Dog health question

Hi this is my first time asking this type of question I have a 8 almost 9 yr old lab/mix who was drops off when she was a pup and my uncle first adopted her and eventually she became mine when she was about 2 or 3 yrs old. Ok my question is she injured her paw when she was young under a yr old and she sliced her pad almost off and the vet had to put a bandage on it and we cared for it close to a month or so and it healed up great now she has had exima or dry skin and needed steroids to calm down her itching but since this injury she had been very protective about her feet now I have worked with her over the yrs and have gotten her to calm down about that. Well she has always licked and cleaned the so much that she had a skin infection on the bottom of her front feet a medicated spray and a week of that cleared it up. Well just a week ago today she got her font paw steped on and a slight bruise and tinderness and some anti inflammatory meds she was fine well now she has started to lick her paw incessantly to the point she has soaked through floor under her so much and now she is limping again. The dr says it has no infection yet and no injury to the paw so what can I do to stop her I have stopped her when I see her but threw the night is when I find the most wet spots the doctor had no real remedy other than behavior modification please help I know she is making it worse and i am so over my head with this one I know it all stems from the first injury even the dr agrees with me on that one

I am very confused by this post ... the vet should have recommended some sort of barrier to stop the dog licking ... a muzzle, or an "elizabethan collar" ( basically a hood that is tied around the dog's neck to his collar so that he cannot lick wounds, although I doubt one of these would stop a dog licking his feet). Our boy Ben had to wear a muzzle night and day for weeks to stop him eating himself and creating hot spots.

It is imperative that you stop your dog licking his foot - hot spots are an absolute nightmare to treat and to cure and the only answer is to prevent the dog from licking them. There is a new drug out called Apoquel out in this country which is reported to be very good, but it is extremely expensive and can have side-effects. I would go for the muzzle option until the foot has healed enough to stop irritating the dog.

Watch her and stop her doing it when you are with her. Get her doing something else (play or a bit of training usually diverts the attention). When you can't be with her, you could try a sock on the affected paw. If she does not chew the sock, it may just provide enough protection to break the habit until the paw mends fully

Good advice Chris! My advice of muzzling 24 x 7 is based on experience with my wolfy boys who are always extreme in everything they do! Hopefully a labrador will be less persistent and a sock does the trick.

Well my fear was confirmed she actually has arthritis in her elbow no issues with her foot they finally did x-rays and she has arthritis in the rt elbow which is the foot she was limping on and in her lt elbow as well as a bone spur on the left leg above her wrist she now finally has some pain meds and will be starting on an antiinflammatory medication soon I will be looking into supplements to help her as well as maybe changing her food to one that supports better joint health I will be doing some research for a while before anything is changed and give her medication tie to work