Licking... soothing or annoying?

[Horsefeathers!]

Ok, you've just settled down in bed for a peaceful night of uninterrupted slumber (one can wish, right?). As you're dozing off, it begins. The ritualistic "slurrup, saloop, shlep, shalop" of their nightly grooming routine. The bed gently rocks to the rhythm of the licking. They might be licking their feet, another dog, whatever. It's just a subtle, seemingly (to them) soothing carressing motion.

Now...

Do you find this soothing and drift peacefully off to sleep, or do you come unhinged and start screeching, "KNOCK IT OFF!!" causing your significant other to come up muttering, "hey, what the...?" I fall into the latter category and I've found that most people have no middle ground on this. It's either soothing or it's extremely annoying. It grates on my nerves and gives me absolute fits. I HATE it when they do that. They have all day to do it when I'm not home, but I can't stand it when I'm trying to sleep. I'm not a particularly light sleeper, but the sound of that snarking and shalooping will wake me from a sound sleep. To call it a pet peeve is an understatement. I can put up with many things... their snoring, farting, dream racing, karate kicks to my gut, and various other things during the night, but that licking sends me through the roof.

What about you?

[Carolk9s]

I can hardly stand the sound, I try and be patient, give the dog a couple of minutes, then tell them to knock it off or go into the other room.
When I first saw the thread subject, I thought you were referring to another licking behaviour that some like and some cannot stand.
I cannot stand a dog to lick my hands beyond a quick swipe, drives me nuts if they want to wash my hands for me! However, Jesse likes to wash my feet, this will dang near put me into a trance. I find it SO relaxing and soothing for him to wash my feet, even though the nibbles wake me right up!

[Guest Anonymous]

I hate it! Drives me up a wall. And not only do they lick themselves, they lick each other, eyes, ears, private areas! I just can't tolerate it. I don't mind the licking so much during the day when there's music playing or the tv is on but in the dead silence? No way, just can't listen to it.

[abker17]

HATE IT. I absolutly cannot stand it!!!!! The minute Abby starts up I yell at her to cut it out. :oops: :-? :roll: UGH even the thought *shiver* yep drives me nuts....

[Aonir]

It doesn't bother me.. mainly because Amaya doesn't really clean herself much!

[kendalyn]

nope, it doesn't bother me at all. I only have one dog though. Maybe if it were multiplied a bunch of times it might get on my nerves :-)

[bk_blue]

BK is a quiet cleaner so it doesn't really bother me. He grooms his front paws the most, in fact that's about all he does. :lol:

[Queen Bitch]

Oh god, it drives me batty! A guy I used to date had a Pug that would lick his jeans or socks or whatever else was sweaty and gross. ( He was a bike messenger( the guy was, not the Pug :lol: ), so there was a lot of sweat.) I put anything of mine that I wasn't currently wearing, like uh......socks.......up on top of the dresser and would usually get up and move all of his stuff too. Fortunately it isn't hard to put dirty clothes out of a Pug's reach.
I could deal with the snorts and snores and other sounds that he made ( the dog this time, not the guy, though he snorted and snored too :wink: .) but oh god, anything but the licking.

I also hate being licked by a dog. I can stand a few licks to the hand but anything else, arg. But my reason for that is because it gives me hives, I don't mind the licking itself, but the aftermath of it.

[marion]

Thank god it's not just me. It drives me insane when I'm trying to sleep at night. :x Mostly Rosie, slurp, slurp, slurp. She turns over a lot too, into the wall, into the door, back to the wall etc etc and the noise of this drives me mad also, plus her snoring when she's not licking or turning. :roll:

[Daisysmom]

I can't stand it!!! Daisy is big on it, especially on MY BED :o I usually stop her :oops: She leaves a nice little wet mark right about the middle of my side of the bed :roll:

[Horsefeathers!]

Well, I'm so relieved that it isn't just me. I just knew I was going to raise the temper of someone who believes I would surely be going to doggy h*ll for damaging their little psyches by depriving them of a perfectly normal, natural activity which is probably vital for their mental wellbeing. *blah!*

My husband, who IS a light sleeper, thinks I'm totally nutso for coming apart at the seams when they do this. He doesn't particularly enjoy it, but it really doesn't bother him, either. I told him I thought he was just a weirdo. This proves it. :D

[imported_nea]

I'm one of those knobheads... :lol: I have a hard time sleeping [i]without[/i] my dog's licking, guinea pig's fighting/chewing hay/talking, and mice's squeaking. :P

[MajiesMom]

The part of licking that drives me crazy.... Magic is obsessive compulsive about licking the cushions, arms and pillows on the couch and I've sat on a soaking wet spot that she had been licking for a long while a couple of times.
She never really cleans herself and she doesn't make gross or annoying noises, it

[drjeffrock]

Oh Kira drives me up the wall. She is a psycho about keeping herself clean. The other night I almost lost my mind, she was licking away at 2am (I had to wake up at 5) and finally she stopped. I took a deep breath and thanked the lord for letting me go back to sleep. She got up, went over to Dexter as he is sleeping, and SLURP, SLURP, SLURP. LOL, he is very, very dirty and never cleans himself. Thank goodness we have Kira around :angel: (xcept at 2am, hehe.)

[DogPaddle]

Kavik is not so bad but Zaphod has SuperLoudSuperLongLick Mode, he is such a freak, I try to tolerate it but eventually I have to tell him to knock it off.

[StarFox]

I don't realy care to be honest. But I guess that's because when I say "bedtime" Zebra actually goes to bed and falls asleep. He does clean himself durring the day and I don't care. Unless he is licking himself to the point where his fur is all wet and matted.

[Holz_Boomer]

looks like the majority of people say annoying. lol but lots of people dont mind either way.

i dont have a problem with it, because, my dogs never really do it! i guess im considered a lucky one? :wink: