What It Means When Dogs Lick Your Hands. While their sense of smell is the strongest and most useful for survival they also enjoy using touch and taste to communicate. One way they express this is by licking your hands. Dogs are known to lick for a number of reasons be it themselves other dogs and animals or the hands and faces of their favorite human companions. According to the SPCA of Texas licking is done not only to clean and groom themselves but the packmates around them.
Appropriate dog toys can also do the job anything positive to distract your pet from licking. Licking is a natural action for dogs. Dogs are known to lick for a number of reasons be it themselves other dogs and animals or the hands and faces of their favorite human companions. If they lick their human continuously it may be a way for the dog to calm down and reduce anxiety or stress levels. Second mothers with puppies will lick to clean them and to stimulate urination and defecation. Because of this it is common for dogs to lick our faces and hands after we eat something.
First it is a form of self-grooming and at times grooming of others in the social group also called all-grooming.
What better way could there be to smell touch and taste. It could be compared to the very same feeling and sense of security a child has when their parents hug or kiss them. Additionally our skin has salt that dogs enjoy licking. Licking your hands is likely a cleaning or exploratory bid from your dog. Depending on your feelings about dogs this might either be cute or gross. Dogs are known to lick for a number of reasons be it themselves other dogs and animals or the hands and faces of their favorite human companions.