Why do dogs lick our faces, but sniff eachother?

Answer 1

Dogs meet and greet each other through smell. Just by sniffing a dogs behind, they can tell their sex, their age, their status, etc. They have very powerful noses. We have 5 million sensors in our noses compared to the 20 million dogs have. They also send out information about themselves through their anal glands - when they poop, they leave new info about themselves! Crazy, but true.

Oh, and when they lick our faces, it would be the same as wolf pups licking the Alpha wolf's face in the pack. Not that we are an alpha dog, because we aren't. The dog just looks to us as they would an elder.

Answer 2

Dogs lick for a number of reasons. They lick to groom themselves and others. Mothers lick their puppies to clean them and stimulate their urination and defecation. Older puppies and the young of wild canids (relatives of the dog such as wolves) lick the mouths of the adults as a greeting to stimulate them to regurgitate. The puppies eat this regurgitated food as they are weaned from their mother and begin to eat solid food. As the puppies grow older, the licking becomes a way of welcoming others back into the pack and increasing the bonds between the pack members.

This last reason for licking (greeting and begging) is probably the one that has developed into the licking tendency of pet dogs. Licking is a way our pet dogs can greet us, say 'glad you're back!' and strengthen their relationship with us. ♥

Answer 3

We teach them when they are puppies to lick us with our reaction to it. It's not just us they lick either, they lick each other too. My dogs will lick all over each others faces all the time. It's a sign of affection just like kisses are for us. Oh, in case you haven't noticed, dogs sniff us too.

Answer 4

THEY LICK US BECAUSE WE ARE DIFFRENT IN SHAPE SO THEY CANT SMELL OWER BUTTS SO THE LICK US TO GET A SCENCE OFFELL AS IF THEY WERE BLIND