Health

• Dog will lick their lips and lower their ears when they are feeling nauseated. They might also begin gulping and looking about in an agitated manner.
  
  

Significance

• If a dog starts licking her lips in this manner, she is just about to vomit. Either get her outside quickly, or place newspapers under her to clean up any mess.
  
  

Behavior

• Dogs will also lick the lips of other dogs in greeting. This is one reason they try to lick people's faces and mouths.
  
  

Considerations

• Unfortunately, dogs licking lips of other dogs and people is a good way to spread disease. This is thought to be how disease spread so quickly among African wild dogs in the 1990s, nearly wiping them out.
  
  

Puppies

• Young puppies will lick the lips of their mother to encourage them to regurgitate so the puppies can eat. This is another reason why a dog might lick a person's face.