my pup is about 4 months old and shes started really biting at her dewclaws. she will bite until she has a good hold of the claw itself then she will pull like she's trying to remove it. im worried she is going to do some damage to herself. also, is it ok for her to drink rain water from puddles. she has enough water inside and out, but she insists on drinking anyother water that falls anywhere. puddles, grass droplets, droplets on my legs, puddles from the sink, droplets on herself. she has a real obsession, is it healthy?

Different breed but my mum had a West Highland White that had a bad skin problem for years, and was advise to have her put to sleep at 4year old after a very bad flare up, she was told by an old westie breeder to give her rain water,after two week her skin was normal and the hair growing again, she lived to be 17 with no more trouble with her skin, it never did he any harm.

Check that there is no irritation to the skin around the paws and nail beds. Ridgebacks are notorious for not liking their paws being handled and not liking their nails clipped and filed so get her used to having her feet handled from an early age :)
Lara x

I have bitches that do this. I think they are just cleaning their nails beacuse they only ever do it when they've been for a walk and got really muddy. As thet are quite fastidious I think they are just desperate to get clean. Despite looking like they are going to bite or pull the nail off they have never caused thrir feet and damage.

Could your pup just be keeping clean?

Taz chews his nails all the time, mostly only on the one foot. He also chews his dewclaw. He has never done anything to harm himself, at least he helps keep them short.

ttfn :)

Don't worry about drinking out of puddles etc... it's not harmful. Just be careful that the puddles are not in car parks and next to vehicles where they may have antifreeze leaked into them as this is very toxic.
Lara x