Winter Booties for Dogs?

[hikingmom]

Are winter booties for dogs any good? We took our retriever puppy up Mt Willard last weekend and he did fine, but did get a lot of snow in his pads. Do any of you use the booties or are they unnecessary? I imagine it might take a while to get a pup used to them.

 

[Garry G.]

I've used booties but I had a hard time keeping them on my dog, they also would fill with snow. I found a better option for snow sticking to his pads which is a product called Musher's Secret. It's a wax you slather on his paws before you head out. If you're out too long you may need to reapply. I found it works pretty good at least in my case. Amazon has it now and I bet a few other places.

Mushers Secret

 

[una_dogger]

I haven't had any luck with booties (fallling off, getting lost, causing rubs) but Musher's Secret is EXCELLENT. It is a wax you apply to thier feet -- my guys went about seven or eight miles in the snow last weekend before they actually began to get small snowballs.
Since you have a puppy you won't be doing any mileage like that for some time!

 

[peak_bgr]

Don't booties for dogs effect their traction? Especially on steeper inclines. That's my worry. My dog is a very aggressive hiker, but only because of the excellent traction she gets from her nails. If I take that away, I fear she will loose that.

 

[Dugan]

I've used booties but I had a hard time keeping them on my dog, they also would fill with snow.

A tip I've learned from someone here:

Apply vetrap around the dog's leg a few times around where the top of the bootie hits. Put bootie on. Duct tape bootie to vetrap. Works beautifully.

 

[Maddy]

A tip I've learned from someone here:

Apply vetrap around the dog's leg a few times around where the top of the bootie hits. Put bootie on. Duct tape bootie to vetrap. Works beautifully.

Excellent idea!
I am also unclear about dog booties on steeps with icy conditions.
Iditarod dogs wear their booties in very bad conditions and mucho difficult terrain. I am going to call a musher and try to get more info.

 

[Oldmanwinter]

We bought booties for our lab but won't use them because of the traction issue. We use what a musher friend of ours suggested, Equate (a zinc oxide), which is a generic brand of Desitin. It's nice to have latex or some other glove for application as it is hard to get off your hands. May require re-application after a few hours. It isn't foolproof but is better than nothing. I asked my friend about the Musher's secret, he feels the Equate works for his dogs and is much cheaper.
OMW