my dogs nail

Question
Hi I have a German shepherd purebred he is 4 months old. he was playing on my deck and then he slipped i didn't see him get hurt or anything when i let him come inside my house I sow blood all over the floor so then i ran too my dog and i sow him licking his paw. now his nail is bent and his nail is coming off it is not one of his 4 front ones its the thumb im not sure what its called but what ever i hope you know what i mean gangways he is always licking it like 24/7 i have a couple questions to ask you now. is it bad if his nail comes of ? if his nail does come off what should i do? would another nail grow?  

Answer
The nail he tore is called the dewclaw.  It's the most likely nail to get snagged on something, and if you plan on having him neutered, your vet can remove them at the same time so you won't have to worry about it again.  For now, you need to keep him from licking his nail too much or he could make it worse - it needs time to heal.  You can clean it with some hydrogen peroxide and put some antibiotic ointment like Neosporin to help it heal.  If he won't leave it alone, you can try putting an Elizabethan collar on him (which you can pick up at your local pet store) or you can put a bandage on it (if you do that make sure he doesn't try to eat it or you'll have worse problems).  If the nail falls off, it won't hurt him any worse than it has already, and it may or may not grow back.  If it gets swollen, or appears infected (yellow or green discharge) then you will want to take him to your vet for some antibiotics, but hopefully it won't come to that.

Amanda