Dog's licking of paws suggests allergies

Q: We have a male Westie that will be 16 years old in a few months. He occasionally has skin rashes or "hot spots," but is well groomed, eats healthy foods suggested by his vet and is given exceptional veterinary care. He developed a habit a few years ago of incessantly licking his paws, often saturating whatever surface he's on with his saliva.

Can you tell me why he might be doing this, and what might be done to discourage his behavior? At times I've mentioned this to his vet, and I've been told he is likely bothered by allergies. Medicated soaps and medications seem of no value. This year-round behavior continues to perplex us.

A: Your dog is suffering from allergies. His skin itches and that is why he licks his paws. Most likely it has now become an obsessive-compulsive behavior that will persist for the rest of his life.

Many white dogs do suffer from allergies. Some of these are environmental and some are from certain ingredients in commercial dog foods. Environmental allergies come and go with the seasons and only the medications prescribed by your vet can help those.

Food allergies are complex and need to be deduced by trial and error. If one prescription food does not work, then you have to try another as there are so many different combinations of ingredients in these prepared foods.

Sometimes you have to think outside the box. Decades ago, I had a Westie that I got from a lady who brought it back from Ireland, where her mother bred them. Snowy did just fine until he was 2, when he developed horrible skin allergies. I tried all the remedies my vet prescribed and nothing worked, so I called my friend's mother in Ireland. She advised me to cook the dog's food myself.

So, as per her directions, I would mix one-third boiled codfish or whitefish with one-third boiled white potatoes and one-third boiled carrots and squash. I would do this every two weeks and then freeze the food into daily portions in plastic bags and thaw out a portion each day for him.

I would not advise that you introduce any major changes like this without consulting your veterinarian first.

Q: We have a 9-month-old male American bulldog and a fenced-in yard. His newest hobby is digging holes, some of which are 2 feet deep. Plus he seems to know every plant and shrub that we have in the yard.

The other day I planted some fall chrysanthemums while he was in the house and after I let him outside he had pulled them all up and scattered them around the yard. Is there any way to have a nice yard with a destructive dog like this?

A: A 9-month-old American bulldog is a very active dog that loves to learn about its environment. You cannot expect it to be in an outdoor setting with all sorts of smells and textures and not want to experience them. He is not being destructive, just learning about his territory in the only way he knows how.

If you never let him outdoors by himself at all and stood next to him every time he dug a hole or tried to pull up a plant, he would stop trying as he no longer has the opportunity.

When I let the dogs out of the house unsupervised, they had to stay in the fenced area. Then, when I was in the yard, I would let them out since I was watching them. When they ventured into the back where the sand pile was, they were able to dig and play all they wanted. Since this was the only area of the yard that they could destroy without being corrected each time, they chose to leave the rest of it alone.