Hey guys, I have an odd problem with my dog. He's a 10 month old male Doberman. The problem is he constantly sucks on his flank. What I mean by that, is he clamps his mouth on the skin between his upper thigh and his body, and sucks/chews on it. It's only on one side. I had the vet check him out, and they said this was a normal behaivor in Dobermans and he should grow out of it. My breeder has never heard of this. It still makes me nervous, especially since sometimes he gets a bit raw in the area. I have tried some "chew stop" spray, but he does not seem to be affected by it. Any help or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
He most likely WILL NOT grow out of it. This is a quirk that seems to run in certain lines of Dobermans. (I have owned them my entire life) Some of them will transfer this behavior to toys, blankets or pillows but I don't think there is really anything you can do about it without making the dog really neurotic. It's (in my opinion) a nervous habit like biting nails in humans.
The dobermann I owned as a kid did this her entire life, I would make sure that your dog gets lots of exercise and attention. It seems to be worse when they are bored or frustrated.
Cindy, thanks for the reply. All I really want to know is if there is any harm in this. It does seem, as you stated, that he does it more when he is "bored or frustrated", such as if he wants to play, but we are eating dinner, or if he wants to play when it's bed time. If it's not something that will hurt him in any way, then I won't mind it so much.
I have a student with a narcotics dogs that does this (malinois).
I use it as a test to whether they are training enough. It diminishes to almost nothing when the handler gets the dog out and works it enough.
Weird nervous habbit. I read someplace that vets were playing around with a variety of drugs used to treat human mental illness/depression to kinda break the habbit. I for one would excecise the dog until this went away or close to it.
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