Winter Woes
4 Ways To Protect Your Dog’s Paws From The Cold
Winter is a wonderful time of year. One of the things that shows up during winter- at least around us- is snow! Tons of dogs love dipping their paws in the snow, running around outside, playing in the snow. and rolling around to make snow angels, who doesn’t? But there are a few things you should watch out for when it comes to dogs and winter time.
Dogs have a lot of blood vessels down in their legs and especially around their paws. While it’s okay for them to walk around barefoot outside during the cold for short periods of time, they can also lose a lot of warmth through their paws. In some cases if their paws are exposed to the cold for extended periods of time their paw pads might get red, sore, or even start to bleed.
While it is easy to shorten the length of time they are outside, there are several other ways you can help keep your dog’s paws safe when going outside if they want to stay out and play.
Keep the Fur on their Paws Trimmed
If your dog has longer fur you might notice that there is fur that sticks out on the bottom of their paws or even between their toes. During the winter, that fur is really good at picking up snow and ice! The snow and can get caught in that fur and then be uncomfortable to walk on and also be very cold on their paw pads.
The easy fix for this is to make sure it stays trimmed when they get bathed or whenever they are in at the groomer.
Clean Paws Every time they come inside
During the winter there is a lot of new stuff on the ground; snow, ice, ice melting products, slush, and more. Like we mentioned above, when you are out walking your dog that stuff gets all over your dog’s paws. After you come inside at home, they may start licking their paws to clean them. When they do that they are likely to injest a lot of what’s on their paws, and depending on what’s on there it can potentially be dangerous for them to injest.
The fix for this is to be set up to clean their paws everytime they come inside. A quick paw clean up kit might be as simple as a spray bottle with some waterless shampoo and a couple of towels to wipe their paws!
Get Your Dog Some Boots
Another trick to help keep your dog’s paw protected would be to have them wear boots! Dog boots are very similar to the boots you and I might wear during the winter, except they are made to fit your dog’s feet. If you dog wears these when going outside they are far less likely to run into issues with getting snow caught on their toes or have ice melt residue on their paws.
The tricky part is that not all dogs are fond of wearing boots, so it might take a bit of getting used to before they willingly wear them outside.
Use Paw Balm
During the winter, many people use moisturizer to help prevent their hands and skin from cracking in the cold. Well, dogs can use moisturizer too! There are several paw balm products on the market you can buy and apply to your dog’s paws before going out into the cold.
If you are feeling a bit crafty, the AKC has a recipe to make your own paw balm at home!
The Hidden Danger of Melting Snow
When snow starts to melt it poses new danger to your dogs. We put together a blog post giving some tips to help keep your dog safe when the snow starts to melt.
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