Shiba Inus snout rubbing

Question
We've had our Shiba Inu (female/spayed) for 1 year and 4 months.  She is 1 1/2 years old. We love her very much.  She does two things that really concern us.  The first is lately (the last few weeks) she has begun to rub her snout (one side it seems) on anything she can the carpet, our fabric couches.  The problem is she is rubbing her snout hair off and it looks irritated.  I don't know if this is something I should take her to the vet for as this is the first pet we've had.  She is an inside dog, but we take her out for walks.  I don't know if this is an allergy.  She does also bite and lick her feet a lot but she's done that since we got her and I know they are known for cleaning themselves like cats so I've always thought this was normal.
The second thing she does which I find quite strange, but don't know if there is an answer to it.  She lets us know by going to the back door that she wants to go out.  
She'll sit by the door and whimper or jump up at the handle.  However, when we walk over with her harness she runs away from us.  We then have to coax her to us and put the harness on.  Once we get it on she's fine.  It fits her fine we've never had a traumatic incident (pinching her with it or anything like where it is too tight) so we don't know why she does this.  I'd appreciate any answers you could give me.  We love her very much and don't want to be causing her any undue stress.  Thank you, JoAnn

Answer
Hi JoAnn,

Thanks for sending me a question here at AllExperts!  Many dogs like to rub their snouts, faces and/or backs on furniture or rugs.  I have seen dogs do this to convey happiness and relaxation, and I have also seen dogs rub their snouts and faces on furniture after eating using the furniture as their own napkin, LOL.  Your Shiba might be trying to remove something from her snout, or perhaps she just likes the way the carpet and the furniture feel when she rubs up against them.

First, I would make sure that there's nothing that you apply to your carpet or furniture (cleaning or scent product) that may be irritating your Shiba's nose and paws.  Same outside - is there pesticide and fertilizer on your lawn, or any products used indoors or outdoors that may be causing her irritation when it ends up on her snout or paws?

Second, it might be worthwhile to take her to a veterinary dermatologist.  She may have allergies or sensitivities to foods, products, airborne pollen or other items airborne.  If the biting and snout rubbing get worse at certain times of the year, her allergies or sensitivities may be seasonal.  In any case, if her snout looks irritated, and is abraded, this may lead to infection - so I would have it looked at by a professional promptly.

It's great that your Shiba lets you know when she needs to go out!  I can't say why she doesn't seem to like your putting the harness on her for sure.  Does she seem to be OK with your putting the harness on her at other times when she doesn't need to go out?  What I'm thinking is that she may perceive the harness as a delay - she's telling you she needs to go out 'NOW' and the harness is just getting in the way of her getting her need fulfilled.  Another possibility is that the harness goes over her head, and perhaps she doesn't like the way that feels.  Another possibility is that she doesn't like the way the harness feels when it's on.  Is there any reason you can't put the harness on her in, say, the morning, and leave it on her all day, so that she gets used to wearing it and how it feels when it's on?  Another thing I would do is give her lots of treats and praise when you put the harness on.  When you take the harness off, ignore her for a few minutes.  What I'm hoping is that she starts to associate the harness going on with good things happening, like treats and praise.

One other possibility is if your harness 'clicks' when you put it on rather than buckles.  I have found that this noise of the 'click' disturbs many sensitive dogs that don't like the sound as you snap the buckle into place.  Although you say that you don't feel she was ever pinched when you were putting the harness on her, be careful that when you're snapping the clip to the harness that her fur isn't being caught in it.  Sometimes this happens, and people don't realize.  The dog's fur gets caught in the clip, so putting their collar or harness on them becomes unpleasant for them.  If this happened a while back, she may not have forgotten, and so she may now be a bit wary of the harness being put on her.  If so, you'll need to be very careful about this and retrain her to realize that the click of the harness clasp does not mean that discomfort will be caused to her.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Madeline Friedman, M.A.
www.ny-njDogTrainer.com
Volunteer at AllExperts.com