7 Signs Your Dog Is Trying To Tell You Something
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7 Signs Your Dog Is Trying To Tell You Something (Most Owners Miss #4 Every Winter)
Dogs can't say "something's off". But they show it, quietly, usually when you're asleep. Here are the signs owners most often notice too late.
By the Waggle family, Dublin · Oct 27, 2026 · 4 min read
Every dog owner has said it: "I wish he could just tell me when something's wrong."
Most dogs are telling you. Just not in words. None of these signs means your dog is sick, but together they're worth paying attention to.
1. Licking his paws at night
A lick after a walk is normal. Twenty minutes on the same paw at 2 a.m. is the dog version of tapping your foot. Owners often only notice the rusty-brown staining between the toes, which is what saliva leaves behind.
2. Scratching one ear, over and over
If you know the sound of his tags jingling in the dark, you know this one. One ear, again and again.
3. The little white cloud when he shakes
One owner put it perfectly: "you see it fly off her in a white cloud whenever she shakes." Flakes on a dark coat are easy to spot in a beam of sunlight and easy to ignore everywhere else.
See the 3-for-1 offer →4. His coat goes dull every winter
This is the one Irish owners miss most, because it arrives with the dark evenings. Months of the central heating on full, damp walks, muddy towel-downs at the back door, and the coat that shone in summer looks flat and dry by January. It's so regular it starts to feel normal. It isn't something you just have to live with every winter.
5. The groomer mentions something
Groomers see your dog's skin up close, under bright lights. When a groomer writes "hot spot behind left ear, chewing paws, please keep an eye on it", that's a second pair of eyes telling you what your dog has been trying to.
6. He spits out every tablet and powder you try
This one isn't a symptom. It's the reason most fixes never get a fair go. Fish oil gets refused, powders get eaten around, and the tablet in the cheese turns up behind the sofa. If he won't take it every day, it can't help every day.
Get 3 months for €29.95 →7. You've started saying "ah, he's just like that"
This is the big one. After a new food, an oatmeal shampoo, a round of fish oil and maybe the cone, most of us land in the same place: "he's just an itchy dog." And we stop looking.
What all seven have in common
Every sign shows up on the outside: the paws, the ears, the skin, the coat. So that's where we aim our fixes.
But about seventy percent of a dog's immune system lives in the gut. The skin is often just where things show up. Supporting what's underneath, every day, is the part most routines skip.
To be clear: daily support isn't medicine. If your dog is unwell, the vet is the right call. This is the everyday part, before anything goes wrong.
Start the everyday part →Why we make one thing
We're Waggle, a small Irish family business from Dublin. We make one product, developed by a vet here in Dublin: a daily salmon soft chew for skin, coat and immune support.
- EpiCor Pets, a postbiotic studied for its support of a balanced immune response
- Colostrum for immune health and the gut lining
- Salmon oil and salmon meal, omega-3s for skin and a shiny coat
- A prebiotic (FOS) that feeds the good bacteria in the gut
- Nettle, linseed and algae for skin and coat
It answers sign #6, too. Dogs beg for it, so it actually gets taken every day. One to three chews a day depending on size, with breakfast.
Claim the launch offer →Launch offer · Ireland
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P.S. Count how many of the seven you recognised. If it's two or more, your dog has probably been telling you for a while.
This article is published by Waggle and is an advertisement. Waggle aller-immune chews are a complementary feed for dogs that supports healthy skin, coat and immune function. They are not a medicine and do not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition. The signs above are common things owners notice and are not a diagnosis. If your dog is unwell, see your vet. © 2026 Waggle, Ireland.