I know that many puppies have a of biting their feet but this isn't that simple.

We've had our rescue staff cross jack russell since she was 6 weeks old and she's now well over 2 years old. She never bit her feet as a pup but recently has started biting her nails! We've checked that it's not her feet, there's now fur knotted in between her toes or anything like that..... In fact her claws stick well out as is typical for the breed.

It's very confusing, does anyone know of a reason this might be? Or is it just a weird habit with no significance?

most dogs bite their nails when they are too long.
when the nails get long, they get uncomfortable and the only thing they can think of is to make them shorter, by biting them.

its just like humans, when our nails get too long we cut them, so all your dogs is doing is cutting her nails!

hope this helps!

My dog bites her nails, even though they're not too long as she gets plenty of road work she screams like someone is murdering her if anyone tries to clip her nails, the vet included. I've left her to it now, she's never actually hurt herself when doing this and isn't doing it all the time so I know it's not a problem with her feet.

That all really helps! Thanks so much! I was quite worried she was causing pain or there was something i hadn't done! Your situation sounds exactly right as mine gets loads of road walks and we do keep her names trim (at a struggle!) I guess she just likes them shorter!

She has never bitten down to the quick and made herself bleed, and I think that when we trim their nails as we are very wary of hurting them we perhaps allow them to be longer than they like. As long as the dogs feet haven't splayed because of their nails then leave them to it, I suppose it's like someone else cutting our nails, we may prefer them longer or shorter than they think we would like.

It may not be as simple as nails being too long other reasons could be food intollerance ,do you feed beef or beef of any sort be it food or bone ??? some dogs find beef makes thier feet itchy ,and they will bite to relive the itch . or has anything changed at home routine? new family member , new dog next door , some dogs will bite thier feet as a sign of anxiety , then it becomes like ocd they feel that they controll whatever it is they are nervouse about by biting thier feet .

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There's nothing changed that I can think of that has happened around the time she started... also we've kept her on the same recommended brand of food and treats since we had her! It's got me really puzzled. She's not showing any other signs of anxiety, she's a wonderfully happy little thing, if not a little too bouncy! I'll keep this in mind though to see if I can see a trigger... Thanks for the advice!

Hi what do you feed her on?

I used to own a dobe/German shep x , he was a great dog most of the time, unfortunatly our relationship between me and my then husband was,nt great and to some degree the dog was a porn in our bad relationship, I would be trying to make him behave and do the right things and my then partner would allow him to do just the opposite thus resulting in a dog who never knew his arse from his elbow , our arguing and carrying on resulted in the dog becoming axsiouse and he ended up bitting his paws sometimes till they bled , both front paws were at times very sore from him nibbling on them , I didnt realise this at the time and on our relationship breaking down completely he was re homed due to me moving into my moms with my then 2 year old and my ex working long hours . I look back now wishing that i had done better by him but i know he went to a good home and was well looked after .

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If it is itching due to allergy have you changed any cleaning products in the house, clothes washing powder etc... My sisters house ferret came out in a rash when my bro-in-law brought the wrong washing powder. As soon as they stopped using it she was fine.