Dogs have a lot of quirky behaviors. Some make sense, others don’t, some are funny, while others are puzzling. And, for better or for worse, some of those weird behaviors can also be symptoms of unpleasant health conditions. So, if you’re wondering “why do dogs lick the air?” – the answer is often exactly one of those worrying behaviors.
Many times, licking the air might just be a quirk – something done out of boredom or confusion. So, differentiating between the harmless and harmful causes of this behavior can be a bit challenging. So, we’ll try to list all possible causes below and explain what makes each of them special. Let’s get into it!
Why Do Dogs Lick the Air: 11 Normal and Harmless Reasons
Of course, a lot of the reasons why dogs lick their noses, their upper lips, and the air in front of them, are harmless. We are in no way saying that every time your pup is licking its nose, you should rush to the vet. So, while we’ll mention some worrying exceptions later in the article, let’s start with the harmless explanations for this behavior.
1. Hunger
This is the simplest and most common reason for licking the air. It’s as intuitive as it sounds – it’s caused by the excitement and anticipation of food. It’s similar to a human getting their mouth full of saliva when food is mentioned, seen, or smelt (our bodies do this involuntarily).
In dogs, there are lots of digestive enzymes that activate when the dog is hungry, which further leads to more licking. So, if you’re only seeing your dog lick the air before mealtime, it’s probably nothing serious. Even if it’s not yet time for food but you’re cooking something, the dog may be licking the air out of excitement for that.
2. Thirst
This is another very simple and obvious cause. Your dog’s mouth can get dry sometimes, at which point the pooch will start licking to produce more saliva. While this isn’t a major cause of concern, it does mean that you should give your dog some water as soon as possible.
Dogs can get dehydrated or overheated easily, especially in the heat of the summer and/or during long hikes. As such, licking the air can be a symptom of dehydration. At the same time, even if your dog isn’t dehydrated but is exceptionally thirsty all the time, this can be a symptom of polydipsia.
Differentiating between either of those and normal thirst is all a matter of frequency and severity. Always seek a veterinarian’s professional opinion to help you differentiate this.
3. Pleasure
This is another one of the simplest explanations for this question. Similar to the wagging of a tail, licking the air can be done purely out of excitement, happiness, and pleasure.
4. Stress Relief
Stress relief is also a possible explanation. Similar to how people often play with their hair, chew their nails, or other such behaviors, licking the air can be calming for dogs. So, if you only see your dog do this occasionally and in stressful situations, it can simply mean that your dog is trying to calm himself down.
5. Mimicking Licking
If you are petting or scratching your dog somewhere, the dog may mimic licking itself as a response. This is similar to the dog moving its back leg when you’re scratching its ear. Both behaviors are instinctual and are nothing to be worried about.
6. Mouth Cleaning
Dogs cleaning their mouth is common, and it looks as if the dog is licking the air. In reality, however, the dog likely has something stuck between its teeth. It can be as simple as the dog’s teeth being dirty because of a lack of dental hygiene, and/or a lack of chewing toys at home.
Or, it could just be that the dog has eaten something sticky such as peanut butter.
7. Smelling of the Air
The “flehmen response” is when an animal curls up their upper lip and wrinkles their nose. Dogs are also guilty of doing this. Dogs do this to expose the organ located in their nose to better sense the many smells around them. However, this action often looks like the dog is licking the air because it tries to push its lip up using its tongue.
So if you’re wondering if your dog is trying to lick the air, it’s probably just trying to smell new scents.
8. Boredom
Having nothing to do can easily be another reason for this behavior. There really isn’t much more to this – it’s just something your dog may do from time to time if there is nothing else to do. Of course, you don’t want your dog to be bored too often as that can lead to some unpleasant conditions down the line.
We’ll mention some of them below. So if you’re wondering why dogs lick the air, make sure your pup isn’t bored first of all.
9. Comfort
The dog trying to comfort itself can also be expressed by licking the air.
If you notice this behavior during thunderstorms or after you’ve scolded your pooch about something, that’s normal.
10. Attention Seeking
Seeking attention can also be expressed in this way. Dogs are smart – if they notice that we always pet them or even just giggle when they lick their nose, they’ll start doing that more and more often. It’s a reverse Pavlovian response in a way – the dog knows we react in a certain way to the licking and it tries to reproduce that reaction.
11. Confusion
Confusion may be another reason for licking the air. It can be an instinctive reaction to confusing circumstances, or an attempt to better smell the air and understand what’s happening around them. Either way, this is a pretty harmless reason too.
Neurological Explanations for Why Dogs Lick the Air
So let’s now talk about the more potentially unfortunate causes of this behavior. There are a few neurological and psychological explanations you’d want to avoid.
Some of them are avoidable, but others aren’t.
1. Cognitive Dysfunction
This is not uncommon for some senile dogs. This can include Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia etc. Some of the symptoms of such conditions include changes to the sleep cycle, fewer interactions with you, and overall apathy, as well as increased licking of the air.
2. Compulsive Behaviors
Compulsive disorders in dogs aren’t that different from compulsive disorders in humans. This includes OCD. Such disorders can cause the person or dog to start repeating certain actions under specific circumstances, or even seemingly without reason. Think of a person with OCD who needs to frequently turn the lights off and on again.
In dogs, such behaviors can include licking their paws, patting their foot on the floor, howling, whining, or just licking the air. Experts argue that this can help them reduce their stress in some cases. However, even when that doesn’t happen, the action is still compulsory.
Unfortunately, this condition doesn’t seem to be curable.
3. Anxiety, Stress, and Depression
We touched upon those a bit above when we talked about boredom and stress. However, chronic anxiety and depression can be much more significant than just a bit of stress caused by a thunderstorm. If your dog is under a lot of stress, this can lead to a myriad of other health concerns.
In those cases, noticing the excessive licking of the air can be a helpful symptom to lead you into helping your dog. Things that can lead to chronic anxiety or depression include:
- Being adopted into a new family
- Moving into a new home
- Losing a loved one, be it a fellow pet or a human
- Getting a new family member, be it a new pet or a new person in the household
- Prolonged home renovation work
- An underlying pain or disease
- Unaddressed separation anxiety
- An abusive previous owner
This list is not exhaustive. Fortunately, with the right care, most of these problems and their causes can be addressed.
Serious Medical and Physical Problems That Cause This Behavior
There are quite a few physical causes that can lead to dogs licking the air. These can be both external and internal, with the latter sometimes being annoyingly difficult to spot. In such cases, noticing the excessive licking can be a very helpful diagnostic symptom.
1. Nausea
Nausea in dogs is often followed by licking of the lips, licking of the air, and a bit of drooling. Some dogs will also try to eat some grass when they are feeling nauseous. The underlying causes of the nausea can be numerous – your dog may be about to vomit after eating something bad, for example.
Alternatively, nausea can be a symptom of some nasty problems such as kidney failure, diabetes mellitus, cancer, etc.
2. Allergic Reaction
Allergic reactions can also cause licking of the lips and the air. Dogs suffer from quite a few allergies, especially of the skin. These can be triggered by some bathing and grooming products, medications, outdoor sources, and even by certain types of food.
If a dog has an allergic reaction to something and can’t reach the affected area, it may just lick the air in an attempt to express its discomfort. This can be helpful for you to identify the cause of the allergy and remove it.
3. Chronic Pancreatitis
Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas – an organ near the stomach responsible for regulating blood sugar and certain digestive enzymes. When the pancreas gets inflamed, it releases a digestive secretion that can cause pain, fibrosis of the soft tissues, swelling, and other unpleasant and dangerous effects.
This chronic pain and the often accompanying nausea tend to lead to constant licking of the air.
4. Seizures
Seizures in dogs can result in a lot of different behaviors and physical movements. Often, the dog would just lie on its side and paddle its legs aimlessly.
Partial seizures, however, are often expressed by licking the lips, the air, and other oral movements.
When you first notice your dog licking the air in an unusual way, it’s important not to panic. Chances are that it’s nothing to worry about. So all you need to do at first is just observe your dog and try to identify the cause of the behavior. If none of the more common and harmless reasons seem to be the cause, you may want to contact your vet.
If you don’t want to stress out your dog with an unnecessary trip to the vet, you can first capture the behavior on video and send that to your vet. This can help them get an idea as to what is happening and give you some insight from a distance. If the vet tells you to bring the dog over after that – you should probably do so.
Either it won’t be too serious after all, or you will have caught a major problem early on – both cases are much better than allowing a nasty underlying problem to fester.
Final Thoughts
So, why do dogs lick the air? It can be any of the dozens of different reasons that we mentioned in this article. Fortunately, many of the more common ones are completely harmless. However, this doesn’t mean that you should be complacent.
Especially in older dogs but in mid-aged and younger pups as well, excessive licking of the nose, lips, and the air, can be a signal for underlying issues. So if after a brief observation of your dog’s behavior and visible condition, you still haven’t identified the problem, consulting with a vet is probably for the best.
Vet bills can be unpleasant at times of course. However, the flip side to that is that the sooner you catch a problem, the easier it is to deal with. Fortunately, licking the air is often one of the first symptoms of a lot of conditions, therefore giving you time to react.
