Dog's urine fettish

[linlam]

I have recently started to walk my neighbours' dog with mine, due to her working long hours, and the dog would only be taken out for a short walk in the afternoon  by her mum(the dog on her working days generally alone from 7a.m to five thirty maybe later) The dog is a sheedog cross, and apart from the general whining, not unhappy whining, just vocal, he's always happy to come in and stay in my home with me, the only problem I have is his determination to lick, what I imagine to be other dogs calling cards, not just once or twice, but every ten yards or so. I've mentioned this to his owner, she said that he's always done it, and says she knows it's not very  nice. I do try and drag him away, not an easy job, (I've put my shoulder out twice!), it's now getting that as soon as he sees my mut leaving his calling card, he's dragging me over to try and get to it asap.As the dog has no road sense, I keep him on his lead around the local vicinity, and let him off once we reach the local country park, 5 mins away where he is free to lick grass to his hearts content, but once the leads on he's off again on his licking spree. The dog is about 10 years old, so it doesn't seem to do him any harm. Is this normal? My dog doesn't do it,I can't remember my other dog doing it either.Apart from dragging him away and it's not easy sometimes, has anyone got any ideas

[woofgang]

okay this might be a bit of a long shot but here goes. Dogs normally sniff at urine to know ho's been around. We all know that smell and taste are linked, so maybe this dog learned that he could get a better picture of the surrounding population by tasting as well as smelling the mesages, especially if for some reason his sense of smell isnt as acute as it should be. My weimaraner bitch isn't a "licker", but she has the habit of drinking out of ponds and puddles and then having a pee in the water, which I guess might be linked, she has tasted messages that other dogs have left, then added her own

[linlam]

Thank you woofgang. You certainly seem to know what you're talking about!