My dog licks everything, any pointers?

[zoe95423]

Hello, I am looking fro some help or pointers on a recent annoying "habit" my dog has started.

I have a 1.5 year old male yellow lab.
3 weeks ago, he got neutered, and his anal glands removed.
His anal glands were removed due to them not emptying themselves, ever. To the point of them having to be manually emptied by the vet once a week. His bum was raw from him licking at it within a few days of it being emptied. We tried changing his food, and different medications. Nothing worked. It was aLSO causing great discomfort while making bowel movements. So after 8 months of trying to resolve the problem we went with the route of getting them removed.

Anyway, a few days after coming home from the vet, he started licking everything. Mostly my couch. We have cleaned the cover that goes on it multiple times trying to get him to stop. He also now licks his paws constantly. Almost like OCD, the vet and many other people said that it was probably because since he had his cone on, and hr coulded lick at his "boo boo" he was doing this instead. Now, for the most part his cone is not on, unless we can not be around it watch him completely. He does pretty good. But with his read end being shaved, I imagine it is itxhy with the hair growing back, so he occasionally tries to lick it. Those are the times his cone goes back on.

Even with his cone off, he licks and licks and licks. Not even the same spot on my furniture. And will leave a huge wet. Spot, it is not only annoying, but kind of gross. I love him with everything I have, and he is literally my child. I would do anything for him. But no one can give me any explanation other than tell him no.
I've tried ignoring it, thinking it was for attention. That hasn't seemed to work.
He is on 4health grain. free food, because of allergies for food. And has been doing quite well with that since switching him last summer. Much less itchy, and that stopped his foot licking, until recently. Nothing else in his diet or treats has been changed.

Does anyone have any pointers, as to what I can do to get him to
Stop?

 

[nicole camp]

Try rewarding him with a treat if he stops licking when you told him. You can also direct his licking towards a Kong toy with peanut butter inside. This will cause him to get thirsty, but normally they decide that's enough licking for the day. I too have a big lab and it worked on him. Any time he get "licky" I just direct it towards the toy to keep him off of our furniture and flooring. Hope this helped!

 

[zoe95423]

I will try with treats, of a bone. He can't have Kong toys, we have tried so many different designs of them, and he is a master at destroying them. Not only is it tiring to clean them uo, but I don't want him swalling any! He can't do those "nyla bones" either. Those also, get destroyed.
But I will trying giving him little bits of treats when he stops.

Thanks!

 

[nicole camp]

How often do you exercise him? labs are a very athletic breed and can sometimes develop habits due to inactivity as well. Now that I think about it I also started walking him every other day and his habits slowed down. Sometimes destruction and licking can be signs of this. There is a ball in PetSmart I believe called the "jolly ball" and it is the most indestructible toy I have found for him. Just some ideas

 

[zoe95423]

We walk, for at least, if not more 45 minutes everyday. My 60 acres is connected to my parents 200 acres, so we do a regular walk through the field and woods to check things out.
We also play with his "chuck it" ball 4-6 times a day for about 20 minutes per time. He is the most muscular lab I have ever seen.
Then when I let him out to go potty, he runs around does his business play with the snow and sticks and then comes back inside.
He is very well exercised, he is only destructive with his toys. He has never touched anything of ours, even as a puppy he has never chewed our stuff.
For a lab, he is relatively laid back.
He also comes out with me every night to take care of my ducks and chickens. That gives him another 10 minutes he usually jun runs around.
But he prefers to be inside by the wood stove, I always thought I lucked out when I brought him home as a pup to how relaxed and well behaved he has been.
But now that he is neutered, I will probably be upping the exercise because I do not want him getting fat at such a young age. The closest pet smart to me is 3 hours. Petco is closer at 2 hours.
Maybe I will look online for that toy.

 

[nicole camp]

He sounds like a lucky boy! I use my Lab for pheasant hunting with our Brittany Spaniel. You should post a picture I would love to see him

 

[zoe95423]

How do I post a picture? I love showing him off!
When he got fixed the senior vet tech said he was the absolutely most gorgeous lab she had ever seen in her 15 years of being there. I love him, he is a blessing to have in my life.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

To add a picture, you just click the little button above where you type your post and it comes up with a few options. One should be to upload the photo from your computer. Select the photo and then follow the options. You should be able to choose the size of the photo and then hit ok and it should show up in the space where you type out your post.

As for your dog, I think redirecting his behavior to something else will be your best bet. You mentioned you tried kongs and they didn't work, but have you tried the black kongs for extra strong chewers? You could probably order one online if you think it would work for you. The peanut butter is a great idea if you can find something to put it in! Another great thing is those puzzle balls you put treats in. They have some large ones that they roll around to get the treats out. They are pretty large and difficult to grip to chew, so it may be a good option for supervised activity time.

 

[zoe95423]

I guess I should mention, I am on my cell phone. We do not have good internet out here in the middle of no where, so I'm stuck always using my phone.

He has destroyed the black kings, like I said we have tried every shape, size, color of Kong toys. One he figures out how to destroy one, they all get destroyed.
I have seen those puzzle toys for dogs, and thought they looked fun, but at the time was Christmas shopping, so figured I should buy what I went there for before spending money on extras.
Ruger loves peanut butter, we actually get him his own. For his skin. They sell it at Petco, and we figured we would try it. He loves it.

 

[zoe95423]