Are dog boots any good? Experiences?

[PurBee]

My gsd has ultra fluffy paws underneath her foot, inbetween her toes - and daily runs around the fields/ditches/forestry getting her paws full of mud.
She comes in the house/kitchen area and smears mud everywhere. (You know its gone too far when you buy brown rugs! ?)
It’s worse in winter due to the wet/mud being more prevalent!
Im fed up of cleaning constantly the forest floor from inside my house and was wondering if dog boots are as they purport to be?

Are they easy to put on, take off? Do they fit well enough to the foot so their gait is unaffected and not at risk of sprains? I ask because initial searches show many boots to be very loose-looking.
Please share any experiences you have of them and if you can recommend a specific design that would be brilliant!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Why don't you just trim the hair around the feet it can often be uncomfortable for the dog to have a lot of hair between toes and it would keep her cleaner.

 

[Clodagh]

Boots… I have used all, from custom made to cheap and cheerful. They all fell off.
we just hoses everyone toeses after walks.
(I never intended them as mud proof, just for injury prevention.)

 

[PurBee]

Why don't you just trim the hair around the feet it can often be uncomfortable for the dog to have a lot of hair between toes and it would keep her cleaner.

That would work if it was just underneath that got muddy, but it’s the whole foot from literally standing into deep mud crossing ditches mainly.
Im also wary of reducing/clipping hair on underneath paws as this environment is full of thistle thorns/blackberry bushes strewn across the wilderness/blackthorn and gorse and in all her years havent had an issue, due to her hairy feet offering protection, whereas my other dog…jack russell type hair, i was always pulling thorns from between his toes. he would also get mud rash as mud contacted his skin, whereas mud doesnt penetrate her thick fur. Her bear coat is a real bonus in this environment but its less suited to clean house environment!
I hose her often when its super muddy, like the horses…but like i said, the constant cleaning is time consuming, esp. in winter. Would it take longer to to put on and off boots than hose her down and dry?

 

[PurBee]

Boots… I have used all, from custom made to cheap and cheerful. They all fell off.
we just hoses everyone toeses after walks.
(I never intended them as mud proof, just for injury prevention.)

oh, thats disappointing to hear…i did wonder if in mud the suction would pull them off!

Right…im off to build a mini dog moat for her to cross before entering the premises ??

 

[CorvusCorax]

I only use them as Clodagh. The Ruffwear ones are the best but none ever stay waterproof.

It's one of the joys of having a coated dog. All of mine get towelled and go into crate/box/kennel to dry off before they come in.

 

[Moobli]

We use a boot on one of our sheepdogs to protect his foot (his mum chewed some of his toes off at birth). It works pretty well and stays firm most of the time but we have lost a few when he’s charging through heather. We use the Trixie Walker Active Protector boots.

 

[Nasicus]

Dog foot washer any use?
Example, other dog foot washers are available!

 

[tda]

I just bought one of those foot washers, it works well if it's literally just the foot, generally here it's splattered up legs tum here so then it's hosepipe ?

 

[Auslander]

Dog foot washer any use?
Example, other dog foot washers are available!

I have one of these, and it's very good.
My son refuses to use it now, after I started calling it the doggie fleshlight!

 

[Nasicus]

I have one of these, and it's very good.
My son refuses to use it now, after I started calling it the doggie fleshlight!

Bahaha! I was going to make a comment about it looking somewhat perverse, but I though 'oh nooo, that's below the tone of this forum' and restrained myself

 

[Clodagh]

Mine would just die… you should see Tawny’s face now when she has to slosh with hibiscrub after shooting. I wrestle her paws into a washing up bowl. Maybe one of these would be easier.
I’ve got an outside loo which is being turned into a dog shower but plumbers are like rocking horse ? at the moment.

 

[PurBee]

Dog foot washer any use?
Example, other dog foot washers are available!

Thanks for sharing…wow…never seen such a thing, very novel idea! I’d need to hunt out a big one.
Would be useful for the times when paws/legs dont warrant a full hose down.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

In your shoes @PurBee , I'd say there's nothing wrong with brown rugs, in fact, I think you should consider getting matchy-matchy furniture.

I've bought dog boots of around a handful different makes through the years, though last time was several years ago, so maybe they've improved since then. But based on the ones I do have, especially if we're talking front paws/legs, I'd say that in general dog boots does everything whoever makes them claims they do, except being good at staying on the dog.

A high dog boot on a hind leg is the one I would guess on being most likely to stay on, but note that I've not (this far, touch wood) had any dogs that's been much for standing around in mud, or wading around in ditches.

When one of my late bitches had an injury requiring a dog boot on a front leg, I ended up just taking a string of fabric, sewed it on to the top of the dog boot, put the boot back on her, and tied the strings in a nice rosette on top of her withers.
After that she'd used it for a day or so, I decided that if I ever need to make another one, I'll either try using a string with a little bit of elasticity in the fabric, or I'd want to attach a bit of elastic band somewhere along the string, so that it hopefully wouldn't only have a perfect fit when the dog is standing still.
But either way, I wouldn't want to use that on a dog running loose in nature, possibly sometimes out of my sight. I'd worry the string might get caught on something.