Dog Boots

Evie

Evie

Experienced Member
Just interested to hear who here uses dogs boots, why they use them, and what brands they can recommend.

I'm interested as we took Evie for a bike ride the other day and although she's physically fit enough for it, her paws ended up with blisters as they're not used to the hard surface :(

It didn't occur to us until afterwards that all of Evie's exercise is always on sand or grass eg. the beach, our farm (very sandy), the dog park etc.

Silly dog didn't let us know she was in any pain until we were almost home :unsure: ...

Thanks :)
 
sara

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Oliver wears cheap fleece booties, they don't last long, but at a few bucks a set, I can keep him in booties LOL. however, he does have an expensive pair of booties, which I cannot for the life of me, remember what they're called right now he wears them in the deep snow, on long walks.
 
Dogster

Dogster

Honored Member
Shivon wears Muttluks booties, in the winter, because of the snow and salt (People living in my neighbourhood are very generous with salt:cautious:) They're pretty good, but since Shivon's legs are skinny, the snow gets inside the top part of her boots, plus they fall off easily. I have to figure out a way to fasten the top of her boots.
 
sara

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Dogster said:
Shivon wears Muttluks booties, in the winter, because of the snow and salt (People living in my neighbourhood are very generous with salt:cautious:) They're pretty good, but since Shivon's legs are skinny, the snow gets inside the top part of her boots, plus they fall off easily. I have to figure out a way to fasten the top of her boots.
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HA! THAT'S IT! Muttlucks are what Ollie wears too LOL His don't fall off, but they do get snow in them :)
 
Evie

Evie

Experienced Member
sara said:
HA! THAT'S IT! Muttlucks are what Ollie wears too LOL His don't fall off, but they do get snow in them :)
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Well we dont/wont ever get snow, so that's not really a problem.

Here's a pic of B in her $15 boots that we bought just to see what she thought of boots before we spend a decent amount on a good pair.

She's worn them twice now, both on really long bike rides with us and they're starting to wear through at the toe where she drags it a bit. I think the dragging is mainly due to the boot not being the best fit..

 
southerngirl

southerngirl

Honored Member
Evie looks cute in her booties. I'm thinking of getting Missy some because we also go on bike rides.=]l['=============
 
sara

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Sled dog drivers use just plain old fleece booties, which do not stand up to cement. and have to be replaced continually, but the dogs wear them more comfortably, and can still feel their footing, which is why they use them.
 
W

williegross

New Member
There are several different types of boots and brands available, including trusted brands just like Lewis Dog Boots, Ruffwear Bark'n Boots and fetch4pets.
 
charmedwolf

charmedwolf

Moderator
Staff member
I know this thread is older but I went skijoring and learnt a bit about booties.

I use 500 Denier Cordura Booties or Toughtek 9000 depending on what I'm doing (concrete/snow/dirt/rocks). They're cheap to replace and do a real good job at keeping the dog's feet dry. The 500 are usually enough for everybody while Kratos get Toughtek because the fit is better. If you really want some durable boots and don't mind spending Lewis Rubber Boots are the best there is in my opinion.

Btw, a trick I learnt was to wrap from just above the bend of the foot to the just under the wrist joint with vet wrap. After that put on the boot. Next, wrap the top of the boot with waterproof tape/ duct tape. Just make sure it isn't too tight. I haven't had a dog lose a boot since I learnt that.
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
I want to get Leaf some shoes, mainly because she absolutely hates getting wet!!!!!!!

Evie are these the ones you're considering https://www.neopaws.com/catalog/summerindooroutdoorcoolperformanceorthopaedicshoes-p-1908.html

I did see some made in Australia but they were so expensive, over $100.00 with p&p. Though they did have inside slipper shoes, with some type of grip on the soles, to make it easier for older dogs to walk on polished floors etc. They were around the same price, but seriously considering getting Zeus a pair, he definitely needs something to help him with getting a grip on the floor.
 
Evie

Evie

Experienced Member
I did end up buying expensive dog boots for her (the ones you linked us to) but they've hardly ever been used. To be honest, they're just too hard to get on and most importantly, to get them to stay on!

Getting the size right is EXTREMELY difficult. Dogs rear paws are usually smaller than their front, and the boots stretched a very small amount after they were first used which has made it near impossible to keep them on when they're running. We went through a stage of just having front boots on both Evie and Skye (her husky) but we'd get half way through our ride and more often than not one or more of the boots would have either slipped so it needed to be taken off and put back on again, or it would have fallen off completely.

In saying all that, when I got them on and managed to keep them on they were GREAT!

But they just fell off too often...

Pic of the ferals in their boots (we very very rarely used them on the beach, but the bike track I ride along goes along next to the beach and they were desperate for a swim and I was far too lazy to take the booties off)
 
Evie

Evie

Experienced Member
As a general rule, we found they the back shoes fell off more often than the front shoes - I think this is due to the shoes being designed for both front and back feet rather than back feet specifically. But luckily for us we found that the dogs needed the shoes more on their front feet than the back...
 
Evie

Evie

Experienced Member
Annnnnnnnnnd, in conclusion to the whole dog boot saga, I think I was actually happier with the $15 dog boots, that need replacing every few months than the more expensive boots that didn't stay on. We had some problems keeping those cheap boots on too, but not nearly as many as with the other boots. I guess I just had expectations that if you buy expensive boots that they'd actually stay on the dogs feet..
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
Love the photo, they both look very Tres Chic in their boots!

The problem with boots falling off is that the front and back paws are quite often different sizes.

This site http://www.topdogs.com.au/categories/Boots-and-Socks/ does sell some of the range in singles, pairs or sets of four, so you can buy a 'set' of four in two different sizes. But they are a little more expensive.

Where did you get the $15.00 boots? I want to get Leaf a pair, as she hates getting her paws wet, but want to just try out a cheap pair to make sure she doesn't mind wearing them.

Going to get Zeus the house slippers because he needs the extra traction nowadays.
 
Evie

Evie

Experienced Member
We had two different sizes, measured accurately according to their size chart, for their front and back feet and we still had problems keeping the silly things on.

I picked the $15 ones up from my local pet supplies store. Any decent pet shop should have a very small range of slippers/boots.
 
MaryK

MaryK

Honored Member
Evie said:
We had two different sizes, measured accurately according to their size chart, for their front and back feet and we still had problems keeping the silly things on.

I picked the $15 ones up from my local pet supplies store. Any decent pet shop should have a very small range of slippers/boots.
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I guess it's the running, they'd probably be fine just walking.

Will have to look around, not sure if Gobles would have dog boots/shoes. The only Dog Shop near me closed down. Otherwise I'll have to buy on line.
 
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