What can I do to stop my dog chewing the inside of his front feet.

find and remove the cause.

Often it will be some contact irritants, could be anything from salt ans grit on roads, cleaning products, something sprayed on grass etc.

On the other hand could be something like a grass seed travelling under the skin.

Dogs can make a habit of foot licking as a stress reliever, there may be discomfort elsewhere or some kind of emotional stress/boredom.

It certainly would do no harm to wash his feet in dilute hibiscrub (it's anti bacterial and anti-fungal) wash, and be sure to  dry well.

Thanks will try that.

What starts off as an irritant can also turn into a habit and some dogs, like people, are more prone to compulsive behavior- a bit like extreme nail biters who end up having sore, bleeding nails and fingers. As well as relieving the symptoms and source of the itching I would also make a concerted effort to give him really good chews to divert the attention from his paws to something else.

Is this a recent thing or has it been going on a while?

One of my dogs started chewing his feet and legs and it got very bad at one stage.  It took me a while to realise he was stressed.  Eventually I was able to remove the cause of the stress and then had to "teach" him to break the habit of chewing his legs, which we did.  He´s recently gone through some further stress due to moving house.  The chewing started again but the situation is now under control and I hope the feet chewing will stop altogether before too long.

Any kind of compulsive self-harming, which this is really, causes a release of endorphins and other chemicals that have a feel good factor, that's why it can be a hard habit to break...for humans too. Sometimes it is not clear that dogs are stressed, it can be something that doesn't even occur to us. Long-term chewing, licking etc.. that causes sore skin, may well have a stress component. Really bad cases might even require medication to help retrain the brain away from the compulsive behaviour.

>What starts off as an irritant can also turn into a habit

I think this too.  Years ago, before vets had such super overnight facilities, I remember one vet telling me that she had taken a patient home with her.

The owner had been going backwards and forwards to the vet with a Toy Poodle who wouldn't stop nibbling at his own genitals.  No cause could be found by the vet that told me this story.

She took the dog home for a weekend to watch him.  While they were eating dinner she had taken a water spray to the table.  When the dog started nibbling, she squirted him, and he was distracted, and didn't appear to know where the missile had come from!  It only took a weekend, and that dog stopped his compulsive behaviour.  He actually used to make himself bleed, and the original cause was never found.  But when he went home, the nibbling cycle had stopped.

Curious!

My dog had the same problem. He had a type of doggie dermatis/dry skin, he was bting until red raw and bleeding. He was prescribed a cream which solved the problem. It was only on his front paws

Feet and bum chewing can also be a sign of an allergy so you need to rule that out. If it is an allergy human piriteeze (or own brand) anti histamines do the trick :-)

what was the cream as it is only his front feet