here is my funny for the day

Ok, you both need therapy! Perhaps I should join you as I had the visuals!!!

LOL - I can just see humans trying to teach dogs to do pelvic tilt exercises!!!!
At SAINTS, we'd have to do group lessons for all those leaky critters! Altogether now......

this is my objection to dog behavior books, they are written by human dog behavioralists who like to nicely define everything. when the dogs get to write their own book, i will read it cuz they will write that they lick their lips for lot's of reasons just like we do.

do you know that sometimes tyra lays down, rolls over on her side and pees when she meets someone...trust me, she is not being submissive, or if she is, she is just faking it to suck someone in...it is another trick in her arsenol to get you close enough to jump on.

some dogs pee when they are greeting people cuz they simply have weak bladder muscles that loosen when they are excited, pelvic tilt exercises would fix that.

as soon as we can afford to hire a tour guide/greeter/ babysitter/laundry/mopping/fun,cookie providing, lip licking slave, i am outta here and off to a tropical beach with a pina colotta pink umbrella thingy.

Hmmmm..maybe "submissive" was the wrong word. Virtually every book on canine communication I've ever read lists lip licking as one of the "calming" or "appeasing" signals - the action that says "I'm not a threat to you", kinda like averting one's gaze. And since that's the opposite of what a dominant and/or aggressive dog does, I used the word submissive. But I guess it doesn't have to be - could be neutral.
But I agree with you on one thing - for Phoebe, the whole thing was just a game. That dog has an awesome sense of fun and humour!

Way more.. but Thanks heaps for the laughs !!

You need to get out of the house more.

lip licking is not a sign of submission in dogs (altho some submissive dogs can lick their lips if they want) it can be a stress reducer, like yawning, except lip lickers might bite if they can\'t reduce their stress and yawners almost never do. or it might be that someone has something good to eat and the lip licker wants some too, tally does that ALL the time, he is a great lip licker, or even an extreme nausea with an increased salivation that needs to be dealt with...or one could be lip licking for mindless fun like phebes and me, then it is just a game. there are lot\'s of reasons to lip lick and lot\'s of no reasons for doing it too.
and you are right, neither phoebe nor i are the least bit submissive, so there goes that theory right out the window.... but we sure are good lip lickers even if we don\'t fit the standard.

I think you both need therapy. Lip licking is supposed to be a sign of submission in dogs (it's also something humans can do to appease an aggressive or anxious dog - don't know why I didn't think of that with Murphy this afternoon!). I don't think either one of you particularly fits the description of "submissive" - LOL!

I brake for lizards - too funny!!! By the way, Fred told me he would like his own bed, please. None of this sitting on the cold, hard counter. Something fleecy and soft to soothe his rubbery scaley skin.