Dog licking cat's face?

[Pizdets]

My pup is now 8 months old and has settled in brilliantly. He's dinky and we also have 2 huge cats, so they're all about the same size. Occasionally he chases the cats and they put him in his place with a bat round the ears, but mostly they tolerate each other pretty well.

I noticed recently that the dog likes to lick the face of the cat he's most friendly with. It's almost aggressive licking - he gets right up in the cat's face and licks him while jumping around. The cat doesn't love it and usually just walks off after a few seconds. I wondered what it means - is it affection or could it just be another way of him asserting himself?

Neither cats nor I bothered about it, by the way, just interested to see if anyone else has this or knows about it!

Cheers,

Piz

My first thought was licking food off his lips? But dog's licking is a sign of affection and greeting.

I thought cat food too!

Dogs also love eating cats' poo < yucky face>.

Then they come and give you a big, slobbery 'kiss'. Remember that next time the dog gives you a lick!

Ha! Dog is v strictly trained not to either eat poo or kiss faces as I agree, it's gross.
Not sure it's food as he tends to lick eyes/ears (plus rarely any food hanging around spare in our house). Would love it if it was affection like digerd suggests, I love the idea they're all buddies now...

Ah. licking ears. That is also a caring and nurtering/cleaning trait.

My new little dog after a few weeks, took a liking to one of her stuffed toys. It has floppy ears and began by wagging her tail and licking his ears, with great pleasure and affection. The inner side of the ears as if she was cleaning them.
Few weeks later she began to hump this same toy every time we got back from her walks, in an excited to see it manner. Not in a dominating way.

its ears