Shawnee in her dog boots
When the snow flies and temperatures drop, we humans bundle up. We boot on our snow boots, don our hats and gloves and jackets to prepare ourselves for the great outdoors. Our dogs seem like they are all ready to go with their fur coats — what more could they need? Well, actually, dogs needs to be prepared for winter adventures just like we do, that is if you want your pup to be comfortable while he’s accompanying you for a snowshoe hike or cross-country ski.
I wrote previously about the joys of skijoring, the Norwegian sport where your dog pulls you on your skis via a special harness. But even if you just want to take your dog(s) out using a conventional leash, a few accessories will make life a lot more happy for them. Both our dogs have woolly, thick fur coats. So in terms of keeping warm, they’re pretty well-equipped. But some dogs are not as blessed with warm coats — dogs that are short-haired like greyhounds, boxers, and great danes can get cold just like people. I nice dog coat can make all the difference in keeping them warm during daily walks.
The other hazards of taking dogs out in the snow afflicts the large furry dogs like goldens, border collies, and even huskies. All that nice thick fur seems to attract snow to their paws. The stickier the snow, the worse the problem. Very quickly, the snow will form ice balls between their pads making it very painful for them to run and even walk. You can tell your guy might have this problem, when he lies down, nibbling at his paws. A great remedy for this is using dog booties, the same type that mushers use while competing in the Iditarod. Special snow booties are made of cordura, are fairly inexpensive, and will keep your dog safe and content. We find it’s better to put them on them inside, when their paws are dry, and you can secure them on their feet tightly using the velcro strap.
Some folks give up on dog booties because of the initial reaction of dogs. I know when we first started using them on our dogs and put them on, the dogs did this weird prancing thing, like they were walking through quick sand, lifting their feet high in the air. However, once they get outside, the excitement of romping through the snow overtakes them, and they quickly forget they’ve got boots on their feet. Our favorite suppliers is www.dogbooties.com, where you can buy them in bulk for a mere $2-3 per boot. They have lots of colors — blaze orange is our favorite, because it’s easy to make sure they’ve got them on in contrast to the snow.
Our Flat-coated retriever dog, Simon, not only attracts ice and snow balls on his paws, but also on his coat. When we lived in western Colorado, his coat attracted so many things, like burdocks, sticks, and goatheads, a man called him “Velcro Dog.” We found out that his coat will also attract snow balls, just like his feet. We were cross-country skiing on the Grand Mesa through news snow of 1-2 feet, and he seemed to be getting exhausted, more so than normal. We found out the reason why when we finally popped out on a groomed trail, and realized he had almost 50 snowballs attached to his belly and feathered legs! We had to spend almost 30 minutes trying to break them apart and get them off of them.
Musher’s Secret, a sort of grease like substance that is also used with sled dogs, can help a lot with this problem. You smooth onto their legs, belly or wherever else they tend to make snow balls. Some folks will use this on paws in place of booties, which is a great idea if you have problems using boots for your dogs.
When we outfit our dogs for our winter adventures, we all have a much better time.
