Your Dog Might Be Licking Its Mouth Because It Thinks You’re a Jerk
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If your best friend is a dog, this third reaction may be familiar to you. Dogs lick their own mouths, noses and jowls all the time. Certain cuteness-obsessed Internet communities call it a “mlem”; some animal behavior researchers prefer to call it mouth-licking, and offer many possible explanations for the quirky canine behavior. Mouth-licking has been described as a stress-coping mechanism, a spontaneous display of arousal or a way to communicate desire to play with a certain toy or munch a certain treat.
But according to a new study by animal behavior researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, mouth-licking may actually be one of a dog’s best tools for reading and responding to human faces — in particular, angry faces.

“Mouth-licking was triggered by visual cues only,” lead study author Natalia Albuquerque, a doctoral candidate in experimental psychology at the University of Sao Paulo, said in a statement. “There was also a species effect, with dogs mouth-licking more often when looking at humans than at other dogs. Most importantly, the findings indicate that this behavior is linked to the animals’ perception of negative emotions.”