Parson Jack Russell eating her feet

Question
I have 2 sister Parson Jack Russells, one of them Mia, who has been continually biting and licking her feet.  This started in September at which time we spotted this just before we going on holiday and the vet prescribed steroid cream and antibiotics treating her for field mite.  When we returned to our dismay whilst in kennels she had fiercely bitten one of her paws to such an extent that she had to have an operation to help the healing.  She has been on steroids and allogenic tablets to no avail, she still keeps attacking her feet when she doesn't have a hooded collar on.  I have changed her diet to hypoallergenic with no additives to see if this is the cause.  We are desperate to try to get this sorted.  Can you give us any pointers.

Answer

Connor Jackie -

I'm sorry if I'm late in responding, but I would swear I thought I answered this already with quite a lengthy response.

The first thing I would rule out is the food - You say it has no additives, but please be sure to avoid corn, wheat and soy as well.

If that is not the issue, you need to understand that some dogs do this for psychological reasons.

I have known dogs who did it when the people were gone. It was a form of separation anxiety.  With that dog, they were lucky that the anti-anxiety medication that vets have available for dogs worked. Some dogs have such severe separation anxiety that the meds don't work.

The other dog I knew who did this was out of some weird kind of uncontrolable obsessive behavior. Even the slightest change in the cicumstance of the house - someone visiting, the phone ringing, etc would send her into a chewing at her paws frenzy. She chewed herself bloody every single day. The trainers and behaviorists had never seen anything like it. With a combination of medication and teaching her to obsess on a tennis ball instead of her paws, she did much better.  That way whenever anything that would have normall sent her into chewing happened, her mom could start throwing a tennis ball for her to chase til she was OK with the change.

The other thing I would consider is trying some Bach Rescue remedy. It's an herbal tincture that works wonders for some dogs ... and has little or no effect on others. But you never know, and it certainly can't hurt the situation.

The last thing I would think about is some kind of activity outside the home like obedience classes, agility, earthdog, etc... There are tons of these dog "sports" these days and they are just a blast.  Just like border collies, some PRTs have a high drive, and do best when they have a job.  I have a PRT myself, and he alsways does much better in general when we have school to look forward to.  I suspect your girl would do better if she had something outside the run of the mill things to think about and focus on.  PRTs are super smart and often need more stimulation than other breeds.

Best wishes - Let me know how you make out.

-Beth