dog driving us mad!!

[crispycake]

Our dog whos a staff keeps accidently scratching her eye with her dewclaw!
In the past 6 months shes done it 3 times and each time it's a trip to the vets to get antibiotics as the scratch turns to a ulcer on her eye!
We cut her nails but she tends to sit for hours and nibbles her dewclaw into a very sharp point.
Im sending my partner to pets at home later to get a pet nail file and see if that helps.
I just wanted to know has anyone else has this problem with their dog?
What can we do?
I did read about getting the dewclaw removed but she's 8 years old and this usually gets done when they are pups, so i have read.
Any help, tips etc will be very helpful. thanks

Dew claws can be removed from adult dogs, but it requires a general anaesthetic and takes a while to heal.

Is there something irritating her eye?

No nothing irriating her eye!
She sleeps alot so gets abit of sleep on the corner of her eye and she is obsessed with getting it off her eye with her paws so she can eat it!
As shes doing this she scratchers her eye in the process and cant open it!

All dogs sleep a lot but getting lots of 'sleep' in their eyes can be a symptom of a blocked tear duct.

Has your vet checked this? They put fluorescent drops in and watch to see if it comes out the dog's nostrils.

Our staff also chews her claws into sharp points and the scratches herself , luckily she hasn't got her eyes yet.

bella!
Yeah she's been the vets had the drops etc and everything is fine!

Oh good!

Just trying to help!

Can't be very nice for her either!

thanks for your help!
No its not, i feel really sorry for her, she's feeling very sorry for herself so we have had cuddles all afternoon!
I filed her dewclaws down and rounded them off so hopefully this will help, until we are out of the house and she nibbles them again!

Have you tried leaving lots of toys or a well stuffed kong for her so she doesn't nibble them while you are out?

Has the vet checked her tear production is adequate?
Has the vet considered other causes such as corneal dystrophy?

You might like to get a referral to an specialist if there is any doubt about why these ulcers have happened.

Poor girl

Is there nothing you can get to paint on and stop her nibbling? What about that human stuff you can get to stop nail biting?

Thankfully ours don't chew theirs but I am paranoid about them getting caught on walks. I've heard the best time to have them taken off is when they're newborn as the bones are still very soft, so it's a minor procedure to just clip them right off. I wish more breeders would do it.

yup we leave her with her kong, bone, ball etc but she only ever play's with her toys with us. she's just abit of a strange dog i supose, she see's herself more as human than dog
Our local vet sent us to a doggy eye specialist just before xmas in chealsea and he gave her the all clear too!
I think it's just going to be one of those things that we cant help.
Luckly it's looking better today as we already had eye drops in from when it happened at xmas!

thanks for that mrsL123.
I did mention that to partner the other day about the nail polish. I may have to give it a go, it will be good if it helps.
I think that they should be taken off too when they are young, as the do not really need them.
We looked into getting her's cut off but because she's 8 yrs old it's ment to be painful and takes along time to heal.

oh thats pants isnt it, i would consider having the dew claws removed, but it does require a general which is not ideal, and expensive too.

Maybe try some sort of noise aversion - a friend of ours just invested in a collar that sprays air eitehr by remote or when activated by barking - maybe you could try this for when you are around and make her wear a buster collar when you go out. Once she associates the scratching with the surprise she might stop - worth a try.

If she does this when you are not around, could it be separation anxiety? if so, maybe try a DAP diffuser, its a dog pheremone that works wonders with pyschological problems with dogs - you plug it in like an air freshner - again, not cheap but then nothing that works ever is

also, is she generally an "itchy" dog? not being cheeky but is she deflead regularly - she might have a slight flea allergy and often itchy dogs tend to nibble at their feet. All things to think about. Sometimes people dont do the defleaing in the winter, but you need to keep it up all year round because we keep our houses nice and warm. Saying that, i cant remember the last time i did our dog

thanks for that lucyellensmumagain. I will look into the dog pheremone diffuser that might work especially as i have been off work since oct due to a injury and i am due to go back next month, so i have been with her 24/7.
I dont mind you asking as it is one of them things you forget about but yes she is deflead regularly and has a shower every 3 weeks with flea shampoo too.
We bought a clicker too to see if that helps in anyway hopefully she's not too old to learn new things