Dog's incessant licking? ANY advice welcome.?

My dog does the same thing. My vet has never called it hot spots or recommended any lotions/sprays. I did however buy a shampoo and conditioner from the vet for dry skin. It helps a lot. I do have to bathe her more often with it in the winter due to dry air in the house.

Your thoughts about the air freshener and floor cleaners are also very valid. Think about how much time they spend on the floor and at the level of the plug-ins. I would be interested in learning more about this.

Certainly any chemicals can cause or aggregate it.........opening windows to let fresh air is the safest air freshener, shaking bicarbonate of soda onto a carpet, then vacuuming is safe and it absorbs any smells, or cleaning a hard floor , then wash over with water and white vinegar nutralises any chemicals as well as any smells.

'Allergies' are often diagnoised by the vet and then you are sold vet prescription diets...so if you are happy with the food you give and it isn't full of cereals, I don't know of 'solid Gold' as I am in the UK then don't change to vet prescribed as it is full of cereals...instead buy some Neem oil and give your dog a spoonful on his meal every day, this help his immune system function to its optimum level which enables him to fight of minor illnesses ( or allergies) naturally, it also promotes a healthy coat, skin, teeth and bones as well as protecting him from parasites like fleas, ticks worms and mites....so no need to put chemical in him ( worming tablets) on on him (flea sprays) as this will not help him either.
If he does have anxiety issues then do some things that may help him...chewing relieves anxiety, so raw bones will help him, filling a kong with his meal everyday and letting him earn it will also help and you are already giving him carrots which is also good.

Well, first of all you could be happy he's licking and not chewing! Seriously though, there are a few things you can do to keep him from licking so much. If he licks you (or other people), you should gently push him away and otherwise ignore him until he's doing something acceptable. As for licking things like furniture, does he have certain things he likes licking most? If so, there's this wonderful stuff called bitter apple spray. It's a liquid spray that tastes terrible, but is otherwise safe. You can spray it where you don't want him licking, so if he does he'll associate a negative taste with licking there, so hopefully he'll stop. Another really important thing you can do is to give him something he CAN lick! The toy that I've found to be the best by far is a Kong. You can stuff the cong with a bit of cheese, peanut butter, wet dog food or anything else dog-safe and sticky. He'll probably have a great time trying to lick all of the yummy filling from inside the toy. I hope that helps, and good luck with the dog!

tell him no when you catch him. it may be a nervous habit.