Grooming - Paw-Pads- What Will They Think Of Next

I receive a magazine called Pet Product News and enjoy reading it every month. There is an ad in this May issue for what are called "Paw-Pads". They are designed to be put on each of the pads of the dog's foot to help provide secure footing. I can see this very useful for senior dogs, arthritic dogs when you have mostly hard surfaces in your home vs carpeting. Or you may have mostly carpeting, but you visit elsewhere where they don't and the dog has issues with the floors. Here's the website ...

http://pupgearcorporation.com/Products/Paw-Pads

This does not mean you don't need to take care of your dog's feet! Grooming 101 is NAILS!

Here is a picture of a JR nails that I did a few years ago which really shows the problems that can occur. The foot will start to splay, nail beds turn inwards/outwards, the dog's pad fails to touch the ground fully thus lack of traction, and with the upward pressure the nails put, then the pastern (like our wrist) will 'go down' and in time cause lameness. Depending on the weight of your dog ... remember dog's carry more of their weight up front ... this puts even more strain on their front assembly, especially when their nails/feet don't provide the right support.

Here's the foot afterwards.

A sheltie's foot with long nails.

With shelties I find many people loose sight of their dog's nails ... literally! As you can see in the picture below, one foot has yet to have the hair trimmed, so it shows how much hair can grow, and thus creating what we call 'slippers' ... and yes that means the dog will slip on surfaces like floors. They will also track in WAY more dirt, water, sand, burrs, end up collecting all those winter snow balls, and I've even removed gum.

Here is what the feet look like when fully groomed.

If you ask me how often should we do our dog's nails, I say about every 3 wks or for most dogs, when you can hear them 'tick' on the floor.

I think these "PawPads" as they say ....

"Paw-Pads provides traction for senior dogs, or any age dogs with hip dysplasia, arthritis, and dogs recuperating from hip or back surgery."

could certainly have their place and provide consumers with another tool to help make their dog safe and secure in any one of these circumstances. How often they need to be replaced, they don't say.