Why do dogs lick you? Expert explains

When a canine showers you pinch kisses, it's often to show you affection — but there's besides a logic that's rooted successful their evolutionary history.

To amended understand nan reasoning down a dog's licks, Dr. Alexandra Horowitz, a canine cognition interrogator and bestselling writer of "The Year of nan Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves," told "CBS Mornings Plus" connected Thursday that we should look astatine their ancestors. 

Dogs are descended from wolves and erstwhile wolves hunt and return to their pack, past each of nan different wolves swarm them and lick astir their face.

"The logic they do that is they're asking nan wolf to regurgitate a small spot of what they conscionable hunted," Horowitz explained. "So, your dog's lick of you erstwhile you travel location is perfectly a greeting — you know, they're happy to spot you. But also, it's a small spot of a petition for immoderate you conscionable ate."

They're besides utilizing a lick to get accusation astir nan world.

"They're smelling you by licking you," Horowitz added.

Deciphering your dog's behavior

Dog owners often judge they tin understand their pets, identifying whether their canine is barking to spell connected a walk, begging for nutrient aliases trying to find their trapped tennis ball.

"On immoderate level, they are communicating pinch us. We're not ever bully astatine interpreting what they're saying," said Horowitz.

For example, you tin easy show erstwhile a dog has a "guilty look," putting their ears backmost aliases whimpering. But nan logic down this whitethorn not beryllium what you think.

"It turns retired that [guilty look] is really conscionable a consequence to america and our reasoning that they've done thing wrong. It's a submissive aliases appeasing behaviour that they put connected that's ace tiny and it's a petition to not beryllium punished. And it usually works," Horowitz said.

We tin besides construe our dog's feelings by looking astatine their tails.

"It's much than conscionable happiness," Horowitz said.

A debased tail wag betwixt nan legs tin correspond anxiety, interest aliases nervousness. A existent precocious tail wag, for illustration a flag, tin correspond thing a canine is willing in.

Parallel worlds 

While dogs are really bully astatine fitting into nan quality world, they acquisition nan world otherwise than us.

"The measurement we spot nan world — dogs smell it... They're surviving successful a benignant of parallel beingness to us," Horowitz. "We should fto them sniff things. We should admit that that's really they're seeing nan world."

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• Dogs
• Dog Breed