Rode with our dog Jagger and my son today. We added a short 2 mile loop to our usual workout to show my son Farmers Ridge. Everything was fine from the trail head to Farmers. On the way back, he started to walk really slow. I I thought it was heat exhaustion, even though it wasnt that hot. So I slowed down. Stopped at the Nike tower and rested for about 30 minutes. Also gave him a cold water bath. From there, I had to walk down to let Jagger keep up with me. Really thought it was exhaustion due to the sun, even though he runs up and down Westridge regularly with no problem. Got down and brought him home. Did a complete inspection and found the black parts of his front pads ripped apart. He was walking on the soft inside parts of his pads for 5 miles. I feel horrible and bad for our dog. Duhno what happened. I think the rocks in Farmers were harder on his paws than the usual fire road. He can barely walk now. Actually, he hasnt walked since we got home. He just limps to the water bowl and back to his bed. He's front paws were cleaned with soap and water and are fully coated in anti-biotic cream. Online stuff say it takes about a week to heal. He'll be fine. He wont be back on a trail for at least a month. And no more Farmer's Ridge. I do love Samo mountain art... My son tried to show me off. What he didnt know was that I stopped my bp medication last Sunday. This is him after he puked And a gratuitous shot of my Savage Terminator That is all!
I have the same issue with my dog. If you find a good solution, let me know. I've tried and lost a bunch of booties. All it does is rub him raw elsewhere. It makes me feel like the most horrible owner.
Here's a thought: Why don't you two keep your dogs at home on the couch, pool, or grass. Then go ride for a few hours with no shoes. Or socks. Yeah, just keep going. And going. And going. Did you think your dogs were going "tell" you there paws were...........RAW! There is no excuse for this.
you must be one of those people that think shamu is cute and cudly and flipper is a tame animal. dogs dont wear shoes. ive spent more than a year training our dog and hardening his pads and hes done well and enjoys being out. weve gone riding in the same area dozens of times. pads dont harden on grass, on a couch or swimming in a pool. pads harden from actual walking and running. when people and animals go outdoors, things happen. this time something did. do you stop riding after the first time you crashed and got stitches? when i take my bike out of the garage, my normally good tempered dog goes wild. he jumps at his closet to get his leash and collar out. when he gets his collar on, he tries to break down the screen door trying to get into the car. he loves being out and running. and when were out, i watch him very closely. no excuse? my dog is better off getting his pads raw once after a few dozens rides than any other dog that sits on a couch the whole day. after he heals, his pads will be harder than before. what i wont do is bring him back into rocky terrain. next time, we are staying on dirt.
You ASSume I don't regularly bring my dog out. Are you saying you've never gotten blisters hiking? That's with boots on. I don't do ridiculous distances with my dog, like Bing said, shit happens. The booties I use are an insurance policy. I just find they fit like crap and wear on the top of his feet. Thanks for the insight though.
Sorry to hear that. Same happened to my dog. Your dog will be back on his feet in no time. Keep with the antibiotics make sure he doesn't get an infection. Good luck and hope for your dog's speedy recovery.
Years ago I went on a hike with some friends and we brought our dogs. My dog Buddy did great till he stopped and sat down and wouldn't budge. I carried his hairy 85 pound ass as long as I could but I was out of ideas. Finally, a couple German hikers came across us and gave me a right proper scolding for taking my dog on a trail like that without any training. Sorry Buddy. They pulled out some duct tape and wrapped his paws and life was good after that. We made it out, I learned a lesson and Buddy never went hiking again. Germans goooood! Me-dumb kid. baaaad!
Doh! I had duct tape on me. But, in any case, we checked his paws on the trail, and in the car and didnt see anything. He never stopped walking. He just stopped running. Didnt even limp, which i watch carefully for since hes a lab and his joints are delicate. We only discovered his paws peeling at home, much later. The outer black layer separated from the soft inner pad, but its still there, just a flap. Id hate to be thought of as neglecting our dog. Again, weve done 90% of todays ride lots of times. more recently, he doesnt even break a sweat on it. i would have more fun riding without a dog than with a dog since i shorten my rides for him and take a special dog friendly, snake resistant route specially for him. the whole ride is for the dog to get exercise and to grind his nails down naturally. today, was just one of those days. chit happened.
I take my dog out biking all the time. At first he'd get wear spots on his front pads and now they are good to go. We've been in Sedona this past week and today will be his 4th ride with no shoes and no pad issues. I will say that if I take him on super fast trails, he wears the back "pinky" toenails to the quick. The trails that seem to work best for the dog are the one with technical downhills like Coldwater where my dog runs slower. STT on the downhill wore his nails down to the quick and next time I will use dog shoes.
Dont mind the haters, dogs rip their pads no matter what they are doing it happens. Whatever you do dont pour hydrogen peroxide on them.
Just an update. Jagger didnt stand up Sunday. We hand fed him and served him water. He had energy, but he seemed afraid to get on his front paws. Feed him a recovery diet of boiled chicken, carrots and rice. Supplementing with fish oil. He was crawling around Monday morning. Improved to walking in the pm. He actually jumped into bed with my daughter that evening. Its Tuesday, he's back to normal! Playing, fetching his ball. His pads hardened back pretty fast. Not as thick as before, but no longer raw. BTW, they never bled. It's like the hard outer cover peeled away into a flap. He won't be trail running for at least a month. And even then, we're going to start with low miles at first. It's curious though that when I first started training him for trail running, his rear pads cracked a few times. That led to breaks from going out. Then, after a while, the rears stopped cracking, and he was fine for a long time. The rears are hard as an old leather saddle. The fronts I never worried about, coz they never gave us problems. I guess it's theyre time now. He probably was also hit by a little heat exhaustion. Our usual 1 hour ride turned into 3 when we had to walk out of the trail really slow for him.
OP: A dog that is exercised is a happy dog, especially a Lab! Thanks for keeping your dog exercised and healthy...there are a LOT of fat labs out there, talk about cruelty! -Fellow Lab Dad
That and walking any dog on the pavement or concrete when it's 95 degrees in the summer. (You wouldn't go out barefoot at that temp. would you?) Glad to hear Jagger is healing up fast. -Lloyd, another FLD. :wave:
