Why Do Dogs Lick Your Face When You Cry? Explained

The dog is an animal that is very sensitive to his loved one’s mood. He can easily understand happiness and sadness apart.

If you’re a dog parent, you must have already experienced their reactions to your mood changes. But why do dogs do this? How do they read moods? That’s what we’re going to check out.

Why do dogs lick your face when you cry? It’s a gesture in dogs that show their love and affection. They can pick up our emotions through their extremely powerful senses, and when he does, if you’re sad and crying, he’ll try to take away your worries by licking your face.

But, did you know that our furry friends will not only sense our emotions, but our moods affect them too? Yes, that’s true.

If your pup is giving you those puppy dog eyes and sad faces, that means he’s genuinely sad and concerned. And unlike humans, their emotions are pure. How sweet is that?

Why Do Dogs lick Your Face When You Cry? 

As I explained before, our four-legged friends have significantly heightened senses. They are also always alert about you and watch your moves.

And it’s common for dogs to come to you and lick your face if they see that you’re crying, but why do they do it? 

There are several reasons that answer your question about why dogs lick your face when you cry. 

Some of them are;

• Your Pet Is Responding Towards Your Emotional State

Instinctively, they’ll try to comfort you when you’re down and feeling low. It shows off their love and affection towards you.

So it’s really not a surprise that people use dogs as service dogs in hospices and other medical facilities. 

• Love For The salty Taste Of Tears

Everybody knows that our tears have a nice salt taste. Therefore, your pet might be enjoying and finding this salty taste appetizing. 

• Your Dog Is Highly Curious

When you’re sad, you give out a completely different aura than your usual one. Pets around you can feel it and will know in an instant that you’re not your normal self. And I don’t have to explain how curious our four-legged friends are. 

You must have experienced their sometimes annoying curiosity if you have a canine at home. And if you’re wondering why dogs lick your face when you cry, they may be simply asking you what happened. 

Don’t worry!

You can share all your worries and secrets with your pet. He’s your best friend and won’t shed a word of your secrets to anyone else except his other animal friends. 

When you’re crying, it’s natural for your pet to bark, whine, or run around panickedly rather than licking tears off your face.

Can Dogs Sense When You’re Crying? 

Yes, they can. We, humans, are the most emotional species in the world. We experience a variety of different moods throughout the day. 

Our fluffy’s got a very sharp nose and defective skills. Using them, he can detect all the different hormones created inside our bodies when we’re emotional. Sometimes, they spot our changes simply by watching our behavior. 

As reported by recent studies, they cannot only smell fear but also identify all our sentiments just by smelling us. It also makes them easy to train as service dogs. 

Just like how you ease wrecked minds by playing, talking, and hugging them, people who need emotional support seek the help of dogs in medical centers and hospices.

These pups are trained to respond accordingly and help the people in need without panicking. 

Since your doggy is not, you might sometimes notice erratic and unusual behavior in the dog when you’re going through emotions. 

But, don’t worry a bit. Your best friend is very concerned about you. Moreover, you might feel like your best friend is sniffing your face out whenever you’re upset and sitting in a quiet corner crying.

He’ll get in your face and sniff you like you’re someone suspicious. They mostly do that to confirm what they feel and want to ensure that you’re really sad and crying.

Why Does My Dog Get In My Face When I Cry? 

He’s observing you. It’s another cue of curiosity. Whenever the dog senses something odd about your behavior, he’ll get in your face within seconds.

It’s another reason we discussed earlier as to why dogs lick your face when you cry. He’ll invade your privacy, come at your face and lick and sniff you. 

As we doggo parents know well, our pets are the perfect ones to give a reassuring hug while we’re upset. When he starts getting in your face and sniffing or licking, let him.

Believe me; it’s the best medicine to calm you down. Then after he’s done, you can hug him for eternity. 

I used to play the sad game with my dog. Whenever I sit in a corner, pull my legs towards me, hide my face and make crying sounds, he’ll come running to me, even if he’s in the middle of chewing his favorite snack or having an intense game with his favorite toy.

He’ll suddenly appear in front of me and get in my face even though there are no emotional hormones he can smell. That’s entirely based on the observations.

Why Do Dogs Lick You When You’re Upset?

Really! Why do dogs lick your face when you cry?; or when you are upset? 

Licking is one of the main signs that dogs do to show how he’s feeling. I’m sure whenever you go out, leaving him at home, and come back after a few hours, your puppy will come running to you and be over the moon to see you.

He’ll sniff your legs, circle around you, and lick your feet. That’s how he conveys his happiness and joy to you. 

The same thing happens when you’re sad as well. He’ll start licking you all over especially targeting your face if you’re reachable to him. This time, it’s how he shows his affection and empathy for you. 

I mentioned earlier that your mood could affect your pet’s mood too. This licking may signify to you that the pooch is now anxious and sad. Now he’s saying to you, “oh dear! What happened? Please don’t cry or be upset. It’s making me sad too.” 

Oh, I wish our pups could talk! Then they’ll become a flawless and perfect best friend to all of us humans. 

So have you got your answers to the question of why dogs lick your face when you cry? How does it make you feel when they do that? 

If you have any more questions, please forward them to us, and we’ll try to answer them to the best of our abilities.

Thank you for reading this post. Stay tuned with Jack Russell Owner for more interesting posts about your favorite dog breed. Have a wonderful day!