I have a 14 month old male Tibby puppy that has developed the habit of sucking the ears of my other dogs.

Now i have never had anybody suck my ears .... lol but the other dogs all allow it, so it must also be pleasurable for them.

This little fellow is a bit on the timid side and i think it is a comfort thing, like a child sucking their thumb etc. When he is sucking ears, his little tail is wagging like mad...

Apart from isolate him, which i really don't want to do, has anybody any ideas how i can break this habit.

I have tried all the nasty stop chew , dont bite remedies, but he just sucks them off. I realize i need to get to the root of the problem, ie...why he is doing it, but where do i start???

Was wondering if any of you have experienced anything similiar.

Only seen sucking in younger pups as a security/instinctual (from nursing) habit, but as an older pup I'd say it lies in the timidness/insecurity.

Other than stop chew remedies which seem not to work I don't have many suggestions, if it doesn't bother the others & it causes no sideeffects to the others ie ear infections/irritations I would try to resolve the insecurity or chat to you vet about possibly putting the dog on relaxants ("happy meds") or try a herbal one, to see if it helps.

I'm an ex vet nurse who has had previously a dog with obsessive Compulsive Behaviour..herbal remedies helped!(as well as prescription meds.)

I have a Koolie female who also feels the need to suckle and she is nearly two years old.
As we bred her I know she has no issues regarding confidence or self esteem.
But I wonder if it might not be related to the fact that she was last born and quite small.
As she has matured she has improved and I notice that she only resorts to suckling on others or herself or the furniture when she is stressed.
We have used positive reinforcement, cuddles, playing games mostly to distract her. Finding something that is just for her, thank god it was working sheep, now she is a totally different dog and very rarely falls back into the habit, but when she does we just remind her with a tap to the ear or get her attention and she leaves off doing it.
Her mother when she was younger was a tad nervous and would throw up in the car, we treated her with rescue remedy a herbal relaxant, like Mushoz suggested and it was wonderful.
I can't say if it was hereditary as the mother came to us at twelve weeks and we know nothing of her life before us, she was a gift from my niece.
But while we continue to help by encouraging their confidence, I believe so long as we keep on supporting them they do eventually grow out it.
This does seem to be the case with Mayi and her mum.
Continual sucking of the ears will eventually wear the hair off and cause ear problems.
If you can call him to you and cuddle him for a while or take him with you to another part of the house or distract him, given time away from the habit he may move on.
Let us know how you get on.

Now if I can just get mayi to stop using her two front feet as fists and stop her kangaroo punching me in the tummy when she wants to play, I think we might be on winner.
Mayi is one of the smaller Koolies to be bred, her size is 390mm 10mm shorter than her mum Dot, but she forgets that when she works the sheep.

Thanks for your suggestions, i have actually sent for some herbal nerve tonic that is supposed to be really effective, i will let u know how it goes.

good luck! A combination of herbal relaxants & change of attention focus & distracting from the sucking should help, if not it is likely something more deep in the dog & a trip to the vet may be the answer.

I have seen TK's point a few times, last borns and littlies being a bit reliant on a replacement pacifier. I had a premmie kitten that still suckled onthe tufts oftufts of an old chenielle bedspread when she was 14yeas old!!!The herbal stuff is great, I used Be Calm for our old ACD before obedience trails.

Funny you should say that as i think this little guy was the last born pup, makes you wonder though how that can make a difference.