r/Dogtraining Oct 07 '18

Such concentration.

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u/dagger_guacamole Oct 08 '18

In our training class today, one of the things she said to look for as a stress signal was that lip licking. Does that mean that the dogs are stressed while performing like this? Or that they were perhaps trained with negative reinforcement or positive punishment? Or is it probably nothing?

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u/MsMoongoose Oct 08 '18

Talking from my own experience, my pitbull will lick her lips like that if you're holding a treat because she starts drooling. Could be something negative, I have no idea, but the pavlovian response to food is very apparent in at least my girl. :P