puppy behavioue

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

I got a golden retriever puppy last week. She will be nine weeks on thursday.

She keeps biting/chasing her tail and licking and chewing her paws, mainly the back ones.

She doesnt have fleas, eats and drinks fine etc. She is on Bakers puppy mix.

Any idea why shes doing this?

[LeB0F]

I'm not sure, and people more knowledgable than me will be along, I'm sure. But I do know that Bakers has a dreadful reputation for low quality ingredients, and is known to trigger allergies and hyperactivity. It is the canine equivalent of fruit shoots and sausage rolls, and changing her over to something better would definitely be a positive move.

[GrimmaTheNome]

I sometimes wonder if pups, missing their littermates to play with, chase their own tails and bite their feet by way of a substitute. Maybe she's just bored? Can you distract her from this behaviour with toys, also make sure she's got age-appropriate chewing matter.

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

We introduced her to chew toys but she seemed more interested in chewing the skirting boards. When we took the chew toys away she left the skirting alone.

The tail and paws issue hasnt changed through all this.

I have to say I dont like the Bakers myself and intend on changing it to something better.

She is played with all the time shes awake and willing. She seems otherwise happy apart from the paws and tail thing!

Such a mystery!

[SnoopyKnine]

Is she insured?
I would take out insurance straight away
I would take her to be checked out by a vet asap.
This is not normal behaviour and I have never seen a bored puppy behave like this.
I would be very concern re allergies and would want this checked out asap

[GrimmaTheNome]

My last dog used to chase and chew his own tail (he didn't hurt it, just made it soggy!) and didn't have any medical or psychological problems... it really was just play.

[Jellykat]

wannabe, i had a beautiful Goldie up until 10 days ago

In 9 years we never had to go to the vet, but when he was a pup he used to gnaw away at the corners of walls, table legs and yes skirting, it's great fun
He used to gnaw away at his tail, and as the months passed he occasionally developed patches of eczema looking type irritation under his arms, on his tummy and base of tail. I talked to a lot of Goldie owners and discovered they can suffer from sensitive skin made worse by too high content of protein in their diet. We changed to Burns which is hyperallergenic, and only 18.5% protein. No tinned dog food, and he ate a fair bit of veg (raw carrot,and calabrese being his fav).. this really made a huge difference.

His skin was also irritated by bites of any sort, not just fleas, after trying a lot of spot-ons through time, we discovered 'stronghold' to be the godsend.

He never had any more problems, never needed the Anal gland emptying proceedure or anything.

He used to gnaw at his paws if his nails needed trimming, or if he had seeds etc between his toes.. maybe your pup is just getting used to a different walking-on surface to what shes used to atm, maybe grass seeds are irritating her soft pads or something?

Apologies for long post, just thought i'd fill you in on what i learnt from others when he was small, should you ever need it

[MiseryBusiness]

I would take her to the vet. Just in case.

However I would take steps to get her off Bakers asap. It's haribo for dogs and not good for them in any way.

[recall]

I can recommend Royal Canin food

[Sexyfothermucker]

We have a 3 year old goldie and he chases and bites his own tail. He's always done this and finds it most entertaining. He also shoehorns himself into very strange positions with his tail still shovedd in his mouth. I'm sure he does in to impress us

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Thanks for the advice. The tail thing Im not so worried about as I have seen dogs do that before and if her ears were long enough she would be at them too when they catch her eye.

We have thought its maybe the different grass or the floor cleaning products. We will be taking her to the vets soon for her routine stuff so as she isnt damaging her hair/skin I will wait til then (no money atm due to bank problems)

Im sorry to hear about your goldie Jellykat :(

[yesbutnobut]

If you're intending taking her to the vet and haven't yet got insurance yet, just be very careful you take her only once the insurance has kicked in. You may have got insurance with the puppy in which case you'll be fine. Otherwise there is usually a 14 day period when you take out insurance in which any condition which shows up will not be covered. (Hope that makes sense).

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Yes that does make sense. We are getting insurance, but with the bank issue I cant set up dds so havent yet. But I will get it sorted asap. Thanks

[Jellykat]

Thank you wannabe, wouldn't have mentioned it but thought i'd better give a bit of back history to my rambling advice.

Please give your pup a mahoosive cuddle from me, Goldies are brilliant IMO!

[CakeMeIAmYours]

Our pup used to bite/chase his tail (twas hilarious to watch him!)

We visited him a few times when he was with his mum and littermates and they all used to grab each other by the tail too.

I wonder if he's missing this interaction, or maybe hasn't realised yet that its his tail and not someone else's?

Ours also used to have 'mad 5 minutes' where he'd run around the house/garden like a hound possessed then would be peaceful and snoozing 5 minutes later. Our behaviourist told us that its normal puppy behaviour and nothing to worry about.

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

Yeah she has those mental moments too :o just runs around for no reason and dive bombs towards me and the tail thing is pretty funny to watch aswell. As is her football playing!

[herbertjane]

Biting the base of the tail (the bit connected to the body) and excessive licking or biting of feet is not normal puppy behaviour. It would indicate an allergy at the very least and does need to be looked at by a vet.

Chasing the end (furthest from the body) is more likely puppy behaviour but again with the feet biting I would go to the vet.


(and throw away the Bakers!)

[GrimmaTheNome]

I wonder if he's missing this interaction, or maybe hasn't realised yet that its his tail and not someone else's?

That's what it looked like with ours...he was a dachshund, so that tail was a long way from his head