Hello Shannon,

I have recently given a home to two fully grown Ridgebacks, a male of 3 years old, and a spayed female of 2.5 years. We have had them now for about 3 weeks, and during this time I have never seen them drool over anything, not food or anything else, except my mother's pocket-sized Yorkshire Terrier (male, about 10 months old). We introduced the dogs outside the house as she was visiting for the weekend, and the Ridgebacks were obviously inquisitive, but at no stage were they aggressive or overly protective of their environment. The Yorkie was obviously very submissive. What astounded me, though, is that the Ridgebacks started drooling over this little pup - which was the first time I've seen them drool over anything. We decided to let the dogs only have supervised contact as I have absolutely no idea why they would be drooling so excessively. They kept on sniffing him and drooling.

Do you have any idea why this would happen?

Regards,
Draped in drool

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Hi Draped

Thanks for your very interesting question. The first thing that would spring to mind for the novice would be that the Ridgebacks are perhaps salivating at the thought of a tasty snack, which of course would give one reason for concern. While one would have to consider that there might be some triggering of prey drive in the Ridgebacks in the presence of the Yorkie, I would tend to think that the behaviour has a less ominous trigger.

The medical term for excessive salivation or drooling is ptyalism. This term is used more to describe a sudden event that persists for an extended period of time and it is usually associated with illness or injury (Brum). However in your situation there appears to be a particular stimulus that triggers these episodes, so I would not say that your dogs are suffering from ptyalism per se.

It has been reported that some dogs will show excessive salivation during times of high excitement. I would assume that the presence of the tiny Yorkie was quite an exciting event for the Ridgebacks. Due to the Yorkie's small size and long coat, the Ridgebacks may have also experienced some transient confusion with regard to the Yorkie's species, gender and age. I would tend to guess that the Ridgebacks were not exposed to a wide variety of other animals during their socialisation phase, hence their excessive reaction.

Furthermore, the dog's sense of smell is often assisted by his production of saliva. It is theorised that the saliva helps to trap scent molecules thus giving the dog a longer time to analyse scent. One only has to look at traditional "scenters" such as Bassets and Bloodhounds to see the link between scenting talent and saliva production.

"The wrinkles hold the scent and the ears will stir it up and the saliva that everybody finds disgusting actually enhances the scent" (Joe Canfield, Bloodhound Trainer and Founder of the USA National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)

Dogs scenting a bitch on heat, or anything of particular interest, will often salivate excessively. It would appear that this intensifies the scent. This excessive drooling is often reinforced as it gives the dog a desired result i.e. intensified scent. In some cases this may result in the behaviour being performed in the same context, but without the initial motivator.

The Ridgeback is traditionally classified as a Sighthound, but they certainly seem to be gifted Scenthounds as well. In my experience I have noted that some Ridgebacks do tend to drool when presented with something of high interest or value.

In summary I think that the Ridgebacks are salivating excessively due to the excitement and to intensify the scent of the Yorkie, which they find particularly interesting and arousing. To be on the prudent side I would suggest that the Ridgebacks are not left unsupervised with the Yorkie. Their high interest could possibly transform into prey drive and with the two of them the Yorkie could possibly be in danger.

I would suggest short low-key visits to try and habituate the Ridgebacks to the Yorkie. The Yorkie could also join the Ridgeback during on-lead walks as the other stimuli present during the walk will remove the focus from the Yorkie and thus aid in habituation and acceptance.

Good wishes

Shannon

Reference: Ptyalism (Hypersalivation) in Dogs, Dr. Douglas Brum, 2002