Keritosis is a common occurrence in dogs that occurs on nose or heel pad of the front leg.

It looks like the nose or pad has grown small, carrot-like protrusions from it. It may cover the entire nose or appear like a ridge. This skin will grow longer and clearly has separate sections which you can gently move with your fingers.


This is dry, dead skin much like your cuticles or heel. On the nose, food gets stuck in it and it is very uncomfortable for the dog and can cause soreness and/or infection.

To remove these, you can use an emery board and file it down. Take care to gently file in the direction the protrusions are laying and not back and forth.

If they are very long, you may want to do this over a period of a few days and you can have their nose and pads back to normal quickly.