My two year old mixed breed girl won't stop licking her nose. This problem started three months ago. At first it wasn't so bad but lately she has gone obsessive. Lucy (the dog) has always had a jet black nose but now it has gone raw and pink. We found her on the street and for the first three weeks she was very nervous. Lucy has improved greatly and isn't so scared now but she does get spooked easily. Is there any suggestions for help?

I would suggest taking her along to the vet to get her nose checked out, just to rule out any health problems. If her nerves have improved then good for you :) just remember to reward "brave" behaviour, and try to ignore any fearful behaviour or she may feel she is rewarded for it.

Lindsay

Max does this occaisionally but not his nose, he sometimes picks a spot and licks it profusely, it may be boredom or nervousness. We usually make a loud noise to try and stop him doing it as advised by our behaviourist as she thinks it could develop into self mutilation. So far he tends to stop when a loud noise is heard, but he's sneaky too and waits till he thinks your not looking.

Banger and Kate...

I have a 2 yr old GSD who does this. It started off when he was bitten by a rat. However, that healed, and yet he still keeps licking at the same spot.
He now has a bare patch of hard skin on his leg which is rather unsightly!

We took him to the vet, who diagnosed 'lick granuloma'
I did some research on this, and it IS usually down to boredom, or nervousness, rather like humans who bite their nails.
So basically it's behavioural.

My advice is to get your dogs checked over by a vet first, to make sure there are no illnesses etc. Then try and find ways of stopping the constant licking.
Lick Granulomas are very difficult to deal with, first off, in the affected area, every layer of skin will be infected...that would take a 3 month course of antibiotics to clear it up, but there are no guarantees they'd work. If not, it would mean having the Granuloma cut out...leaving a clean wound which should heal properly. Again...there are no guarantees with this, they dog may just start to lick somewhere else causing another granuloma!!

It's a difficult situation....so probably best to get it sorted out before it gets too bad.

HTH

Good luck

Lisa

Thanks Lisa, Max is a 2½ year old GSD too and so far it hasn't developed into granuloma as he hasn't gone thru his fur. We will have to keep an eye on it but if you physically try and stop him licking the spot he gets a bit nasty so we have found a loud noise is the best way to diffuse the situation. :D