If you´re right, it could help to distract him as Carole also mentioned.
Everytime he trys to do unwanted behavior, make sure his mind gets on something else.

And came to think; is he hyper all the time? You say he "He is a very active dog, I do walk him twice a day for an hour each time, but he never stops running around whilst hes out he even tires Saffy out and shes only 18 months".

My Ally is the same way, and letting her run too much only courses more stress. To give him training while out (heal, hinter, stay, etc) will tire him so much more mentally. Make it fun and give him "free time" aswell. But maybe more limited.

Hope you get it sorted out

Hi Roxy, I agree with the others about distraction, but that is not easy and means watching Max like a hawk which you can't do in the night. When you do see him licking divert his attention if you can by calling him to you, sometimes you might want to give him something to chew or play with but do this shortly afterwards, don't go to him and give him something, that could be seen as rewarded the behaviour. His diet does seem a little short of oils and I would be inclined to give him fish body oils (not cod liver oil ) which contain omega3, this is good for many things including the coat (from health food shop). You can put things on the leg but I guess he may lick it off and it is drawing his attention to the area and to licking rather than away from it . You could try a tubigrip bandage during the night but Max may pull it off. Things like this can be a real problem, my friend Liz has this trouble with Letty the Labs tail.

aww poor maxy babes.poppy licks her feet n chews then constantly sue, i think its just nerves, cos max n pops are soo similar arent they??

Roxy try putting a spray of perfume or after shave on the spot thats getting licked it will stop licking it cant handle the taste ....only thing is if its a bit raw it will sting the dog ...I done this with the mother in laws collie and it worked

I'm sure there's a Bitter apple spray you can try, not sure if this is the same as bitter bite.

It could be a number of things, stress, anxiety, habitual, vitamin/mineral deficiency.

If you're concerned about vitamins in his diet, try him on SA37 for a while and see if that makes a difference. It's a powdered supplement that's added to food once a day.

Other than that, as others have said, try distracting him when he starts to lick. Hopefully this will break the cycle if it's habitual.

Jess has already mentioned food but Gus did actually lick his feet raw and they would get infected.
We were tested for mites etc ( or rather Gus was ) and in the end a food test was done and he was actually sensitive to his food- Hills Science Plan.
He's a different dog on raw and the licking has stopped

Wasn't chicken one of the things that Gus was allergic to Lel?

he can have chicken VERY occasionally but eggs and some of the Asda dog treats spark off a reaction too and he will start up again

when I first sought help about this a few people mentioned food and because he was fed on a (what I thought) was a good quality food I didnt think it would be this It certainly wasnt cheap anyway
but after doing the food trial the diference was really apparent and hes been fine since the changeover in food

I remember you saying Lel. Just maked me think as Sue's dog is being fed chicken, and I can vaguely remember you saying something about chicken. Could also be a wheat gluten allergy, as he's being given rice.

Sorry i can't help but i do have a Question

Q. Does anyone know much about Acral Lick Disease