Mia's not cuddly either, unless she's sick, cold, or scared, so I sympathize. It may be she sees your wife as her primary caretaker, especially if your wife is the one who feeds meals, does the majority of the training and grooming, or just spends more time in general with her.

 

Hi, mine is extremely cuddly towards pretty much everyone (even random people in the tube lol) so that’s not very comparable but, when it comes to licking, he also only “kisses” me on the face and not my partner or anyone else. I do not take care of him more than my partner does but I do kiss him more (on his ears and nose mostly) - I always thought that that was his way of giving me kisses back but I might be wayyy off.
If you want your puppy to lick you I would maybe advise saying “yes” or whatever word of sound you use, when he kisses your hand and then put your face very close to them. When I want a kiss, I just put my face extremely close to his and wait 😂 (my dog eats raw though so I don’t let him kiss me on the mouth, I’d rather not get salmonella or worse)

 

Winnie's kisses are a nose bop. I say to her 'kiss for mummy' and she gives me a nose bop. She will happily lick anyone that would let her but I prefer not to be licked on my face.

 

Yeah, I'm quite pleased she doesn't do it that much to me. I do like the nose bop, that's vute. I take care of her just as much as my wife does, but overall spend a bit less time with her.

 

As mentioned, there will be a primary person. It doesn't mean your Spoo doesn't love you.

Sometimes Basil will try to slip in some tongue... Or see if there's any taste of food on my face.

Don't quote me, but I'm pretty sure I read that it's a behavior from puppyhood to try and get mom to regurgitate food when they're hungry.

 

Peggy has a different relationship with each of us. Sometimes I see my husband watching while we cuddle, and he’ll say something like, “She doesn’t let me do that.” And it’ll be something I hadn’t even given much thought to, like rubbing behind her ears.

I see the same thing with Peggy and other dogs. With one of her dog friends, it was all bitey face, all the time. With another, they frequently give each other tiny little licks on the mouth and there’s little to no exposed teeth.

As far as cuddliness goes, we did encourage closeness through hand-feeding and holding chews for her when she was a puppy. But she didn’t seek closeness for closeness’s sake until her first heat.

Part of that, I’m sure, is that she ran very, very hot until later in adolescence. It wasn’t comfortable for her to tuck in close. She also didn’t much like cozy beds or blankets. She much preferred stretching out on the cool floor with her belly exposed.

 

My vote is you're not being receptive to it. Are you encouraging it, or just standing by waiting for it to happen? I ask Elroy for kisses, and he's more than happy to give them. My Dad also asks, and gets kisses too. No one else has asked for kisses. As far as I know, he's not given them to anyone without being asked.