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My dog licks my sheets, his bed, the carpet... for a few minutes right before he falls asleep for the night. He doesn't do it when he "catnaps" (he would hate it if he knew I assigned a cat term to him!) during the day, but he does it at night. We have always thought of it as kind of a self-soothing behavior. He does it for a few minutes then konks out for the night.
My 6-year-old pug will lick his paws for several minutes at a time. It's usually when he's lying in his dog bed. Sometime he'll start licking the dog bed itself. If I say his name he'll stop for a few seconds, and then start right up again. Any ideas on what could be causing this? I've heard that some dogs lick their paws if they have allergies, but I'm not sure why he would lick his bed if that's the case with him. I'd appreciate any help you may be able to provide!
I've got an 11 month old pug, she's a licker too. Only she prefers licking her legs, she also licks the bed, particularly the pillow, the furniture, shoes, just about anything. I'm not sure what the deal is. I think they're just busy. One thing that works on her legs, I put some Sulfodene where she's been licking, that keeps her away from that particular spot.
My 6-year-old pug will lick his paws for several minutes at a time. It's usually when he's lying in his dog bed. Sometime he'll start licking the dog bed itself. If I say his name he'll stop for a few seconds, and then start right up again. Any ideas on what could be causing this? I've heard that some dogs lick their paws if they have allergies, but I'm not sure why he would lick his bed if that's the case with him. I'd appreciate any help you may be able to provide!
All 3 of our dogs did that for the longest time, our oldest dog, 2 year old Brooklyn was the worst! He will still do it sometimes, but not as much now, and both of our girls, Destiny and Jayda, have pretty much stopped all together. I had always been told that it could be from allergies to their food or allergies to grass, so we had to figure out what food(s) our dogs did best on and we started wiping their paws off with a wet wash cloth after they came in from being in the grass. We found that Jayda does best on Natural Balance Potato and Duck formula, and our Brooklyn and Destiny do best on Canidae. Since then, they have all gotten a lot better, so I'm not sure if it was their food or the grass, but it must have been one of the two, if not a little of both.
Brooklyn didn't just lick his paws either, he would actually chew on them, and there was nothing we could do to get him to stop. He wouldn't chew on them enough to make them bleed or anything like that, but they would get pretty red. Also, Brooklyn would stop and sniff his paws a lot, and then so back to licking and chewing on them. And he would sniff the sofa, floor, or where ever he was laying, right where his paws had been, and he would lick that too. But like I said, since we have started to wipe their paws off after they have been in the grass and changed their food, they have all gotten soooo much better. Brooklyn will lick his paws every now and then, but he doesn't chew on them anymore and he's not obsessed with licking his paws anymore, and the girls have almost completely stopped all together.
I would suggest that you try what we did. Wipe your dogs paws off after he has been in the grass and switch him to a good allergy food. It could also have something to do with something in or on your carpet, or something else in your house. So I would suggest drying your dogs paws off with a dry wash cloth after you wipe them off with a wet wash cloth, that way if it is something in the carpet, or something that is in/ on the carpet, won't stick to his paws. You could also try vacuuming more often, or not putting stuff on your carpet that you normally do, if you normally put anything on your carpet that is. I don't know what you're feeding your dog right now, but here are some excellent allergy foods that I would highly reccomend...
Natural Balance Sweet Potato and Fish Formula.. Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance® Sweet Potato & Fish Formula (http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/SPFish.html - broken link) (what my mom feeds her two dogs)
Natural Balance Potato and Duck formula (what we feed Jayda).. Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance® Potato & Duck Formula (http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/PandD.html - broken link)
All 3 of the above foods are very, very good quality dog foods, they are made with wonderful ingredients and they are for great both dogs with food allergies and dogs without food allergies. Since we have started to use Natural Balance and Canidae, we have recommended both to several friends and family members that own dogs, even if they don't have the problems our dogs had. Most have switched to one of those foods have LOVED it! Even though their dogs didn't have food allergies, they have noticed a huge improvement in their dogs coat, eyes, energy levels, overall health, etc.
And you can always take him to the vet and see what they suggest. I know that they can do some tests and find out if your dog has allergies to something, and if so, to what. Then you could figure out what to do from there. I hope you find something to help him. Good luck!
cody licks pants and his feet alot. He's just silly though. He'll scratch his ear and then smell the foot that scratched the ear. ...dirty dog! =)
Cody doesn't over lick pants, his tongue is his antena ...he's collecting data =)
He use to watch the kitty as a pup and now he'll lick his paw and rub his face. He use to clean when the cat would clean ..so maybe your pup is picking up on kitty behaviors?
ohhh St Augustine grass has always bothered my dogs feet.
Thanks so much for your responses! My pug is very laid back and lazy. I walk him every day, but he really doesn't play much. We rescued him 2 years ago. He was a breeding dog, and he never "learned" how to play. I've tried different chew toys and balls, but he doesn't know what to do with them. I might try walking him closer to bedtime to tire him out. It's worth a try! If it is OCD, then I'm not sure what, if anything, I can do...
We rescued a pug when he was 18 months like you said didnt know how to play. So i would hold the toy our other dog would chase me then he soon got the message and joined in. Now he is the middle one of 3 dogs and plays really well.
My client Anne has two dogs and one, Milly, has always licked her feet or legs and sometimes till they are raw and bleeding. I have worked for Anne since 2001 as her gardener and I do not use chemicals or fertilizers on her yard. I observed that Milly would start to break out any time that anyone used a bug killer, herbicide, pesticide or chemical based fertilizer on her lawns, it would be any where from a few days or a week after application. In front of Anne, I asked the vet if those items could be causing Milly's problem and he said " most definately " Anne recently moved into a new house and no chemicals, pesticides or fertilizers have been applied and Milly's feet and legs are healing and she has stopped licking herself. I had one friend who's husband had put weed and feed on their lawn and within 2 days one of their dogs got so ill that they almost lost him. The chemical in roundup and other weed killers is very similar to agent orange used in Viet Nam and it has been shown to cause chromasomal damage. Do investigate what is being used on your yard, dogs and cats do not wear shoes to protect their feet.
I would not recommend this. Some dogs can get obsessed with the moving red dot that after awhile they can become obsessed with anything that moves and now you have a whole different porblem.
As far as the licking it could be a few things. Alergies such as food or grass, it can also become a habit if he has been doing it for awhile.
Well... Your dog could still fell as if its feeding from its mother. Cats are much more likely to do this but dogs on occasion do this. My cat does this.
My dog also pounces XD... He copies off my 2 cats XD
It may not be allergies... Like I said to the other person, this is what a cat does sometimes like its feeding on it's mother. My dog does not do this but our youngest cat does... If you have a cat and all of your dogs have watched the cat before they started, they copied off your (if you have one) cat. If not, They feel like their with their mother. Some cats don't stop... Like we have had 3 abysinians (counting the one now) and they seem to get diseases very easily but our current one is strong, has huge paws, does the licking thing, seems suicidal but not XD (she jumps off high stuff), pretty much only lets me pick her up, only ever sleeps with me and she thinks I'm her mother. All of these three abysinians have done this licking thing of the bed covers and such. XD i like my kitty XD
our oldest cat is about 7 years old in human years and does this on occasion
It may not be allergies... Like I said to the other person, this is what a cat does sometimes like its feeding on it's mother. My dog does not do this but our youngest cat does... If you have a cat and all of your dogs have watched the cat before they started, they copied off your (if you have one) cat. If not, They feel like their with their mother. Some cats don't stop... Like we have had 3 abysinians (counting the one now) and they seem to get diseases very easily but our current one is strong, has huge paws, does the licking thing, seems suicidal but not XD (she jumps off high stuff), pretty much only lets me pick her up, only ever sleeps with me and she thinks I'm her mother. All of these three abysinians have done this licking thing of the bed covers and such. XD i like my kitty XD
our oldest cat is about 7 years old in human years and does this on occasion
my Malti-Poo licks herself till she's raw. Allergies; but the vet hasn't narrowed it down to what
I give her a bit of Benadryl on days that she seems to be licking more than on other days.
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But like I said, since we have started to wipe their paws off after they have been in the grass and changed their food, they have all gotten soooo much better. Brooklyn will lick his paws every now and then, but he doesn't chew on them anymore and he's not obsessed with licking his paws anymore, and the girls have almost completely stopped all together. 
