2.5 year old bitch has started licking. As in little air licks with her tongue. If it was only when food was in the offing, I would not be surprised. However, this air licking goes on at all sorts of inappropriate times.

What is this all about and can it be stopped?

One of mine did that. I'll make a long story, shorter. I checked her mouth, couldn't see anything. The behavior persisted for a while, and she also appeared to be getting anxious. I noticed her tummy was getting rounder and felt tighter to the touch than normal. Not wanting to risk bloat, I took her to the vet (at 11:30 on a Sunday night, no less). The vet tubed her to relieve the gas build up and gave her something for nausea (she had what appeared to be an upset tummy a few days prior, no idea if they were related or not, but I think so). After some rest, she was fine. I never figured out what caused all of her ailments, I suspect she had something either irritating her tummy or throat (maybe both) which lead up to the episode. Later, talking to a friend with Berners, she had a name for it. Air Gulpies. Scientific I know! I guess this isn't unusual in them, according to my friend. I did some research and one of the home remedies was a teaspoon of honey. If she starts licking air longer than I think is normal (and some is normal behavior, I think), I give her some honey and it seems to help. I guess you could liken it to us sucking on a honey cough drop when our throat is irritated.

Gretchen

From my experience licking and some drool as well, is a sore throat from eating snow and ice. Lots of dogs start this when we have a fresh snowfall. Also lots of exercise then eating snow to get water, as they play. Honey may solve that, and that is, after you've eliminate all other possibilities. Hope this helps.