Foot Care? Dogs

[Waterdogs1]

I was wondering if you guys have any secrets on foot care. Anything you put on your dogs feet? I have been hunting my dog hard and really was wondering how many days will you hunt a dog in a row foot care and so on. Hunting really rough chuker country. When I trained bomb dog we used Mushers secret. My problem is my dog has been inside the last month because of the freezing temps so her feet are a little soft. Just wanted to pic the more experienced guys brains.

[Del Lolo]

Toughen them from the inside out.
50 mg Zinc Gluconate pills dropped in the dog's food .
One per day for two weeks -- then a couple times a week to maintain.

[marysburg]

This sounds interesting. What is the reason for zinc being of value for foot toughness? I have never used it, but anything which stacks the deck in our favour is nice to know.

[Fun dog]

When we had our sleddogs, fall training was always really hard on the feet. Especially as the temps started dropping and the ground freezing. When we started feeding zinc glutamate (allow 6 weeks for it to really take effect) we saw an amazing improvement in the toughness of their feet. The other thing we used during this time was biotin which helped their nails grow a bit faster as the gravel really wore them down. Having gravel in the dogs yard also helped to toughen their feet. We bought our zinc from www.howlingdogalaska.com as it came in powder form and a very small amount, I think a teaspoon, was good for 13 dogs.

[Waterdogs1]

I have a gravel Containment pen and it helps my retrievers. Biotin we gave it to are horses and it worked. My dog has been inside alot since it has been so cold and her feet are softer than usual.

[Del Lolo]

zinc glutamate (

I think you mean Zinc Gluconate, NOT glutamate.

[Fun dog]

You're probably correct. I mostly know it as nutrazinc.

[isonychia]

I used to believe in just getting their paws as tough as possible. Then my dog cut a superficial tendon on a piece of glass and dropped a toe. Now, I can hunt in the mountains and feel good about not using boots because of the terrain around here, but at my training grounds and hunting in disced crops or cut wheat, I believe the brand of boot I use is called ultra paws. Cheap and they DO NOT come off if sized correctly. Rough Wear boots are not worth the money and they come off very easily. In the snow, mushers wax works wonders.

[isonychia]

also, I got 2.5 consecutive barefoot days out of my dog in cut wheat and corn in pheasant country before I couldn't watch the three legged running anymore...

[isonychia]

zinc glutamate (

I think you mean Zinc Gluconate, NOT glutamate.

glutamates are what taste good. hence MSG

[birddog1968]

in all the years I've run dogs and been around kennels with up to 50 dogs, Ive not seen a one that needed a zinc supplement.

[Deets]

I started using tuff foot, and it really seems to help alot.