dog feet owies

[daradke]

Noticed my dog feet getting beat up.  What products does everyone use to help this?  Creams?  Boots? Brands?  This is my first hunting dog so we are new to all this.

[Curly]

I watched a hunting show last weekend where the guy used duct tape on his wirehair pointer to protect the dogs feet.  He just loosely wrapped the feet.  He said you could use vet-wrap first, then the duct tape.........but he said his dog could stand to lose some hair on his legs so he skipped the vet-wrap.

Anyway, the duct tape looked like a pretty good idea (with the vet wrap around the legs first).  I never had much luck with boots on my dogs feet.  Seems like they always came off.  The duct tape idea seems like it would work.  Just have to make sure it is loose enough to enable good circulation.

[kyle78]

I've ussed the horse wrap that sticks to itself with good results. I think 100' roll cost me 3 bucks.

[merkelman]

Vet wrap works the best. If the pads get raw get some glycerin on them then wrap. My vet recommended this too.

[bobcat]

You might give "tuf foot" a try:

http://www.tuffoot.com/

[Stilly bay]

mushers secret or pad heal.

[Curly]

The show I watched was episode #36 (I think) from "Wingshooting USA", hosted by Scott Linden (in case you want to watch that show and see him apply duct tape to his dog.

I found a post by Scott Linden where he discusses dog boots.  Link

[dbor]

Tuf-foot X 2... before season will help soft feet also...

[wraithen]

Just be careful. A lot of people take too good of their dogs feet and they never seem to heal. It's because they never allow the pads to get built back up. They keep everything wrapped up and soaking in whatever medicine. Super glue (aka liquid stitches) fix darn near anything on those pads. Keeping that yellow powder handy that you get with some nail clipper setups is a good idea to stop minor bleeding.

[Justin7mm]

My advice is not to use anything.  If you hunt a lot or hunt in rough country your dogs feet are going to have issues.   Usually it is just general soreness/rawness but can be thorns, cactus, lacerations etc.  There are lots of products available but most likely you will just get frustrated with them...my dogs don't like things on their feet.  Dogs are tough and will heal quickly from most small foot problems.  If you hunt them enough their feet will toughen up. 

[AWS]

Intresting topic, just got back from two weeks of pheqasant and sharptail hunting,  we had 4 dogs that we rotated sometimes in pairs some time single if the cover was small.  Non of the dogs had pad problems as we worked our dogs before the hunt.

We did have foot problems though, my dogs paws looked like he was a bare knuckle fighter the tops of his feet were rubbed raw from the ice, snow and coarse dried CRP.  I used to use boots but he would wear them out, one set only lasted 45min. befor his foot was hanging out the side.  I use vetwrap and duct tape, it is more surefooted for the dog and when you get used to putting it on it is almost as fast as boots and less chance of losing one far from the rig.  With a sugical tape scissors they come off faster than boots.  Without foot covering it didn't take very long for his feet to start bleeding from the tops to the point that it is like following a wounded deer in the snow.

The second dog it took alot longer to wear through the tops of his feet, actually one foot but it did get bad. 

The other two dogs showed no problems although being hunted as hard as the others. 

I like vet wrap and duct tape(buy good stuff the Walmart cheap stuff falls off) with out it I'd have to spend aot of time doctorring feet and not hunting.

[JLS]

I have a set of rubber boots for my lab.    They pull on, and you wrap a piece of duct tap around the top to hold them.

http://www.gundogsupply.com/lewis-rubber-dog-boots.html

I cannot hunt my lab in chukar country without them.  Not all dog feet are created equal, and it's foolish to say you shouldn't use anything as a one size fits all.  Different breeds have different feet.  My dog gets road rash in between his toes in real rocky ground, and if I don't want him out of commission for a week then I have to use the boots.  Rough crusty snow and ice can do the same thing, their pads get wet and soft and the crust can tear them up.

In an ideal world all hunting dogs would be exercized in the rocks 4-5x per week.  Not many of us live in an ideal world.

[Labs07]

Run ur dog a lot before the season and his pads will toughen up!  Just my two cents.

[csaaphill]

What show was it I can't remember but think it was hunting with hank. It showed the star using duct tape on his dogs feet was kind of comical to watch him get used to it though.
Loved that show think Hank died a while back, but not sure. Anyone watch this show too?

[JLS]

Yes, I watched it some.  Not a bad show.