Paw chewing and chasing cars! help!

[boxerjohnny]

My 2 year old boy Hank, constantly is chewing on his paws, making a slirping noise. USually when he comes in from outside, or just laying around. He is constantly chewing his paws. they get red, but he doesnt hurt himself. Any reason why? Also, when we go for walks and a car passes by, he jumps in the air towards the car, and tries to pull on the lead, how do i get him to stop this behavior? Hes a great dog, and loves kids and people, but has issues with complete strangers. When we go for car rides, he goes nuts at the gas station attendant. He is very socialized dog, and gets tons of exercise, he just has some very bad habits. What do you think the best steps to take would be to curb his bad behaviors? When he is loose he is wonderful, but on his lead he is very forecful. I look forward to your responses.

 

[Caney Creek]

Chewing on his paws could be from allergies (in fact that's the most likely cause). That makes sense since you said he does it after coming in from outside. Try wiping his feet and coat with a damp cloth when he comes in, and do whatever you can to keep him from chewing his paws anymore. By doing that he is keeping them moist, which makes them even MORE itchy and can also create blisters and lead to infection. Caney has the same issue with allergies and her paws, I've tried all kinds of remedies but what seems to work best for her is to keep an e-collar on her for about a week while they clear up, and after that put baby powder between her toes and pads to keep them dry.


It sounds like his other issues mostly involve leash aggression. Being restrained by a leash (or cooped up inside of a car) can make a dog more irritated and anxious because he sees a person/dog/object but cannot get over there to investigate as quickly as he would like to. If your dog is very energetic (I imagine a 2 yr old boxer is ) and is usually very friendly and outgoing when he's unrestrained, this is a very likely scenario. Leash aggression can also stem from fear however, because being restrained interferes with the "fight or flight" instinct -- since "flight" is not an option when they are attached to a leash or stuck in a car, they go into defense-mode.

You could actually be making leash-aggression worse, too. When you're out walking your dog and see a car or a stranger approaching, do you tense up and tighten the lead in anticipation of your dog's reaction? If so your body language is exacerbating his frustration or anxiety. I used to do the same thing with Creek when we passed other dogs (unaware that I was just making her reaction worse) but when I figured out what I was doing and changed the way I handled confrontations, she got a lot better.

 

[boxerjohnny]

thanks for your reply. The allergy part for Hanks paws makes perfect sense. I am not sure why I did not realize this before. And, yes the jumping reaction when he sees a car, I do tend to tense up a bit, just because of how I know how he will react. But it makes sense to be calm and relaxed, and the impact wont be so great. thansk again! i will let you know how he does his next walk.

 

[Caney Creek]

Great Here are a few articles on the topic of leash aggression if you care to read:

Leash Aggression
ON-LEASH AGGRESSION
Shaping Better On-Leash Behavior

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Jadababe]

My dog was also biting her paws and when i took her to the vet they said that she had a yeast infection. I didnt even know that dogs could get yeast infections. At first I also thought it was just allergies. I felt really bad when I took her to the vet, becuase it was for a different reason and she had been chewing on her paws for a few weeks. I hope this helps.

April

 

[baxtercruz]

Baxter also has a paw chewing problem... and it was diagnosed as part yeast, part allergy. The vet gave us some wipes for his nails and in between his paws for the yeast, and we try to keep his paws dry as much as possible. He's allergic to many things, but a big one is grass, which is outside, and he walks on... so we try to keep his allergies at bay by giving him Benadryl when he starts to get red, and the vet just told us to give him fish oil in addition because it's an anti inflammatory and can combat the allergies in a different way (and very good for skin). We actually do a lot of things to help his allergies, so if it's just his paws that are red, you might want to have a vet do a swab to see if it's yeast or not, and then you would know what to focus on to treat them.