I have a 4.5 month old German Shepherd, who has a raw spot on the upper portion of his muzzle. He's a black and silver, that's why the other portions of his muzzle look light in color. I'm not sure if it is serious or not and thought I would post some pictures and get your advice. He is up to date on all vaccinations rabies included, hasn't come into contact with any other dogs besides his sister and the sire of their litter (all vaccinated). He does stay in the crate for about 4hrs while I work part time, and I'm not sure if he tries to escape or rub his snout on the plastic tray liner (he has blankets and such to sleep with/chew/whatever he wants). Also I'm not sure if it's relevant, but his father has had lick granuloma issues in the past. Any thoughts on what it could be? Thank you.





[Edited on May 7, 2009 at 7:40 PM. Reason : sorry. pictures try #2]

5/7/2009 7:27:51 PM

you really should edit your post now.
We can see your full name.
Google "how to post pictures" or something like that.

5/7/2009 7:33:55 PM

how long has it been going on? it def. looks like he could have rubbed it...although that tends to be on the top of their nose...not in that area.

it could possibly be puppy pyoderma (puppy strangles) in the early stages...


i'd put some neosporin on it for a few days and if no improvement....take him to a vet.

[Edited on May 7, 2009 at 8:46 PM. Reason : .]

5/7/2009 8:45:16 PM

looks like he's been rubbing his blankets.

5/7/2009 9:52:51 PM

Another thing to consider is demodex (although this looks like he's been rubbing it) but it normally goes away on it's own.

5/7/2009 10:47:05 PM

I wouldn't run to the vet yet...my german mix had something similar and it ended up going away relatively quickly

5/7/2009 11:04:09 PM

It's only been going on for the past two-three days, I'll try neosporin for the next few days and see if it heals up. It doesn't seem to bother him at all, I just wasn't sure if it was something more serious. Thanks for the help.

5/7/2009 11:15:57 PM

You must've had a ton of fun getting him to cooperate to take those pictures

5/8/2009 12:36:00 AM

its only 4.5 months old

5/8/2009 12:38:30 AM

Our family dog had a spot very similar to that (just a little closer to his nose). We took him to the vet and were told to just use neosporin on it. As others have suggested, my thought would be to try neo for a few days to see if you notice improvement and then go to the vet. Good luck.

5/8/2009 12:48:30 AM

my dog had something similar. turns out the neighbor's jack russell had been biting her through the fence when they would fence fight.

5/8/2009 8:43:38 AM

I have a german shepherd as well and he gets the same thing. His nose will look sore and raw...then scab over. It seems to only happen in the Spring and eventually goes away.

5/8/2009 10:06:23 AM

Layla, our dog, had jumped out the window of our car (luckily we were at a park and going really slow) but she pretty much face planted and ended up with a nose looking just like that. So I would agree with everyone else and say that your dog has been rubbing his nose on his blankets or something. I wouldn't consider it a big problem unless it starts bleeding or getting worse. It should heal up just fine on it's own. Layla's healed fine and there's not even a scar (on her nose at least) where she had road rash.

5/8/2009 10:14:14 AM

We had a dog that seemed to constantly have a spot like this...never seemed to bother him.

I would get worried if it got worse in the coming days.

5/8/2009 1:14:02 PM