Okay, I've heard of humans chewing their nails, but dogs?

[lindrusso]

So I'm on the computer and think I hear Bailey chewing on his bone, only it sounds kind of funny. I go investigate and see that there's no bone and his paw is wet. Then I see that his toenails look like they've been chewed on and this would explain the noise I was hearing! I've seen or heard of dogs chewing on just about everything else I can think of, but not their nails!

Is this normal (normal being a relative word)? Why would he do this?

His nails were trimmed by a groomer on July 10th. It's about time to do them again, but I've certainly let them go longer before without him doing this.

As for stress being the explanation - he usually does his stress chewing when we're not home and he usually focuses on pulling hairs out of his tail or elsewhere.

Frankly, I'd rather that he pulled the hairs out of his tail. :rolleyes: He got close enough on his nails that I can see the little red blood spot where it will bleed a lot if he goes any further! If he bleeds all over my new carpet, he's in big trouble!

[SueK]

We get Baxter's nails trimmed every month. The only reason we get it done at the vet is because (yuck, TMI ahead) he also needs his anal glands expressed every month as well, and I refuse to learn how to do THAT myself!

Anyway, I can always tell when it's time for him to go to the vet because he starts chewing away on his dewclaw. He's never drawn blood, but he does chomp down on them. His skin allergies are now under control because of serum that was made for him, but I think sometimes that he was so used to chewing, scratching and biting that it's almost a nervous habit now more than anything else, which is kind of what it sounds like with Bailey.

[Robyncz]

I have a dog that bites her nails. It's ANNOYING!

I don't have any explanation or advice to offer. I just wanted to say that Bailey's not the only one. . .

[lindrusso]

Hi Sue and Robyn. :)

Yes, Robyn, that's actually more what I was looking for - just wondering if other dogs do this. I've seen lots of odd habits in dogs before, but I've never seen or even heard of this. It seemed very odd to me!

But knowing Bailey, odd shouldn't seem so odd............ ;)

We'll just be sure to give him a firm "no" whenever we see him doing it. Sometimes that's all it takes with him. We never really got him to stop chewing on his tail because he never does it in front of us......

[zackaboo]

Oh my goodness, our dog bites his toenails all the time! I know very well the exact chewing noise that you are referring to. ;) Sometimes I am convinced that he is trying to rip his dewclaws off. I don't know why he does this, although my DH (who is the only one of us brave enough to trim his black nails) isn't always the best at keeping up with them. But I think he does it even when his nails are short. I guess that I have just gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me like it used to although we do try to stop him when we can.

[Homemadechef]

Had a Toy Poodle who did this but never to the point of drawing blood. That sounds awful! :eek: I've never heard anyone say why a dog does this.

On the other hand, I had another Toy Poodle who licked the furniture non stop! That about put me over the edge! It would be late at night, all quite and you could hear a "swish-swish" sound and it was the dog licking the upholstery! Grrrrr! :mad: Hated that but never could break her of it. Just like people, they do some weird things. :D

[SandyM]

Abbie did this until we were able to get her allergies under control. She was so itchy, she chewed and chewed her paws, and when she got tired of chewing her paws, she'd move to her tail - it was so sad. We had a skin patch test done, determined her allergies (all airborne), and now she's under control with low doses of steriods (she's monitored every 3 months by her allergist ;) ).

Just a thought.

[lindrusso]

Homemadechef - Licking furniture? That's too funny, but yes, I would be very annoyed too!

Sandy - I've thought about allergies too. I still feel like it's more of a nervous behavior, though.

Of course I'm just guessing - hard to tell. We'll certainly keep our eye on it! If it gets worse, I'll get it checked out or at least mention it the next time we have a vet visit.

It would figure though - DS's allergies seem to be going away as he gets older, so now Bailey will take over for him........ :rolleyes:

[mcgeiger]

Yes, other dogs do this :) My cat does it too!
Drawing blood is a little much though. I would mention this to the vet if this is new behavior (mainly the allergy thing, or possibility of a foreign body {something like a grass awn that shouldn't be there}). If they have itchy allergy feet sometimes their paws will be reddish brown between their toes. If this is new, I'd also do a good check between the toes to make sure there is nothing there.

[linsleyd]

My Shepherd has always done this, no explanation other than her nails sometimes get a bit long. Speaking of which I need to get them clipped!

[MrsReber]

Yep, we have the same problem. I always think our lab has one of the kids toys when I hear that awful noise! I think he just likes to chew. When he's got plenty of good toys to chew on, he doesn't chew on his nails.

[ctd1103]

I've had 2 dogs that did this - vet told us once that it was mainly a boredom thing - neither dog ever drew blood, but I always noticed that the nail bitting occurred most when they were idle for too long....bored, I think! :)

[mbrogier]

I have one cat that does this. She sharpens some of her nails into little points. Then just to tick her off, I clip them. :D (we keep their nails trimmed anyway, but it irritates her when I clip the nails she "manicured")

She shouldn't be bored; she has a house full of toys and two cats to play with.