# Obsessive licking and sniffing???



## Delboy.d (Aug 3, 2009)

Hello, Newbie to these boards and I was just wondering if anybody had any ideas/answers about a friends dogs behaviour?

Now I know that licking and sniffing is all part of a dogs make up, and some do it more than others, but I have a friend whose 2 year old Sheltie seems to be obsessed with it.
I have a 11 month old Beagle and all the Sheltie does is follow around my dog and lick his ears, bottom and bits. Now my dog doesn't seem to mind the licking and sniffing but the Sheltie always then tries to 'mount' my dog and this sets my dog off barking and baying (loudly as he's a beagle) in the Shelties face. 
I find it quite sad as the Sheltie doesn't seem to want to play with any dogs at all. When we are out walking and we meet other dogs the Sheltie is in full on obsessive sniffing mode and it has led to him beening 'told off' a few times by other dogs. 
Is this normal behaviour?
Now the Shelties owners didn't really socialize the dog from an early age, so I wonder if this is just the dog not having proper dog social etiqutte(?).

Also, another issue is when the Sheltie comes around he tries to leave his mark over all my dogs bedding. I now have to put my dogs bedding out of the way when the Sheltie comes over to stop this behavour. The Sheltie is housetrained in his own house, and I can see why he marks in my garden but why is he doing it in my house?
How to I correct the behaviour?

Cheers in advance for any info/help


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

Is the sheltie castrated? Could be that something about your beagle is rather appealing to him. Could possibly explain the marking aswell.


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## Delboy.d (Aug 3, 2009)

The Sheltie isn't castrated, but the Beagle is. 
The Sheltie is like this with all the dogs that we meet though.


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## Nonnie (Apr 15, 2009)

Delboy.d said:


> The Sheltie isn't castrated, but the Beagle is.
> The Sheltie is like this with all the dogs that we meet though.


A lot of castrated males give off a rather feminine scent. Sounds like normal (but unwanted) sexual behaviour.

The shelties owner needs to do some training.

Mounting really is a very normal behaviour, but if an owner says "no" or "off" then the dog should listen. If they arent prepared to train, they either need to keep him on lead around other dogs, of accept that he may get snapped at.

Would be interesting to know how many of the dogs he mounts are castrated.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Sounds like the sheltie is a confirmed sex pest! Has he been used as a stud dog in the past? It quite often happens that a neutered male dog will be pestered and mounted by an entire male - the hormones that give the neutered dog a 'male' smell are removed, entire male dogs get confused and assume if it's not male it must be female and therefore.....
Even if the sheltie's owners had him neutered, he may well carry on with this behaviour as there will be a significant element of habit to it. His owner needs to take this behaviour in hand and do some consistent training to stop him. Frankly, I would not let this dog in my house!
Not playing with other dogs may be related, but some dogs just don't play much with other dogs, however well socialised they are. My dog rarely plays with other dogs, though she's happy to play alongside them with me or the other dog's owner (or anyone else who comes along for that matter)!


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## Guest (Aug 3, 2009)

agreed - that sounds like quite "normal" sexual behaviour on the part of an entire male towards a neutered one - its up to the owner of the entire male to get some training done here and teach his dog that mounting is not an acceptable behaviour...
However depending on the dogs you may never be able to have them play together as the entire dog may still remain (more quietly) obsessed by the "feminine" scent of your castrated boy...


xx


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