snowball wrote:Anne I wonder if getting a dog to wear shoes is something that needs to be started at a very young age? I tried to get Shadow to wear booties or something didn't work and he was an old man by then
sheila
I have never had a problem with getting my sweet Joe to wear dog shoes/booties, and he was four or five when I first tried booties/shoes with him. He doesn't seem to mind them at all, and does seem to understand that they help his sore feet.
The problem I have had - and I have spent a quite a $
LOT$ on various versions of dog shoes/booties - is that of ALL those that I have tried (and there have been many!):
1. They are $expensive$. Think $28.00 - $39.00 (and up) for a "pair", thus $56.00 - $78.00 for all four feet.
2. Despite being expensive, ALL are very cheaply made of the poorest quality materials imaginable - all of them I have tried tighten using the cheapest velcro I have ever seen - after using them about 10 times or so, the velcro is shot. Without velcro, there is no way to keep them on the dog's feet. Without velcro, my $78.00 "investment" is trash.
3. None I have tried are actually designed to fit a dogs feet - difficult to explain - most are made of stiff materials that don't flex, and they seem to come in two shapes - one shape is kind of like a long straight sock, without a heel. So that when you strap them on, they artificially "flex" at the dogs ankle (loose at the ankle means loose all over) - so if they are tight enough to stay on they will chafe and interfere with circulation.
Sock type (these are more straight - notice that they have no ankle bend - and more rigid than they appear in the photos):
Or!
4. They
do have a heel and ankle bend - but they are (again) very poorly designed. These are kind of shaped like boots, only this time with a built-in bent heel - but, again, they are made of stiff materials, and don't flex. Again, difficult to explain - but this type is very difficult to put on (a major pain to try to get the dogs foot past the inflexible, immobile "heel"), and difficult for the dog to walk in them - imagine if you had on very (very!) rigid boots that came up to mid-calf, that didn't allow your ankle to flex – at all! - while you walked - let alone run. You are very limited in your movement – you can basically only stomp up-and-down like a robot. Trying to move with any speed creates a tripping/injury hazard.
Heel type (These are more rigid and unbending than they appear in the photos):
Maybe for a small dog that is not athletic and just kind of toddles around, both of these – might – be fine for, say, going in-and-out to do “business”, or for visiting friends that are concerned with things like dog toenails on hardwood floors. But for a large, athletic dog like my Joe who enjoys
and requires hard exercise – who likes to leap, run,
gallop, and turn-on-a-dime,
FULL SPEED, in a heated game of “ball toss” these are definitely a no-go.
I may give those that Alice has suggested a try (thanks again, Alice, for posting the link). I am also currently searching for what those that run the Iditerod use (these must be flexible and comfortable for the dog, with some degree of durability – I mean, it’s the Iditerod!).
I may also try these $$all-leather$$ numbers (I don't think these would work either for hard exercise, but might be ok for going on walks and visits):
These might work – different design than I have tried before – not sure they will stay on – a laced bow probably won’t cut it, and if I don’t watch closely, they might end up as a very expensive chew toy.
Which has also been a problem - the chew toy syndrome - with all of them that I have tried.
Thank you!
Anne
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2022 6:12 pm