Licking EVERYTHING!!!!

If a dog has an obsession with licking everything, is there something that we need to be giving him? He has recently very increasingly been licking everything. This includes the carpet, our shoes, the rest of our clothes, our bedsheets and even us. He seems to have an obsession with it and will continue till he has soaked said item and made a good dinner sized plate wet spot. Is there a mineral deficiency we need to be looking at or something?

It’s a possibility, but there are loads of possible causes of this behaviour. I’d strongly advise a vet check to rule out underlying medical causes; if that’s all fine, it might be worth getting a referral to a good clinical behaviourist.

I should also add that a lot of the time he will go off and hide to lick, as if he is trying to hide it from us.

Hello!  This is interesting.  Is he aware that he may be told to stop it if he is caught?  This is a common path to dogs trying to hide unwanted behaviour.  Some dogs come to enjoy the sensation of licking certain surfaces;  perhaps they like the way it feels on their tongue.  However, but I agree with David that other conditions should be ruled out and that a behaviourist may shed more light on the licking if it remains unsolved after that.