We’ve got our son’s dog for a few days. Unlike in the past he spends a lot of time licking his paws. I looked at them, but don’t see anything. Is this just something dogs do?
Some dogs are just high-maintenance and insist on only the finest-quality pedicures.
I don’t thinks it’s that uncommon… my PRT sometimes does it in the evening before he goes to sleep.
Some people consider it a bad habit that needs to be broken. I think most dogs lick their paws out of boredom or because it feels good, or both.
If the paws look healthy I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but your son should mention it to the vet the next time he needs to take the dog in to see if there is some medical issue that needs to be addressed.
Dogs may lick their paws after they’ve walked through something interesting, or just to clean themselves. Since he’s at a new location it may just be that. It can also be a nervous habit. One of our dogs used to lick her paws and half way up her legs until they were bare. We got some kind of pepper spray that cured her of the habit. After a while if we caught her doing it we just had to say “Bad dog spray!” to get her to stop.
Licking paws can be simply a nervous or anxious behavior–the dog is in a new place, and the familiar face isn’t around. It may stop altogether when the dog goes back home.
Has his diet changed? My dog did that because of an allergy.
What Omega Glory said. Often a sign of allergies - could be to the food he’s eating, or to environmental things like pollen. Humans get itchy eyes, dogs get itchy feet.
This