nail biting

Question
my jrt has been recently biting her nail and it bleeds and i dont know what to do and im really scared.  i've wrapped it up trying to get her to leave it alone but she bites at that...my friend from work said shes missing something in her diet and i need to know what it is??  thank you

Answer
Hi Sherry,
I really don't think she's missing anything in her diet.
Usually dogs will bite a nail, or lick a certain spot, or some other "obsessive" behavior for a couple of reasons.
Has there been any changes in your life or home? New job? New baby? New dog? A move? Change of schedule? Any change from the norm causes them a little stress and they compensate by doing what are called "displacement activities".  Something in their world isn't quite right.
Or, it could be simple boredom. She might be entertaining herself if there's nothing better to do.
Now the solution:
Go buy some GRANNICKS BITTER APPLE SPRAY - it's a bite, chew, lick deterrent that tastes terrible to the dog but is completely harmless.  Spray her toes and when she starts to bite her nail she'll get a good taste of it and stop right away. It doesn't last for an entire day so you'll have to reapply when you see her start to bite at the nail.
You can use this spray on furniture, shoes and most anything. Some people use red pepper instead. This is very powerful and works too, sometimes it makes the dog sneeze quite alot so I don't prefer this method, but some people swear by it.  
You could also try to "snap her out of it", but clapping or making some loud noise to get her to stop thinking about that nail, and give her a nice beefy rawhide instead, thus simply directing her desire to chew somewhere else.
I hope one of these works for you! Don't give up, it takes a little while to change the behavior and you might have to do it again sometime if she starts again, but they all have been effective.
Best of luck!
Carol