Booties

Denali got her booties today! I've noticed that her front paws often peel and sometimes get small cracks in them. This is apparently due to her gait, the way she likes to trot when we mush instead of loping or running.

I ordered booties from dogbooties.com. I chose the heavier 1000 Denier Cordura® ones as I wasn't sure the lightweight ones would give enough protection and traction on the sidewalk and dirt.

I let Denali smell them all over first. I asked for her paw and held the bootie on it, not sliding it over her paw. I did that on both paws. Then I slid them on and encouraged her to walk.


This is the result.




She pranced and bounced all over the place!

I took her outside and did a few long distance Sit-Stay-Comes to get her running. She got better and better each time and wasn't lifting her paws as high or bouncing up as much. She also has excellent traction on both the sidewalk and the grass. I took the booties off so she could eat and I'm about to put them back on again so she can wear them more before we mush to the park today. If she's having trouble with them I'll take them off and we'll go for walks and such to get her more comfortable with them, but I think she'll be ok.