Teaching a dog to kiss may sound a bit strange since (1) dog kissing is really licking, and (2) dogs naturally lick anyway. But this article doesn’t suggest ways to teach a dog how to kiss per se. It instead, suggests ways to teach a dog when to kiss! A few kisses are fine for many of us, but some dogs take it beyond a comfortable level and continue to kiss until they’re forced to stop. Here’s how to teach your dog to kiss on command so you’re not inundated with canine loving unless you want to be.

Giving Kisses

Get a gentle hold on the dog so that you can push him away when needed. Then place your face near the dog’s face and give the dog your personal "kiss" command. This command could be the word, "kiss" or "kisses" or it could be the sound that a human kiss makes. The typical dog will automatically lick your face whether you give it a command or not, but by associating the act with the command, the dog will eventually give you kiss only when you tell it to. If your dog isn’t a licker, entice it with a dab of something flavorful spread across your cheek. We don’t recommend that you use anything that smells or tastes like the dog food that it eats because that may trigger a yummy-human correlation. And we certainly don’t want that for obvious reasons! Decide how many licks or kisses are enough and then remove gently push the dog’s chest back while you give it the "enough" or "stop" command. If you like, you can reward the dog with a treat however we’re pretty confident that the opportunity to lick natural salts off your skin is reward enough.

Getting Kisses

Here, you want the opportunity to give your dog a kiss. You can ask the dog, "Wanna kiss?" so that it will associate the question/command with the act that follows. Gently wrap your hand around the dog’s muzzle to keep it shut (unless you’re open to getting kissed first) and then kiss the dog’s head or cheek. Once the dog responds to the question/command in a calm manner, try it without restraining its muzzle, but always be prepared for the unpredictable behavior of all dogs. You can reward a gentle acceptance of your affection with a treat, or with the opportunity to kiss you back!