That looks just the job, and a UK site too which is a bonus!
Thank you.
On the smaller dog, I have to or he doesn’t enjoy his walks. He won’t go to the bathroom and he will start lifting his feet within a block of home. He is just too close to the ground. With booties on, he is much happier.
Bigger dog is fine, but if I walked him on a lot of city sidewalks I might just to protect his feet from the salt on the roads.
It doesn’t get that cold here. I might consider it if I lived in very cold weather.
One of our dogs (the larger one by 30 pounds!) has kind of tender feet. We boot him when the temp is below zero. The other one doesn’t seem to mind, which is fortunate, as he is very resistant to having his feet messed with (nail clippings, etc.).
Another option is Mushers Secret. Or just vaseline - at least it prevents the little balls of ice between the toes.
When I did agility with a big, long-haired dog I kept the fur between his toes trimmed short. It improved traction on equipment and also helped with the ice balls.
Yes, I use those exact ones. Lots of ice and salt where I live, and if I leave off the boots, he hops around and winces as the salt burns his little pads. I’m talking about a little fluffy bichon here, not a big tough guy. Otherwise, I’d probably tell him to just take it like a man.
The poll didn’t have enough options, so I had to vote “often”. Actually I haven’t since I left Alaska, but back then, if it got cold enough I would put booties on. You can tell that when it gets bitter cold, that it hurts them to step on packed down snow or ice, in addition, as someone mentions above, it protects them from the salt.
Never, but with an asterisk. I have considered putting boots on my chihuahua because his feet sometimes get so cold he cannot walk, and then I have to walk out onto the Poop Deck in my PJs to get him. Unfortunately, Chihuahuas have no wrists to speak of and thus nothing to hold the boots in place.
Seriously, I should just put Post-Its on his feet, but he’s ancient and the assault on his dignity might be the death of him, so he just goes barefoot.
Sometimes.
It probably depends on the breed, right? I can’t imagine Iditarod pullers wearing boots - do they? I sometimes put boots on my Chesapeake Bay Retriever when it’s very cold and we’re going to be walking an hour or two (or more) on ice and hard-packed snow. It doesn’t get cold where I live but when we get into the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, it can get very cold (up by Bridgeport and Mammoth, in Yosemite).
Oh, God, yes! People who don’t think dogs are capable of embarrassment never dressed one up and showed him (and it’s always a him) to the neighborhood dogs.
My Little Girls wear sweaters in the Winter, but they like getting dressed up. Can’t imagine them letting me put on boots, though. And the boots would get ruined because they won’t let me cut their nails. They may be little, but they bite holes in tin cans for fun so I don’t push it.
Yes, they do so their dainty tootsies don’t get cut when running on ice. Pussies.
Nope, but I do use chiroptera’s Mushers Secret.
I did buy her boots and put them on and let her loose. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen. I rarely “laugh until I can’t breathe” but this did it.
Then we put boots on my brother’s already-silly-looking mutt, who is both skiddish and un-graceful. I laughed TWICE as hard as I did with my dog and I think I even died (but I got better).
However we’re currently on the hunt for my bro’s dog’s boots again because it’s in the teens here and she needs them. Not sure that we’ll actually get her to wear them or if it’ll just be another damn good show.
ETA: I absolutely would put my dog in boots if she let me, just for the walks on the street.
We just took our dogs out for a hike in the woods this morning. I was sunny and cold - about 10 degrees F. – and our tender-footed dog was wearing his booties. Silliest looking thing you ever saw, as he has blond fur and the booties are black. Had a great time, though.
Yup, mushers definitely put boots on their dogs when it gets cold enough, or the conditions warrant it.
Not for cold and ice, but I’ve considered them for traction on our hardwood floors. One of the dogs just had his second knee surgery and there’s a long period of convalescence and “being really careful” with that. I’d like to allow him more freedom downstairs but that polished wood is slick as snot.
However, the likelihood of any footwear lasting more than .10 seconds is slim to zip dot doodah, so I’ll probably just continue to consider it.
No, but I’d consider it under certain circumstances.
My Jackabee would kick 'em off, though, no doubt. I bought him a sweater last winter and not only would he immediately take it off, he also ended up chewing it to death.
My Shar-Pei would probably wear them, she’s prissy like that.
I know someone who used to go out with a dog sled racer. He would train his dogs with a wheeled sled on the roads, and they had to wear shoes to protect their feet.
I think Blackjack would let me put shoes on his feet. I doubt they would stay there very long.
I voted never but there is an exception- if one of my dogs has a foot injury, I will put a boot on to keep it dry & clean when outside.
Never, but I would like to put little mudflaps on her when she walks in the rain. She’s white and kicks up mud puddle splatters all over her belly. I just wipe her down with a towel when we get home. She won’t even stand for being groomed; I can’t imagine how fast she’d eat boots if I tried to put 'em on her.
I tried because the salt around here is hell on their feet but they both hate it so much that they got 10x the exercise on every walk trying to jump out of them.
Eventually I felt bad about laughing at them so now we just let them walk on the formerly grass verge instead of the sidewalk itself and wash their feet when they get home.
Mostly they run and play in the backyard for exercise, the nice part about double boxers is that they chase each other in circles. This is not so helpful in spring when the grass is trying desperately to grow.