Shio vs. Anti-Lick Strips

Ends up Shio has allergies of some sort.  We are not yet sure of what his allergies are triggered by. As we are trying to weed out his foods one by one to determine the cause of the allergies, the hot spots that Shio keeps picking at are getting progressively worse from the excessive licking and biting.  There are now patches of skin showing through because his fur has been bitten off along with beginning signs of an infection (as confirmed by our vet).

So today, Ting put these The Anti-Lick Strip Prevent™ strips on both his arms.  They are made from medical grade tape and seasoned with cayenne pepper and lemon powder to deter puppy's licking habit through scent and taste.  The scent from those spices made Shio smell like dinner but effectively deterred Shio from bothering his hot spots again.  Unfortunately, with the anti-lick strips on him, Shio was a completely different dog.   He was subdued and quiet.   Basically, he moped around all afternoon.

That night, we realized he tried to chew through the strips anyway.  It also stunk up the entire apartment so Ting took them off, and realized that the powders irritated his skin to the point where it was swollen and red.  We then proceeded to clean as much as the scent off his arms using water and gave him a big broccoli with peanut butter on it to reward him for being good -- and because Ting felt guilty about putting through all of this.  It took a while for the scent to filter out of the apartment and off his arms.

Needless to say, as effective as those strips were for its purpose, we will never use it again.  We've never seen him as miserable as he was that evening with the anti-lick strips on him.   Lesson learned.