Joxer had a lot of issues when I brought him home. One of which was that he would excessively groom himself. Primarily, he would lick is forelegs. Licking and licking and licking.

I adopted Joxer through a Collie rescue group in October of 2001. He had been in rescue for eight months when I adopted him. They believed he was in the 2 to 3 year old range.

Joxer was a Smooth Coat Collie. Most people who are familiar with Collies are familiar with the Rough Coat Collie, like Lassie. The Smooth Coat is a shorter coat.

He was afraid of many things in life. He was scared to death of children. The squeak sound of squeaker toys. Balls of any kind. Loud beeping type noises, like when your microwave beeps when it's done. Or most other electronic devices that make loud beeping type noises. Anything dropping or flying through the air. Do not throw a toy!

Joxer had a rough start to life. I could tell from the issues I saw that his original family was not good to him. Joxer feared many things that should have been either no big deal or should have been great loves for him.

If you grow up in a household, normal household noises should not send you into a panic. If you grow up in a healthy household with kids, you should love – and know how to play with – kids and toys. He was quite afraid of kids. Quite afraid of balls and squeaky toys and things tossed through the air. He had no clue how to play with toys.

Then in rescue, for eight months, he spent much of his time in a kennel. Though the rescue dogs would get some time in the house, they were rotated around through the kennels, so much of his time there was little enrichment.

Joxer didn't really know how to be a dog. He didn't love a lot of “normal dog things” because no one ever gave him the chance.

So let's go back to his excessive licking that I mentioned earlier. . .

According to Petmd (and plenty of other resources) excessive licking or grooming in dogs can have several possible causes:

Infections or skin conditions? Allergies? Pain? Nausea? Other health issues? Anxiety or behavioral issues? Boredom?

So which of the possible causes was it for Joxer?

When he first came to me, he excessively licked his forelegs every single day. For long periods.

However, as I got him into a regular routine, I began to see a change. Our daily routine included time in the backyard, two walks per day, daily training time, and regular time with me getting attention and love.

As we got into this new routine, guess what happened? His licking decreased. As we did more to stimulate his brain and pull him out of his shell of fear, he stopped licking entirely except for very occasional licking that any dog might do.

What was the cause of his licking? For him, it was clearly anxiety.  And boredom.

Much like zoo animals trapped in small cages would do, you see stereotypic behaviors develop because of anxiety and boredom and the inability to perform normal behaviors for that species. You can read more about stereotypies (non-human) here.

Joxer was not able to be a “normal” dog for so long that he developed these stereotypic behaviors to cope with his very small world. These behaviors were self-soothing to him. This was how he coped with his very limited world.

Adding things that most of us would consider normal for a dog gave him outlets he did not previously have. Or did not have enough of. That enabled him to eventually eliminate those excessive licking stereotypic behaviors. He no longer needed them to cope with life.

There can be several different reasons for a dog excessively licking.  Fortunately, I was able to determine the cause for his licking and resolve it entirely.

Joxer was with me until August of 2008. He lived out the remainder of his life with a very full happy life.

Does your dog lick or groom excessively? Have you determined the cause and had success in reducing or eliminating it?

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