Posted by margegrapes on December 09, 1997 at 08:06:58:

In Reply to: Licking... posted by Todd Biske on November 25, 1997 at 07:03:27:

> My dog, Herb, has recently been "licking the air."
> For minutes at a time, he just keeps licking at
> something we can't see. My guess is he may have
> some irritation in his mouth or throat, but he just
> went to the vet for a dental exam, so the mouth can
> be ruled out. The noise of him licking the air can
> be really annoying, so my wife and I would like to
> find out what may be causing this. Any guesses?

I've only seen a couple of my dogs do this and both times it didn't have anything to do with their mouths or anything on the front end--it was something on the other end. They either had itchy butts or anal glands that were bothering them and they were just stretching their bodies upwards in response to that. Why they lick at the air I don't know--a pekeism I guess.