How do you deal with muddy paws?
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| To be honest, I always had a second pair if conditions were muddy a lot. That way if one had to be washed, I had another pair.
Otherwise, we made our dogs wait until it stopped raining, avoided grassy areas when we took them out or pray you have a dog that doesn't mind doing his/her business on the pavement  |
| Avoid it when we can.
Otherwise you can let the feet dry in a safe spot (we have a cement floored porch with a gate), then you can brush when it dries and it mostly all falls off. If you can't wait, I run a few inches of water in the tub and have them stand, then soap and rinse. Blot dry and good until next time! |
| @ Got sheep : you mentioned soap and rinse -is that shampoo and rinse? Isn't it bad to keep using shampoo on the dog's paws often?
I live in an area where it rains often and I don't like my dog's under paws looking brown when the hair/fur there is originally white. |
| I wash our dogs feet, too. Unfortunately, we live right on the Mississippi and when it rains, it RAINS. Three months of solid rain = more mud then I want to think about. When it just starts, I'll plunk them in the tub and wash their feet. I haven't experienced any problems with the frequent spot washes.
But when the mud gets to be a daily venture, out come the sheers and dandelion cuts for all! |
i got through plenty of towels daily  |
| I go through a lot of towels too....I dip the paws in water, wipe, then brush a little bit. |
I found "disposable" rubber booties at my local pet supply place that I swear by now. I cant remember the brand name (its not written on the booties, and Ive lost the package...sorry!  ) but I know Ive seen them at petco/ or petzoo, as well as the little local place where I got mine.
They are usually good for several uses, and the handy thing for us is...if your dog loses one on a walk, or in the yard, you have a whole bunch of replacements, since they come in packs of (I think) 12. |
| You can always do what I do and that's put regular socks on them, ,and cut the toe part off. I still pull it down far enough that only their pads are bare.
We have months that are known to rain the entire time, and we just don't have any issues if it's out to pee and back. When it gets muddy, we drag them to the front yard instead of back (b/c it usually doesn't have any water built up in the grass). |
| Yes - dog shampoo. I dilute in a bottle, so it's not full strength. |
| with all the rain we've had, my yard is practically a swamp. So I avoid it when i can; walking the girls on the road sometimes rather than use my yard. But if they need to play, I'll throw caution to the wind and brave the mud. Afterward we do one of several things:
1) Straight to the bath tub and they get their paws (and sometimes bellies too) washed. Either with straight water, or water with a daily shampoo that is less harsh, so doesn't dry out the fur as much. To be honest, our mud has a high clay content, and I think the clay is more drying than the shampoo. 2) We have a baby pool in the yard that fills with water when it rains. I'm not very diligent about pouring it out. I'll tell the girls to stand in that before bringing them in the house. Its often enough to rinse most of the mud out. You can probably get the same effect plunging their paws into a bucket of clean water. 3) if I'm lazy, not feeling up to it, or the mud isn't too bad, I let it dry on their paws and brush it out later. But I was noticing that the clay was really drying hteir fur out, so I'm doing this option a lot less these days. Ravenmoon; I JUST bought those disposable boots this past weekend! They are called PawZ and say that they are "natural rubber, waterproof dog boots". One package has 12 disposable, re-usable boots. It recommended the X-Large size for Old English Sheepdogs. The final selling point for me was that on the back of the package they had three quotes, and the last one was from "Shakespear, an OES In Denver, who said "WOW! I finally have comfortable boots that don't fall off when I play". I'm a sucker for any product that uses OES for advertising purposes. |
| I find it easier to groom Harry's paws if I don't let the mud dry. So I just dip them in a pan of water (no soap) until the water runs clear. Usually two pans per front paws and two pans per back paws. The last time he had so much mud it took four pans. I squeezed the water out, use a towel to get some of the excess, then let him air dry. Then I do a quick brush out the next morning. Sometimes even just using the water I notice his paws still smell very clean the next day.
I let him get his paws as muddy as he wants if we are doing agility or he is running and playing with another dog. |
| I'm with you Judy. My guys just flat out get muddy feet. The back yard at this new place the grass is growing in. No one had lived here in over a year.
I let them out the front if it is raining. However the Princess (Dee) only wants to go in the backyard. So i finally gave in tonight and let her out. (yep it's RAINING YET AGAIN).. in comes little clumps of mud from the bottom of her feet. Thank goodness this is a stone and tile floor house. They will fall off tonight and i will just sweep tomorrow. Mud isn't that bad and she is shaved down. So much for a WARM SUNNY Winter in Mexico... it's been the coldest winter in over 100 years. We've even had snow here. |
When Bailee was about 6 months old he decided to help Dad with the fertilization of the garden in the backyard (unbeknownst to Dad & Mom of course) He took it upon himself to rip open 2 of the bags of fertilizer I had placed in the backyard. When Bailee's Mom went out on the deck to call him back in the house she saw, not mud, but rich black fertilizer covering him from head to toe!  It became a race to get back in the house and sad but true, it was a tie! Bailee made it into the house and you can't imagine how bad it was. He was covered, the rugs were covered the tile in the kitchen were covered, we were covered and it was so bad all we could do was stand there and laugh at him and ourselves. So out we went onto the deck and I hosed him down and then used every towel in the house to dry him. We actually had to clean him up to take him to the local Do It Yourself Doggie Wash. Thank goodness we had the Rug Machine to steam the carpets. I think the only answer for mud and "other" things like this may be Astroturf!  |
| Mrs J, I would love to see your two in those legwarmers- how cute is that?! I'm interested in those disposable boots. I just wash Ru's feet with water, sometimes shampoo (maybe once a week) to keep them whiter. I get through a lot of towels too!! |
i have a towel at the door, if real bad i use a wet wash cloth... or just have an OES that knows better. i dont care about close just stay out of it. Actually he will walk around a mud puddle and does his best to stay out of the mud in general.
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| We walk Mulligan along our non-sidewalked street. Muttluks have served us well in times of snow or extreme cold. We walk pretty much no matter what the weather. If it is raining, slushy or other dirty weather, I lay plenty of towels near the front door in preparation for our return. We keep a few recycled plastic bowls (Cool-Whip or such) in the bath. I fill it with plain warm water and dip each of Mully's paws in the water, cleaning between the individual toes to get rid of all the sand. sometimes one bowlful of water does the trick, sometimes it takes two. Mully tolerates the routine - he really does not like getting a bath! I will check out those disposable booties - Muttluks run about $50.00 for the large with the heavy duty cuff and leather sole. They lasted Jake for about 5 years. We just got a new pair for Mulligan - we shall see how long they last. I had bought nylon booties for him last year which ripped apart after one walk! They got returned fast! I would wish for spring-time but that simply means mud season! Clean walks for all! Joan |
| Allison - have you used the boots yet? (Pawz) |
got sheep wrote: Allison - have you used the boots yet? (Pawz) Ive used the Pawz for my dogs. They stay on great, but are hard to get on, especially the 1st use. I do wish they went further up the legs, also. The fact that they come in a pack (12) is nice, (since my dogs lose booties constantly) and they do protect from mud/water really well...although I don't use them in really cold weather, since they don't protect from cold at all, and are a bit slippery. They are mostly my dog's spring/summertime booties!  |
ravenmoonart wrote: got sheep wrote: Allison - have you used the boots yet? (Pawz) Ive used the Pawz for my dogs. They stay on great, but are hard to get on, especially the 1st use. I do wish they went further up the legs, also. The fact that they come in a pack (12) is nice, (since my dogs lose booties constantly) and they do protect from mud/water really well...although I don't use them in really cold weather, since they don't protect from cold at all, and are a bit slippery. They are mostly my dog's spring/summertime booties! Thanks Laurel Did you get the XL too? Chewie has pretty big feet. I looked at their website - I see one picture showed it on a dog w/ vetwrap wrapped around the leg, then the boots on. I would do that - hopefully keeping the hair from getting stuck in it. It also allows you to cover up the legs a bit further too. |
| No laughing please. Our first sheepie BRANDON patiently let us tie four plastic grocery bags around his feet. Worked great & cost nothing. Currently we do the towel & bucket of warm water routine. I am thinking of trying the bags on Rudy this spring... |
got sheep wrote: ravenmoonart wrote: got sheep wrote: Allison - have you used the boots yet? (Pawz) Ive used the Pawz for my dogs. They stay on great, but are hard to get on, especially the 1st use. I do wish they went further up the legs, also. The fact that they come in a pack (12) is nice, (since my dogs lose booties constantly) and they do protect from mud/water really well...although I don't use them in really cold weather, since they don't protect from cold at all, and are a bit slippery. They are mostly my dog's spring/summertime booties! Thanks Laurel Did you get the XL too? Chewie has pretty big feet. I looked at their website - I see one picture showed it on a dog w/ vetwrap wrapped around the leg, then the boots on. I would do that - hopefully keeping the hair from getting stuck in it. It also allows you to cover up the legs a bit further too. Hmmm...the vet wrap would help, since its the hair that makes getting them on hard. Ive also thought about using Mrs. J's sock idea under the booties. Yup...I use the xl size, and Bert has huge feet! Im kinda looking forward to mud Im realizing! |
| My first oes was trained to lay on a mat at the door when she came in til she was dry, then I'd brush out the dirt. I haven't trained any other dog to do that though so now if they're muddy when they come in they get crated til they are dry. |
| Laurel - NO way - I DREAD mud season  I found a store that sell them about 45 miles away. Now I just have to remember to go there next time I head that way and I learned this format will only let you embed 3 quotes - that's why I posted this way..... |
traciels28 wrote: No laughing please. Our first sheepie BRANDON patiently let us tie four plastic grocery bags around his feet. Worked great & cost nothing. OK, sorry I HAVE to laugh. But I did this once in a panic at a show and, yes, it worked Kristine |
| Oh what I would give to see four paws wrapped in Wonder Bread bags... Building strong bodies 48 ways! |
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