Licking carpets

[can'tdo]

My friend Clare has an eleven year old corgi, Bella, who has taken to licking the carpet, both in her, and her firneds' houses. Bella has licked things in the past, stoneware mostly, (the stonework of the fireplace, garden pots, the york stone terrace) but only occasionally. This seems a more determined thing. Can anyone please suggest why she is doing this, and what can be done about it. Thank you.

[lankeela]

I had a greyhound who occasionally did this, it seemed to be a sort of nervous reaction when he got worried about anything.

This has been asked before on Answerbank:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Animals-and-Nat ure/Question200654.html

[spitfire1958]

I have a male mini-teckel that does this. I know this sounds a bit disgusting, but he did it after the female had been sitting there. Perhaps there is something on the carpet, new shampoo or carpet deoderizer) that she is unfamiliar with and she likes the taste of it.