dog biting her paw

kestrel

my dog goes nuts sometimes using her teeth to nibble the space between the pads on her paws. on more than a few occasions, i've seen her with her bum in the air, front end on the ground, fairly aggressively putting herself full force into the task. once or twice i think i have heard bone crack or something.

i always check her feet for rashes/lodged particles/matts etc, but i can't see any problems. she isn't even damaging herself. so unless she has some insane itch, it must be a behavioural problem, but i thought these things were associated with boredom?

Sigma Force

I think some dogs can get a kind of mite living in between their pads or mabey it could be a fungal infection that's irritating (just guessing though).
Some dogs chew because of boredom or frustration.

Has the vet checked the pads for any un seen parasites that might be lurking there?

If it's a behavioural thing mabey a chat to a dog behaviourist will give you a few tips on how to destract the dog from chewing.

peasant

A certain amount of pedicure is quite normal behaviour. Only when it gets constant or excessive is there a problem.

Besides the psychological reasons physical ones could include (as GPR said) fungal infections or mites. Some dogs also are quite sensitive to certain grass or plant pollen.

Furthermore they walk "barefoot" across such things as nettles or thistles which can leave an annoying itch between the toes.

And there is "principle" ...our three have to closely inspect all their paws after we did so, apparently we are not to be trusted