People say ‘my dog wont stop chewing his feet’ and when we look at the hair around the foot its brown, this is from the dog’s saliva. The dog can find that his feet are bothering him for many reasons, here are some: 

• Matted feet are usually associated with matted hocks which if left can tighten causing the hock to start to strangle – see picture of dog above of Ziggy Start Dust – don’t worry he was rescued by kind people!
• Grass seeds find it very easy to hook onto the long hair and travel up your dog’s feet
• Your dog’s nails can’t touch the ground when your dog walks so can’t wear down
• Walking bare foot is a very effective way for your dog to cool down
• For dogs who have contact dermatitis the hair is an extra burden due to the sweat and infection that harbors there – dogs prove this when the foot is clipped – it gives them great relief to tuck into the foot and lick it to sooth it
• Lots of ‘things’ get stuck in the matted hair around the feet- thorns, needles (yes), bubble gum, sap off trees, round seeds, parasites and the dogs own toe nails that grow back into the pad instead of wearing off
• It’s very hard to de tangle a dog’s foot in other words groom it, so it is usually the bit that is NOT attended to by the owner
• It is very hard for people to restrain their dog’s feet even if the holding of the paw has been associated with treats and nice things
• Furry paws are for very cold climates not a warm climate like ours in Summer

Clipping toe nails: people don’t like to clip their dogs nails because its soooooooooo easy to clip the quick and make the nail bleed (different nails have different lengths of quicks) but they should always be clipped because nails that are too long, seen in the pictures gallery, or curl back into the pads, not only are painful but can cause infection and more importantly cause structural damage to your dog’s feet. I always clip your dog’s toe nails unless you ask me not to or if your dog just can’t cope with the stress of it, in which case I ask you to hold him if that doesn’t work I ask you to go to your Vet. Your dog’s nails might look too long now that I have clipped his feet very short. If you want to check that they have been clipped look at the end of the nail and it will be blunt and might look white