Puppy licking older dogs face (constantly!)

Hi all,
My mum has got herself a gorgeous Border Collie puppy (female - about 9 weeks old) and I have a very even tempered Sprocker male (4 yrs old).
Generally speaking they get on well, mostly because my dog ignores the puppy and tolerates her constantly licking his muzzle and pestering him to play but the constant licking at him really annoys him. He either ignores it or gently snaps at her (more mouthing back at her) but sometimes when she's been at it for 10 mins he'll have a noisy 'go' at her and tell her off.
I'm pretty certain he won't hurt her and that she needs to learn these lessons but is there anything we can do to stop her licking at him or do we just have to wait for her to grow out of it? They only see each other once a week at the moment and she is soooo excited to see him she is beside herself!
Any help or advice gratefully received!

I'd say your dog is teaching the puppy well Normal for a puppy to do this and for the dog to let him know when enough is enough
sounds like your dog is being tolerant and doesn't pose any danger( you know that best).I think they'll be fine,I wouldn't worry.

If it's really 'distressing' the older dog, I'd separate them for a while at least and not make him 'put up with it'. If you remove the pup every time she starts she might 'get the message'?

Thanks for the replies, both!

When he's starting to get tetchy or she's really bugging him my mum removes her to her 'cooling off space'. It doesn't seem to make too much difference but him snapping at her does!
So basically, she should learn over time and not to worry about it too much?
The only reason I worried was that there was a dog Loki met in the park regularly that used to lick Loki's face and he got really grumpy at that dog, but generally he has learnt to mostly ignore little Freya.
Sometimes when she bugs him to play he sort of seems to decide 'I'll show you what real playing is!' and runs around her and bowls her over but I guess she'll learn from all that too!

It's quite funny, cos when he was a puppy it was always him getting into bigger dogs' faces and annoying them and now he's the one being annoyed!

If it was me I wouldn't worry,obviously keep an eye on the situation and like Tang said separate if its getting too much for Loki.The puppy I think is lucky to have him,no better teacher than another dog

Cool. Thanks

Hello Suzy it is normal behaviour for a puppy to lick the face of an older dog .
Some puppies lick their dams face to encourage her to regurgitate her food and it can become a habit which is carried on to other adult dogs.
It must be irritating for some dogs, if the puppy begins doing this I would gently remove it so as not to encourage the behavior which the puppy should grow out of in time

Personally, I would just ignore this perfectly normal and natural puppy behaviour. Your Sprocker male sounds a well-balanced, well-socialised little guy and is in control of the situation. If he gets really fed up, then he will firmly but gently tell the puppy off - this can sometimes look horrendous, involving as it can do a huge amount of noise - mainly from the terrified, shrieking puppy who is being told off by the oder dog - but he will emerge the other end as it were perfectly OK. The puppy has got to learn, and this is how he will learn.

I remember about 3 years ago in the local pub my daughter's chihuahua Gucci being pinned down and given a severe telling off by a bitch cocker spaniel. Gucci screamed blue murder, and my daughter burst into tears, but the little man was perfectly OK and learned a lesson. The bitch had had enough and put him in his place without hurting him.

I personally would not intervene in a situation like this, except in a situation where the dog who was being pestered in this way was unbalanced and liable to do the little guy harm. This is clearly not the case with your sprocker!

Funnily enough, my parents brought the puppy round to our house for the first time this evening and when the puppy tried to lick Loki's mouth he told her off twice (causing her to get a fright but she bounced back well!) and for quite a while afterwards she stopped licking his face and instead licked the air about 2 inches from his face!!
I guess she'll learn quickly enough - I'm off work next week so I'll try and get Loki round to visit more often (good excuse for puppy cuddles!)

Well that's good news. My Bella used to assume every dog she met would welcome her bouncing up and down in front of them. She was put in her place a few times. Amazing how quickly she is now the dog that doesn't want the yappy snappy puppies tripping her up or running rings round her - she's only 3 and a half. I say to her 'these ankle biters get on your wick don't they? You used to be one of those!'