years.

When you see Charley doing this, try to distract him with a toy or treat or something, just to break that attention on the carpet/floor. Don't get mad, just try to get him focused on something else.
 
Thanks, Kelly! I had just never seen him do this before and was a little afraid. :( He has licked the bars of his crate before - I crate my dogs at night and when I leave the house and Charley would have a pool of a saliva sometimes at the bottom of the crate. I remedied that by giving him a special kong and treat just for the crate and he does fine now. Last night was just the strangest thing I have ever seen. He is doing fine today, though, thankfully! I will make sure to redirect if I see this behavior again. The dogs have a whole basket of toys available to them, but I will get him an extra-special toy just for these times.
 
Parts of this behavior sound like separation anxiety. Most dogs that drool like that in a crate (puddles) do better on some anxiety meds.

We had one that left huge puddles, licked the bars of crate and could not be left home. We ended up putting him on Clomicalm
 
It might be an obsessive behavior (see link) but cockers have a keen sense of smell. Charley may have smelled the remnants of food. Even if your children dropped something then picked it up. My mother who has Alzheimer's often places food in boxes then forgets about it. Gabby is the first to notice. He'll either try to get at it or bark at it. Gabby was barking at a stack of boxes in the basement. I suspected my mom left something in there. I placed all the boxes on the ground. Gabby rummaged through one box and pulled out a piece of ham wrapped up in paper towel.
 
Interesting - I never thought of that. I have had some fosters in the past with more extreme separation anxiety, i.e. breaking through windows and destroying property, lol, so that never crossed my mind! I work from home 4 days out of the week, so am here with the dogs most of the time and they are free in the house with me except for feeding time. I will definitely look in to this. Thanks!
 
Manuel's right, and I didn't really consider it . . . if this is the first time for Charley, and he's 4, it's more than likely that there's a crumb somewhere LOL
 
KLADCkrs said:
Manuel's right, and I didn't really consider it . . . if this is the first time for Charley, and he's 4, it's more than likely that there's a crumb somewhere LOL
Click to expand...

I really don't think that's what it was, but it would be great if it was that simple!! :) Charley was out with the other two dogs and, believe me, my dog with IBS would have been all over a crumb if there was one in the room, lol!! Both GSDs totally ignored Charley, though. And Charley was literally all over the room, head down, continuously licking. Even after I picked him up and moved him in to the next room with different flooring, the behavior continued. He also licked the floor of his crate for a minute or so before finally stopping. I really don't know and hope it doesn't happen again, but you have all given me several things to think about.
 
Frankie does this often. He licks the arm of the chair (HIS chair!) until it is soaking wet. I ended up covering it with a blanket and he does it much less (go figure.) I think it is boredom. This winter in CT has made us all hibernate.

Judy
 
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