Welcome to Gaia! ::

I've heard that the vinegar thing is just a wives tale, people at my work heard that you should use it for ear infections, and when they tried it the dog's ears started bleeding...

It's probably allergies or boredom. Allergies can come from anything from flea bites to food allergies. If its food allergies it would be best to switch his diet to something higher quality, if you're already feeding high quality food you're really in trouble because then you'll have to try developing a specialty diet at home. If it's an external stimulus, like fleas or something like grass allergies it's usually easier to treat.

A good way to stop licking if you haven't tried it already is bitter cherry or bitter apple, it stops licking because it tastes abysmally, they usually use it to keep puppies from chewing electrical cords and such.

Boredom is easy experiment with toys and treats, stuffed kongs are usually nice, but anything they can chew on usually will suffice.

As for the sores themselves, the best thing to do would simply be trying to keep them clean and let them heal on their own, you could try using antibiotics and stuff too. You probably need to talk to your vet if it gets to the point where the dog can no longer walk or anything.

Putting vinegar on scabs isn't a good idea for any animal. mad

And it doesn't work anyway. I was desperate enough to try it once. My dog licked it all off and continued licking his leg. His eyes teared up pretty bad though. lol

The bitter apple stuff I had (many years ago) was a spray. 3nodding

I've seen a swab variety too 3nodding

My dog had food allerges when she was a puppy and it made her right ear always dirty. After we switched the right ear still had a little more dirt than the left but it was alot better than before. Of course even if theres no dirt you still have to clean it out. i doubt him licking his legs is the real problem. If he was licking his legs and later in turned into a rash i think there was a start of a rash BEFORE he started licking. His licking didnt really help but it didnt make things too much worse. Its just that he had a small rash that you didnt notice at first and it got bigger. The licking its leg part is like when you bang your arm you might rub it to make it feel better. With the information i have i think this could be the problem.

P.S.
You dogs name is Mickey?! Mine is too but its spelled Micky.

P.S.S.
You and one toehr person i met is the only people i know that named their girls micky. Or is yours a boy?

if those sour apple sprays don't work and truset me they don't. try putting some citrus juice on his paws. "Most" dogs dislike citrus but not all of them fall into the category of normal. I know one of mine doesn't.


Little side note:
I had a dog named Mickey when I was little. he had no fur due to a nerve condition that caused him to loose it all but he was a cool dog.

In my experience, it's called "bitter apple." Also, while I never had health issues with it, neither of the two dogs we used it on in the past were phased at all.