Those who bike with their dogs...

[Toller_08]

For those that bike with your dogs, do you put boots on them? I have just started biking with Journey and probably the others soon too and was wondering about their feet. Journ seems fine so far, but we haven't gone that far yet. She does tear her pads regularly playing with other dogs so I have thought about putting boots on her for biking, but don't want them to throw off her gait. And who knows, maybe biking will toughen her feet up a bit. But anyway, it made me curious what everyone else does.

Also, I should have started this a while ago. It is such a good and different/more structured way to tire her out and she has such a good time too and is so good at it. I probably should have practiced first, but I just grabbed her leash one day and said lets go and she acted like she has been doing it forever haha. Such a good girl.

 

[*blackrose]

When I biked with Chloe, I didn't put booties on her. I tried to have her run in the grass, but she would refuse and always move back to the pavement. Her pads did get tore up the first few times so we took breaks to let them heal, but they were eventually fine.

 

[Southpaw]

I don't bike with Juno a lot and we don't go very far, but it's never even occurred to me to do something with her feet. She never seems irritated or sensitive though, she only tends to have trouble with snow/ice. But we don't go very fast either, since I'm not the most comfortable on a bike...

Basically me and my infrequent, short, slow bike rides are probably not comparable to yours and therefore my advice is not helpful :rofl1:

 

[release the hounds]

I never use them. Easing into it will help. 1-3 miles for a week or two then add a mile or two every few days. I usually go 3,times a week. I don t do more than 6-7 miles on pavement really.

Avoid anything that will make the paws wet.

 

[teacuptiger]

I only put Musher's Secret on Roxie. She would be most displeased if I even thought of putting boots on her, lol!! I'm lucky it works for us, otherwise I'd be SOL.

I did try some Tuff Paw once, not sure if that helped any or not. It didn't seem to make much of a difference for us, so I stopped using it after a few months and have only used the Musher's Secret since.

 

[Linds]

I never have used anything. In all my years of biking Didgie has been the one to hurt her paw and I'm not even sure it was while biking.

But, I don't do pavement running really. They either run in the grass next to the bike or on a bike path.

 

[sassafras]

I don't bike, but... you know. I don't use booties, but mine have good feet. I prefer dirt to pavement but the only thing I really completely try to avoid is gravel.

 

[Shakou]

For forest trails, the dogs go barefoot. For inner city biking on concrete, Ma'ii has special dog boots as his feet tend to be really sensitive. The bottoms are made out of the same rubber as human sneakers, and have lasted 2 years so far.

 

[DJEtzel]

I bike on trails and pavement with the dogs, and I have never seen a need for boots on Frag or Sir. I haven't started biking with Patton or Recon yet. Only time I would probably consider it would be in really hot weather on pavement, to prevent burn on their feet maybe? Then again, I probably would never choose to bike them during those times, either.

 

[ErinMC]

i don't use any booties or anything because we don't go that far. I do keep an eye on his pads to be sure there is no damage.

 

[HayleyMarie]

I do not use booties for teagan or Pan. But my dogs have pretty tough feet and we've never had a problem.