[bran421]

I have a 1.5 year old American pit bull terrier named Kane. Hes the sweetest boy, but a little too sweet. We got him from a rescue and at first his licking was okay, but now its gotten out of control. He is constantly licking you, when ever you give him the tiniest bit of attention. I don't mind being licked once and awhile, but really he will just come up and keep licking your arm until you give him attention. I think hes learned that licking means attention, even if its negative attention its still attention toward him. I've tried training him for this, I have tried getting up when he licks and sitting back down until he stops licking then give him attention. He kind of understands "no licking" he will try not to get you, he will just stick his tongue out over and over not licking you though. If it was just me in the house I wouldn't care about all this licking, but my family really does, and so does company that comes over. Its just a very annoying trait that he has. Any help on how to train him to stop licking so much would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[KBLover]

Is there anything you can say that will get him to stop licking, even for a second? If there is - you could try teaching that as the "no licking" cue. Say it, and he stops licking - praise and reward. He could draw an association to it over time, and since he's a licker - sounds like you'll have plenty to training opportunities.

Does he understand any kind of release word or that's enough word/signal? If so, maybe you could "release" him from licking, then reward him.

BTW, is this a Pit trait? The last time I was around a pit, she would like my arm if she could reach it to get my attention and get me to pet her.

 

[bran421]

Well what I was trying to do was when he would obsessively lick me I would gently push his nose down, he would stop, Id say no licking, hand him a treat, but he would go right back to licking, I'd repeat this, so now he's starting to know "no licking" but he will just continually stick his tongue out at me, not touching me though. He looks so silly, its cute. I'd just really like to know if there's more ways of breaking him of this, I'm sure there is, I just cant think of any. From trying to break him so far, this seems like its going to be hard, but he is starting to get it, I think I just need to be more consistent with this.

And yes, I have met a lot of pit bulls, and all the ones I personally have met seem to be lickers too. It just may be a pit bull trait.

 

[KBLover]

If so, you'll have to be twice as diligent and have every that comes into contact of him to practice having him stop licking when requested.

Hmm...what would you have him do (other than stop licking) when requested to stop licking? Maybe this could be approached from a similar angle as helping a dog understand not to jump on people except when invited.