Wednesday, February 10, 2016

When Your Dog Doesn't Like Shoes as Much as You do

Abby loves the snow but the cold pavement not so much.  When temps in the Midwest dip down into the single and minus digits, she can only walk a short distance in comfort and unfortunately sometimes, it takes longer than that for her to due her business.  We tried booties - she'd pull them off as fast as we could get them on. We tried baby socks - same thing. But we really wanted to protect her paws from the cold snow and ice and the salt. 

It just broke my heart to take her out for a short walk in the snow she loves to have her limp before we got home because her paws hurt. We also worried about salt sticking to her paws as not all of our neighbors use pet safe salt like we do. If only there was some "invisible boot" we could use on her.

Then my husband found this. Musher's Secret.
Musher's Secret is a dense barrier wax that forms a breathable bond with your dogs paws. Developed in Canada for use with sledding dogs it provides tenacious protection, even in extreme conditions. It's also made from food grade waxes, so if you dog licks some off of its paws, there's no harm.  It's safe, non toxic, non staining to floors and is absorbed into the paws, allowing perspiration to escape through the toes

We apply just a little right before she goes out and she is SO much happier out in the cold, with no limping when the pavement is super cold.  It also prevents those little balls of snow from collecting in and around the paws, causing puddles as they melt in the house OR painful picking them off. Rubbing a little bit up in between the pads prevents this!

It's also great when it's hot out to protect her pads from the warm cement (if it's HOT, we stay off of it) or sand and rough terrain so we  have some at home or when visiting family. It also helps keeps insects away from her paws, and is said by customers to be very healing on nicks, scratches and burns
It absorbs in just a minute as we get her leash and our coats and gloves ready to go. The effect is cumulative so you don't have to apply it each and every time you go outside, just once or twice a week unless the weather is severe.

It only takes a little bit so even at $12 for the smaller container it will last for weeks and weeks. Our fur-ends at Chewy.com did not carry the product but we found it easily at a local pet store and it's available on-line.

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for telling us about this. It is so hard this time of year for us too when it is sooo cold
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  2. When we can't avoid chemical-covered roads, we use Mushers Secret, too! We don't mind it one bit - and mom thinks it helps her torn up fingers, too. We would have told you about it, but you know. Secret. Ha roo roo roo! Just kidding.
    Yours sincerely
    Margaret Thatcher

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad my husband found it and Abby likes having her paws rubbed.

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  3. Did it say how cold Mushers is good for? My pups are fine until about 4 F/-20 C. We live in the country without pavement and luckily they use sand and not salt. Sounds like a great product.

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    Replies
    1. No - but as it was developed for Canadian sled dogs I imagine it's used at pretty cold temperatures.

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  4. Wow, I have never heard about this. Ruby doesn't like shoes either and her paws often bother her in the cold. We will definitely check this out!

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  5. We were gonna tell you about that stuff when we started reading your post, glad you found it.
    stella rose

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  6. Good idea. Thanks for letting us know about this product.

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  7. it is great, we always used it for the huskies. Easy sadly eats everything, so we use milking grease for his paws, it works great too... :o)

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