Hi Everyone ! Dewey is 10 months old now, and just adjusting to Canadian winters. This is our 5th snow fall now, and it seems to be bothering him the most. We went for 2 walks today and both have seem to cause him a lot of pain. The first walk he was yelping and it was hard to watch! The dog park has been very icy recently and we have been frequently going. Could the ice have done damage to the pads of his paws? Any advice on how to handle harsher winters with Deweys paws? Any feedback on dog boots? (ive never tried them but if they work!) Thanks in advance.
Willow can have problems with her feet in the winter. I think it's mainly caused by the salt on the roads. I use Musher's Secret, which is a paw wax, to protect them and it works well. Combined with washing their feet after every walk. It's supposed to help against extremes of temperature, too, although I'm not sure if that's the case. It may be worth a try before boots. I believe the Ruffwear boots are good if you have to go down that line.
I can vouch for the Ruffwear boots, they worked great for Brogan. I used them with the little socks they also sell...no chaffing, never lost one even on longer hikes. They are kind of expensive but Brogan used his for six years and they still looked nearly new. Ruffwear now sells boots specifically for snow, but I've not tried those. Also friends of mine with dogs with more fur between the toes swear by trimming the fur between the toes. I guess that snow/ice gets stuck on the fur and makes walking feel like if for us we had rocks (little frozen rocks!) in our socks. Ouch. Ironically, this seems to happen more to the snow breeds that I know (husky mix, American eskimo).
You know, I don't think I do, but I will look. Of the 10,000 photos of him I have, I can't remember one with the boots on. How strange! I think some of the shots of him in snow he would have had them on, but as his feet are in the snow, you can't see them. Or maybe he felt a bit silly in them (after all) and was using his Jedi doggie mind powers to convince me that I didn't need to take a photo of him wearing them. "Nothing to see here, don't take out the camera...nothing to see here, don't take out the camera..."
On the other hand, Jedi doggie mind powers can sometimes fail even the smartest dog, as evidenced that I have the dreaded "trying on a hat while laid up after surgery" photo. That poor, poor dog.
