Dogs are creatures of habit, with many preferring a routine that ensures they eat, go outside and sleep at about the same time each day. So when a family pet starts acting weird, most owners take notice. That was the case for one dog owner, who was worried by her pup's strange behavior. The woman shared on Reddit how her pooch was crying without reason, never leaving her side and continuously licking at her lips. Rather than suggest that the woman take the dog to the vet, commenters advised her that she should be the one seeking medical attention.
Her post read:
"Hello everyone I was hoping for some of you know why my dog is acting so weird. Randomly two days ago my dog started to be very weird around me only. I have a pretty big family and she is not being weird to any of them. Her weirdness includes: being very clingy but flinching when I go to pet her, insisting on sitting with me but crying for no reason, acting like she wants to play but when I go to play she acts like I tried to hurt her, whenever she has access to my face she will like my lips nonstop, and a lot more subtle weird mannerisms. Nothing happened between me and her. Normally I am not her person so she doesn’t follow me around either. The only thing that I can think that happened is she got a hair cut but I was not involved in the process at all. If anyone has any advice or experienced this I would love to know what I can do."
Among those urging her to go to her physician was one person who wrote, "Have you been to the doctor? Dogs can sense when something is wrong health wise. That would be my number one concern in this scenario." Another added, "Just chiming in to ask you to go see a doctor, OP. And no matter what, insist on a full workup and don't let them talk you out of it or gaslight you. Your dog is worried about you." Someone else wrote, "Check your health. I would be worried the dog is detecting something wrong with you. Any new illness? Seizures? Wounds? Pain? Heart issues?" while one more stated, "Definitely go get a full health panel check up. Animals are incredibly in tune with subtle changes in humans and know things that we can't explain them knowing."
Others did suggest she take the dog to the vet, writing things like, "It wants help and it kissing you is its way of telling you. It trusts only you to tell you that it isn't feeling good," however, those who believe the woman's health could be an issue might be on to something. Dogs' noses are incredibly powerful, with many breeds having 50 times the number of smell receptors that humans have, meaning that they can smell and detect everything from viruses and bacteria to diseases to stress in their owners. Since they only have so many ways to alert people about it, strange behaviors could be their way of doing that.
As for what happened with the woman, she responded to one commenter, explaining how she has been "having a lot of dental pain recently" and wonders if that might be it. You can see more on Reddit.