Why Does My Dog Lick My Ears? (6 Must-Know Reasons)
Quick Answer
If you share your life with a dog, you may have wondered at some stage why your furry friend likes to lick your ears.
Is he trying to tell you something? Is it an affectionate gesture, or is he just looking to bond?
In this article, I’ll explore six intriguing reasons why dogs lick people’s ears.
And if you’re not really into it, I’ll also offer some advice on how to discourage your dog’s licking.
Why do dogs lick your face?
Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years, but they still retain many of the behaviors of their wild ancestors.
One of these is face licking, which often occurs when dogs meet each other or when a dog greets his owner.
While the behavior may seem odd to us, it actually has a very important purpose. Face licking is thought to be an evolutionary remnant of a behavior that was once common among wolf puppies.
When the puppies were born, they were unable to digest solid food and so they depended on their mother’s milk for sustenance.
However, as they grew older and their teeth began to come in, they needed to start eating solid food in order to survive.
To help them transition from milk to solid food, wolf puppies would lick the mouths of adult wolves as a way to get them to regurgitate partially digested food.
This allowed the puppies to slowly transition to a more solid diet without having to hunt for their own food.
While domesticated dogs no longer need to rely on regurgitated food from their mother or other adults, the face-licking behavior has persisted.
But face licking – including the ears – also serves several other important purposes, so let’s take a look.
#1. Bonding
Face licking helps puppies bond with their littermates and with their mothers.
When puppies lick their mom’s and each other’s faces, they release bonding hormones such as oxytocin, which “contributes to everyday well-being and ability to handle stress.” (Uvnäs-Moberg et al., 2015).
This helps puppies form close attachments with their canine family members.
A study by Siniscalchi et al. (2018) confirms that social cohesion is “maintained by specific activities,” including social grooming.
“‘Face washing” (i.e. licking the other animal’s face) or ‘nibble’ grooming, using the front teeth and rapid jaw open–close movements” are a significant part of this bonding activity, explain Siniscalchi et al. (2018).
#2. Grooming and allogrooming
Mutual grooming (aka allogrooming) serves as an important bonding ritual between mother and pup.
By licking her puppies, the mother shows them affection and also keeps them clean.
The puppies, in turn, learn to trust their mother and rely on her as a source of comfort.
This early bond is important for the puppies’ development and helps to ensure they will grow into well-adjusted adults.
As puppies grow up into adult dogs, licking remains part of their grooming routine. Dogs will groom both themselves and each other (known as allogrooming) by licking and nibbling.
Some dogs also extend this grooming behavior to their owners or other preferred humans. If they can’t reach your face, they may even “groom” the closest body part, which is often your hand, arm, or leg (PetMD, 2022).
#3. Sign of affection
Dogs are social creatures and licking another dog’s face or a human’s face is a completely normal and common behavior.
I’ve already talked about bonding and grooming. Showing affection is really just an extension of that.
Some dogs are extra mouthy or licky and will diligently lick your ears, mouth, and face as a sign of their affection.
Our rescued Dubai street dog Daisy was excessively licky. She loved to lick my ears and mouth, and one of her quirky behaviors was to lick my hair when it had just been washed. Excessive licking like this is not for everyone, but I quite enjoyed this canine bonding/grooming ritual even if sometimes the slobber became a bit much!
In any case, the next time your dog licks your ears or your face, remember it’s just your dog’s way of saying how fond of you he is.
#4. Soothing and comfort
When your dog licks you, it might also be because he is trying to make himself feel more comfortable and relaxed.
Some dogs also lick excessively (either their owners or themselves) when they are feeling stressed or nervous, particularly if they have separation anxiety (The Kennel Club, 2022).
Finally, sometimes, if you’re feeling sad your dog may come and lick you as a way to try to comfort you.
Some dogs will even lick your tears away. How beautiful is that? Although maybe they just like the salt (see #6)…
#5. Appeasement gesture
Appeasement gestures can be explained as “nonconfrontational body postures meant to indicate to another individual the desire to interact in a friendly way,” says Dr. Amy Pike.
Dogs have a range of appeasement gestures, including licking ears (as well as lips) in specific contexts.
Other signs include nuzzling, jumping up, paw lifts, pawing motions, “smiling,” teeth clacking, crouching, pretzeling, and play-bows. You may also see the dog’s ears pulled back, with his tail wagging expressively in wide, sweeping movements or circles (Miller, 2006).
“These behaviors can often be seen during greetings between dog and dog owner, or between friendly, compatible dogs,” explains renowned dog trainer Pat Miller.
It’s also important to note that sometimes your dog may lick your ears or face as a way to try to get you to back off and give him some space
“Appeasement behaviours function to reduce or get rid of some part of the interaction which they do not like without using overt aggression,” explains Hall Veterinary Surgery.
#6. Enjoying the taste
Did things just get weird? Or weirder, I should say. We are talking about ear licking after all!
Sometimes dogs just enjoy the taste of your ear, especially if your skin is all salty and sweaty. This is why dogs often lick their owners’ ears after exercise or if they’ve been out in the sun.
Some dogs may also be drawn to the taste of cosmetic products such as sunscreen or lotion that you have applied on your skin.
Maybe that’s why Daisy used to lick my hair – because she liked the taste of my coconut shampoo.
There’s also the possibility that some dogs love the taste of ear wax, just as some cats do. Maybe that’s a little gross but that’s just the way it is!
How can I stop my dog from licking my ears?
If you don’t mind your dog’s behavior, then most likely you are already reinforcing it by allowing your dog to continue.
I used to squirm and laugh when our big pitbull-Labrador cross Maggie used to lick my ears and it became this huge game that she absolutely loved. Who am I kidding? I loved it too!
But as I said earlier, it’s not for everyone. In which case, you can use positive reinforcement to train an incompatible behavior.
This might involve interrupting the licking behavior by throwing some treats down on the ground for your dog to “find,” or giving him an interactive toy to engage with so he can’t perform the unwanted behavior of licking in the first place.
Finally, while occasional ear licking is one thing, sometimes obsessive licking can get to the point where it becomes a behavioral issue or some sort of compulsive disorder.
The best way to approach this is to consult with a certified positive reinforcement trainer to assess your dog’s emotional state and motivation for the behavior and create a tailored behavior change program accordingly.
Why do dogs lick?
First of all, licking is an instinctual behavior in dogs.
Dogs use their mouths and tongues to communicate, show emotion, gain information about their surroundings, and explore their world.
“Depending on the behavioral context, licking can be affinitive (as in greeting another dog, or person), self-directed (as in grooming, attention seeking), or an attempt at self-calming,” explain authors Ha and Campion.
Licking or showing their tongue can be “an affinitive or calming gesture” and dogs might also “lick the air or ritually lick random objects when nervous.”
Licking also has several important functions for mother dogs and their puppies.
First, when mom licks her pups it helps keep the young puppies clean and provides them with comfort and reassurance.
Second, it also encourages the puppies to urinate and defecate, which helps to keep their den clean.
Is it dangerous to let my dog lick my ears?
Dog saliva is not a health risk for people with healthy skin, but it is not healthy to let a dog lick an open wound due to the risk of infection, according to PetMD.
PetMD references a bacteria carried in a dog’s saliva that has been responsible for a handful of cases of illness reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bacteria in question, Capnocytophaga canimorsus, is found in both dogs and cats and is harmless to them.
“However, in cases where an individual has a compromised immune system, there is potential for the bacteria to cause an infection. The bacteria has to enter the skin through an open wound, such as from a bite or a cut on the skin.
“Typically the dog has to have a high concentration of that particular bacteria, and their saliva has to come into contact with the open wound,” explains PetMD.
Elsewhere, Godey et al. (1999) reported that “a patient with right-sided chronic purulent otorrhoea developed meningitis due to Pasteurella multocida transmitted by a dog that frequently licked his ear.”
This led the researchers to recommend that “patients with a perforated tympanic membrane should avoid being licked on their ears by animals.”
So, while uncommon, these are definitely things to be aware of.
Is it a sign of submission when my dog licks my ears?
I’ve seen a lot of articles about this on the web, but no, it’s not a sign of submission. It’s not a sign of respect either.
It’s nothing to do with your dog “submitting” to an alleged higher-ranking member of the pack. This is old-school thinking that has been refuted by science for many years now.
At most, the licking behavior can be an appeasement gesture, as I explained earlier.
Can dogs sniff out an ear infection?
Dogs have a keen sense of smell and can sniff out malaria and various forms of cancer.
They can also detect if a patient is about to go into epileptic seizure or have a narcoleptic moment, help diabetics know when their blood sugar level is dropping or spiking, and predict migraines (Rozenbaum, 2020).
So it’s entirely possible if your dog persists in trying to lick your ears there may be some kind of medical issue going on in your ear canal that might be worth getting checked out.
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Resources
- Beware of dogs licking ears – Dr. Benoit Godey, Xavier Morandi, Prof Julien Bourdinière, & Christine Heurtin
- Calming Signals – The Art of Survival – Turid Rugaas
- Canine Body Language Basics – Amy L. Pike
- Communication in Dogs – Marcello Siniscalchi, Serenella d’Ingeo, Michele Minunno, and Angelo Quaranta
- Dog Behavior: Modern Science and Our Canine Companions – James C. Ha and Tracey L. Campion
- How To Tell When Your Dog Actually Wants To Be Patted – Hall Veterinary Surgery
- Self-soothing behaviors with particular reference to oxytocin release induced by non-noxious sensory stimulation – Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg, Linda Handlin, and Maria Petersson
- The Role of Oxytocin in the Dog–Owner Relationship – Sarah Marshall-Pescini, Franka S. Schaebs, Alina Gaugg, Anne Meinert, Tobias Deschner, and Friederike Range
- The science of sniffs: disease smelling dogs – Mia Rozenbaum
- Understanding Dog Appeasement Signals – Pat Miller
- Why Do Dogs Lick Your Face, and Is It a Problem? – PetMD
- Why does my dog lick me so much? – The Kennel Club
- Why Is My Dog Licking Me? – Mary Robins
NEED A DOG TRAINER OR BEHAVIOR EXPERT? If you need more help dealing with a training or behavior issue, please find professional help from a force-free dog trainer who can consult with you either in person or remotely. GOOD PLACES TO START ARE: - COAPE Association of Pet Behaviourists and Trainers - Pet Dog Trainers of Europe - International Companion Animal Network - Institute of Modern Dog Trainers - Pet Professional Guild All dog owners deserve to have successful relationships with their canine companions!
