Ear Licking Good?

Ruby and Max lick the inside of each other’s ears. All together now – EWWWWWW!

It started with Ruby doing it to Max but then Max started reciprocating the inside ear licking.

I don’t mind the licking per se but the slurping sound….OMG….the slurping…THAT I can’t stand.

So I went to good old Google to figure out this inside the ear licking thing and most importantly, put a stop to the slurping!  Sidenote – if you decide to search the internet for the same information, please for the love of God be sure to add DOG to the search. You so do NOT want to know what comes up if you just type “licking inside the ear”.  I found a variety of answers to my question, most of which were similar and made sense. A multitude of website stated this is normal dog behavior (unless obsessive).

Some of the common reasons for dogs licking the inside of each others ears include:

• sign of affection
• pack politics – the licker is submitting to the lickee and showing respect
• grooming ritual – part of regular grooming in the pack as it is hard to clean inside your own ears without a Q-tip.

My all time favorite answer is that dogs like the taste of ear wax.  GROSS (sidenote: how does one know if a dog likes the taste of earwax? It’s not like they can tell you if you asked them)

VetStreet suggested you bring your dogs to the vet and have their ears checked for an infection. All that moisture from the tongue can cause the inner ear to stay damp, causing a yeast infection. The dog doing the licking can get sick from licking topical medicine.

I did ask my vet about the inside the ear licking thing and he agreed with what the Internet had said as well. All those things can be why Max and Ruby lick the inside of each others ears. I also inquired about how to stop the slurping sound.  Sadly the only way to stop the slurping is to stop the licking.  I’m not sure I am up to the challenge of that.

Do your dogs lick the inside of each other’s ears? Do you let them lick the inside of your ear?