Yaya the OCD Dog

Several years ago I finally got a lap dog. Her name is Yaya and she is a terrier papillon mix. We got her from a rescue program that matched inmates in a local prison with dogs to train, groom, and care for. It was a really cool program which is, unfortunately, now defunct.

Flash forward to maybe a year ago. Yaya is now around 10 or 11 years old (we're not sure of her exact age). She has always liked to lick your feet when sitting on the sofa, and she's not classically a lap dog. More of an under your butt dog, as she likes to be squished up right next to me when I'm sitting on the sofa. Anyway, she started doing this thing where she'd lick her blanket when getting settled on the sofa. A little weird I'll grant you, but whatever, you might be weird too if you'd been abandoned, then shipped off to live in a prison, and then paroled into our household.

Overtime the licking has become more time consuming. And it's spreading. She' always liked to lick our other dog's ears, but now she's doing it so much that she's annoying Squeaker, our black dachshund/beagle mix. If Yaya's not on the sofa licking her blanket, she's on Squeaker's bed licking it. When she gets on the sofa, she licks and licks and licks until one of us bops her on the nose and firmly says, "No". Then looking a bit dejected she'll lay her head down and go to sleep. Or wait a few minutes and start it all over again.

I've Googled it. I've talked with the vet. We've offered her toys and playthings. We've gone on walks and played ball. But she keeps licking. Part of me is ready to just give it up. She's old. It's a quirk. So what? The problem is when you're sitting next to her the noise suddenly becomes incredibly grating. That little tongue scratching against fabric can take on enormous volume. 

I'm open to suggestions here. My husband has threatened to remove her tongue, but I see a lot of other problems with that approach, the least of which is the cruelty of it.

So are there meds for my OCD dog? 

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