My Corgi, Gretzky, has licked his front leg until he has a big red, raw sore.  We have been covering it with antibiotic ointment, covering with gauze, and wrapping in flexible wrap.  We change it daily. Yesterday we left the bandage off for about 10 minutes and he started licking it raw again.  In the beginning we put the "sour apple" spray on it to stop the licking but it really didn't work.  I am at my wit's end.  We he have to have it wrapped forever??  Has anyone else experienced this?

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I have a female corgi that did the same thing, actually the hair has never grown back where she always licked it. Our vet thought it was a food allergy, even though she was getting a top quality food. We played the game of switching to a NO GRAIN dog food and it did not work. After almost a year of trying to figure out what was causing this we finally figured out it was her flea medicine that was causing the problems. I missed one month of treating her with "Comfortis" and she quit licking her foot. We switch her to Advantage Multi, she will still lick at her foot for the first day or two and then she will stop, but it is better than licking it for the entire month. Good luck and hope u can find the cause of the licking!

Yes, Deb I have an Aussie that will lick "forever". His paws or any sore. After he was neutered he had to wear a cone for over 2 weeks because he wouldn't stop:(

We got something from the vet I think it was called NoLick that helped some. What about benadryl to see if it helps, not that you can do this forever but maybe when he is licking the worst and then when the Benadryl wears off keep the bandage on until it's healed? Once the sore is healed Armani will stop licking.

Has he been to the vet for an exam?  It sounds like he might have some sort of allergy, as Beth Walker has suggested.  Allergies can be horribly frustrating to find in a dog, as they can't tell you what the trigger is, but it's at least worth a try to see if that's a possibility in Gretzky's case.  

Thank you!! 

Did a vet tell you to wrap it? Sometimes being exposed to the air helps things heal faster, but I'd follow your vet's advice obviously. I'd buy a comfy cone and keep that on him until it healed, personally.

Great idea Jane. I see they have the soft cones now. :)

Don't wrap it, keep it open. Put a cone on him and see if it will heal with him having no access to it. Often a bandage will delay healing. You may consider taking him to the vet to get some antibiotics and maybe steriods for the itch. Constant licking can indicate many things from a foreign body (like sticker or foxtail), to infection, pain in a joint, boredom, OCD, etc so I think a vet visit is in order to get to the bottom of things and get some meds

That makes sense. Thank you for you comments!!

My little guy Rocky had a similar problem when he was about 4 months old and we had the vet do every test she could think of and she couldn't find anything wrong with him so we had him wear a cone for about a month until his paw was completely healed but once the cone was off, he started licking again so we put the cone back on right away and made him wear it basically 24/7 (unless he was with us and we could keep an eye on him) for about another 2 months and eventually, even with no cone and no supervision, he didn't lick it. My vet said it might have stemmed from boredom (at the time, my best friend was in the ICU from an accident and I was basically at the hospital 24/7 if I wasn't at work) and afterwards, when Rocky got all the daily exercise he needed, he was fine.

Yes, the cone is the only way when you can't keep your eyes on them every minute.  Our licking wound is looking a lot better.  I hope it  ends soon.  Thank you for all your comments!

my pup had a scratch on his toe and licked it until it became infected and sore- try to wrap it and then put a sock on top of it and then tape that...that would last at least a couple hours for me. the cone didnt help becuase it was his front paw and he figured out a way to fold over it and reach his toe. you probably also have to get a prescription to fight the swelling and infection from a vet- that helped a lot. i also used neosporin.

I had a mutt a number of years ago that would lick his paws raw.  No allergies.  Turned out it was separation anxiety.  I was not working for the first couple of years we had him and then went back to work.  What stopped it was me leaving my job when our daughter came.  Does he get enough exercise and people time?

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