My 10 mth Golden Retriever has chewed a patch of coat off over the last few days. It is his about a 1 inch square patch towards the top of his left hind leg. He has left the coat about an inch long but has removed the "feathers". This morning he sat next to me and I thought he was just cleaning until he looked up with a long piece of coat sticking out his mouth. I removed it and told him no and he has not bothered again since. On closer inspection though I found the short patch. It has happened over the last couple of days. He is groomed regularly, I'm 99% certain he doesn't have fleas although I will treat him just incase, his skin does not look irritated in that area .I don't think he sat in anything either. He is left in an outside pen and run on his own at times ( not for more than 4 hours at a time ) and he has not been left any longer over the last few days than he is used to. Also I leave a nylabone for chewing when left. It is quite noticeable when viewed from behind as he now looks lopsided. He is going to his first training class next week so perhaps he has decided to pretty himself up for the girls but got it wrong

Has anyone any suggestions as to why he might have done this ?

I had a rescue retriever and discovered that the 'coat pulling' was stress related and was due to her being penned as soon as I stopped this she stopped could be an element of boardom as well they are companion dogs and love your company

Thank you for your reply. This problem occured in June and we have had no more trouble since. I do still wonder if he had been stung and that set it off
He now also has a kong which is stuffed and other toys besides his nylabone left in his run when he is penned.
SaraW