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This is from one of the handful of comical essays written by Edgar Allen Poe -- I believe during his time as a news writer -- entitled "Diddling". He opens with this latin phrase which loosely translates to either "As a dog to skin [flesh] never to be frightened by [the] oil" or even more loosely "as a dog with [a piece of] greasy flesh is never frightened."
I did some more research and found that this is a direct quote from the Roman poet Horace and his Second Book of Satires, "Sermonum Q. Horati Flacci Liber Secondus"
There are a couple of potential meanings that I took from it: it essentially means that a dog, having the primal instinct/urge to eat flesh for sustinence, isn't dissuaded by the superficial uncleanliness of the oily skin and fur. Another meaning I believe I've read before is that a dog, gnawing at its own skin to allieviate the itchiness of fleas won't let the [again, superficial] oil of its fur get in the way. In other words, the truly motivated won't let superficial or trival obstacles get in the way of reaching their goals. This is also aligns well with the alternate translation, which likewise speaks to the difficulty of dissuading or distracting someone with intent focus.
