Every night it’s the same thing. When you take off your shoes, your dog rushes over to lick your feet. And this even if you let them macerate all day in big hiking shoes or ballet flats. Not that you find this behavior particularly embarrassing, but you would still like to understand the reason for this obsession with your feet.
1. It relaxes him to lick you
It may sound strange, but just as purring soothes cats, licking relaxes dogs. Indeed, licking triggers the release of endorphins, the hormone of happiness and well-being. So, if your dog starts frantically do that your feet, let him enjoy his moment of relaxation!
2. You encouraged him to lick you
Unintentionally, reassure yourself. But it was enough that you react once (by a word, a caress…) when your dog licked your feet to encourage him to start again. Indeed, it does not take much for a dog to learn to detect what makes us react or, on the contrary, what leaves us indifferent. Thus, he knows full well that it is a way to attract your attention so why deprive himself of it?
3. He tries to fill in the gaps
It has been proven that many dogs that have a habit of licking their owner’s feet have digestive or eating disorders. So your dog may be trying to fill in his nutrient deficiencies by licking your feet.
4. He takes care of you
In the animal world, the fact of licking a congener is often synonymous with affection and tenderness. Your dog may think you need to be groomed and, seeing that you don’t do it, he doesn’t hesitate to do it for you.
It’s the same process for cats that fetch prey for their humans. It’s not to give them “gifts”, as we like to think, but because they worry about them. Indeed, they do not see them hunting and therefore think that they do not feed. By going hunting for them, they try to show them the procedure to follow in order to encourage them to go on their own, as their mothers did when they were kittens.
5. He loves the taste of your feet
And if it was simply a matter of taste, in the end?
