Gun Dog Forum

All,

Was out for over four hours yesterday. We had 1/4" of deep-frozen ice out there.

My boys' feet were sore with some bloody scrapes at the end of the day.

The only thing that I saw that could have caused it was frozen soybean stalks. They looked like pungi stakes.

Has anyone else had this experience? I'm new to frozen conditions and have never seen it before.

Best regards,

Morning Greg,

Believe it or not, the ice alone is quite sharp and abrasive on a dogs feet, but I would say the soybean stalks could do some damage as well. I don't have too much of a problem with this, as I rotate my dogs constantly, so I can't say whether a product like "Tuff Foot" might help or not. You might try some dog boots. I run my pups in the Grouse woods on some pretty steep WV and MD terrain with lots of rocks, blowdowns, treetops and brush in the snow and ice in the late season and have never had too much of a problem, but they are also conditioned in this type of terrain all year long. Sorry I can't be of more help.

being from Minnesota, I have of course hunted them in all kinds of winter conditions. not just here in Minn., but down in IA and out in ND. IA is the worst because of the brutal winds.

generally, it is better to do nothing and just let them heal up. a little vaseline on the pads and between the toes helps to prevent the build-up of ice balls, which can cut their feet.

boots help some. i personally hate them because many dogs just do not want to run in them. but i have used them when necessary. you do have to tape them to the leg or otherwise make sure they are closed at the top. snow will get into any opening and pack the boots up, creating a worse situation than just letting the dogs run au naturale, and letting them deal with their feet themselves. they will pick ice balls out of their pads when they become a nuisance.

Cabela's is carrying a boot that i just bought that looks promising. it has a nylon foot, and a neoprene ankle with two velcro straps that look like they would close the neoprene up pretty well. i have not tried it yet.

they biggest issue, though, is not the feet, but the underbody. females are susceptible to frozen and damaged nipples, males to damage to their parts. i tried several chest protectors and was not happy with any of them. the ones that worked to prevent damage to the chest, usually had a strap of some kind behind the neck, and another one back on the body somewhere. the dog's running motion would cause fairly bad chafeing at the strap behind the neck. i eventually experimented with the Cabela's neoprene vest, that zips up to enclose the dog's entire chest and back. the one i have is a fairly snug fit on my dogs. it did away with any chest damage, and did not chafe. i have not found a great solution for boy dogs however. they are susceptible to ice forming on their parts. but seem to know when to stop and clean it off themselves.

as i mentioned, aside from the neoprene vest which seems to work well, i generally leave everything else uncovered and let the dogs take care of it. cuts, nicks and abrasions can be treated with EMT gel after the hunt.

The boys have been running on that very same field 30 minutes x 2 per week for quite a while.

I'll dress their feet this evening. They're sore. My tough as rail-road spikes GSP didn't want to go into frozen grass this a.m. to do his business.

OTOH, I just called home to check on a sick kid and the boys were raising a rucus in the background. I guess the two doses of low-strength aspirin have done the trick.

Best,

Greg,

Welcome to the great frozen midwest.

It would be my guess that the soybean stubble was not the problem but it was the snow and ice. The stubble wouldn't be any worse in the snow and ice than it was before. Where I find the biggest problem is where they have mowed stips in Switch Grass. That stubble is like walking on pins and needles. Dogs don't like it and I even run one through the sole of a new pair of shoes.

I recommend the vasoline. Its not a cure all but does help.

Ezzy

Thank you, all. I appreciate it.

Rumor is that it's going to be *way* nasty later this week and I'll get to experience the joy of hunting in a frozen trundra again this weekend. Actually, I'll be training, so it won't be as bad as I'll only be out for a couple of hours.

Another interesting thing I noticed, btw, was that a complete coating of thick ice made the tough briars a breeze. Not applicable to the thorn bushes, however.

Best,

Get a couple tubes of EMT Gel, or I see they now have a spray version.

BTW, batteries do not do well in low temps. This goes for collar batteries, both tracking collar and ecollar. Do not expect alot of runtime out of either of them.

My Pro 500 (old style, not the G2), would give me about 2/3rds of a days use last year, being in and out of the car and getting warmed up once in awhile. You might get as little as an hour or two continuous running in very cold temps, but probably more like 3 or 4, you just never know. Have only had a tracking collar as of this summer, so have not had a chance to evaluate that for cold weather battery life, but I would think it might be pretty short in single digit temps or lower, because those batteries are very small.

The best thing I have found for my own feet when going out on a long hunt has been orthotics for my boots. I wish they made these for my dog!

Greg Jennings wrote:All,

Was out for over four hours yesterday. We had 1/4" of deep-frozen ice out there.

My boys' feet were sore with some bloody scrapes at the end of the day.

The only thing that I saw that could have caused it was frozen soybean stalks. They looked like pungi stakes.

Has anyone else had this experience? I'm new to frozen conditions and have never seen it before.

Best regards,

Very common with any stiff stocks - corn will do it too.

as you know it snows a bit here in canada so my husband went to cabelas and bought these boots for our dogs they were 60 bucks, last year the dogs feet took a beating in the snow and ice in the corn fields..so brian decided to try boots on them this year, when we put the boots on our GSP he stood in one spot and wouldnt move it took a few times putting them on him to get use to them but hes pretty good about it now..my 2 year old and 5 month old dogs dont mind em either once were out for a walk.....ruth

http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabe ... MDOVSK9tTQ

About $4.00 a set......

---click to enlarge---


Coveyrise64

GUNDOGS wrote:as you know it snows a bit here in canada so my husband went to cabelas and bought these boots for our dogs they were 60 bucks, last year the dogs feet took a beating in the snow and ice in the corn fields..so brian decided to try boots on them this year, when we put the boots on our GSP he stood in one spot and wouldnt move it took a few times putting them on him to get use to them but hes pretty good about it now..my 2 year old and 5 month old dogs dont mind em either once were out for a walk.....ruth

http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabe ... MDOVSK9tTQ

Ive had soybean stalks go completely thru a dogs webbing , even had soybean stalks go thru truck and tractor tires......

Coveyrise64 wrote:About $4.00 a set......

---click to enlarge---


Coveyrise64

GUNDOGS wrote:as you know it snows a bit here in canada so my husband went to cabelas and bought these boots for our dogs they were 60 bucks, last year the dogs feet took a beating in the snow and ice in the corn fields..so brian decided to try boots on them this year, when we put the boots on our GSP he stood in one spot and wouldnt move it took a few times putting them on him to get use to them but hes pretty good about it now..my 2 year old and 5 month old dogs dont mind em either once were out for a walk.....ruth

http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabe ... MDOVSK9tTQ

what are those made of?? do they stay on good?? clever thinking, is your nickname macgyver ...ruth

had soybean stalks go thru truck and tractor tires

Yep, I learned to never park in a sybean field the hard way and the durn jack wouldnt go under the truck....

GUNDOGS wrote:

Coveyrise64 wrote:About $4.00 a set......

---click to enlarge---


Coveyrise64

GUNDOGS wrote:as you know it snows a bit here in canada so my husband went to cabelas and bought these boots for our dogs they were 60 bucks, last year the dogs feet took a beating in the snow and ice in the corn fields..so brian decided to try boots on them this year, when we put the boots on our GSP he stood in one spot and wouldnt move it took a few times putting them on him to get use to them but hes pretty good about it now..my 2 year old and 5 month old dogs dont mind em either once were out for a walk.....ruth

http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabe ... MDOVSK9tTQ

what are those made of?? do they stay on good?? clever thinking, is your nickname macgyver ...ruth

It looks like a bike tire tube with duct tape wrapped around it!

Have had cuts & scrapes from rough frozen ground as well as bean stalks. I soak their feet in warm water and epsom salts, then wipe on EMT gel. Haven't tried the spray yet. Make sure the gel is dry before they go walking around, have had carpet fuzz glue to the feet.
Also watch for signs of infection from slivers of the stalks getting into the feet.

Greg, et. al.,

Living in Ohio for all my life, one of the first things I learned was to stay out of corn and especially soy bean stubble when the temp goes south. It even hurts me with good boots on. But if you do and the dogs feet get banged up, get some blood clotting spray and it will close the wounds and help prevent infection. Google "blood clotting spray" and you will find several brands for about $10.00. Keep some in your dogs First Aid kit. It's good for our troops, and is good for the dog's feet too.
Along the lines of using duct tape for the dog boots, it may be okay for dry weather, but duct tape in snowy conditions won't last 30 minutes. Still keep some in my dog box storage, but only resort to it in the dry weather. Put it on a pair of ripped hunting boots and it came off in 10 minutes or so. It works in a space capsule, but not in a snowy clear cut.

I have hunted in the ice, rocks and stubble fields all across the country and had to deal with the consequences. The best thing you can do is prevent the injuries from occurring in the first place but the only way to do that is with boots which I am not a big fan of either. The best product I have found for treating the feet post injury is Neo-Predef. It is a powder that contains Isoflupredone acetate - a highly potent anti-inflammatory, Neomycin - a wide spectrum antibiotic and Tetracaine - a anesthetic. It works great for in between the pads, toes and nail beds. I have also used it on lacerations, although not the intended use the powder did seem to help stop the bleeding as well.

That Neo-Predef is some good stuff......! I keep it in my first aid kit.

Coveyrise64

Georgia Boy wrote:I have hunted in the ice, rocks and stubble fields all across the country and had to deal with the consequences. The best thing you can do is prevent the injuries from occurring in the first place but the only way to do that is with boots which I am not a big fan of either. The best product I have found for treating the feet post injury is Neo-Predef. It is a powder that contains Isoflupredone acetate - a highly potent anti-inflammatory, Neomycin - a wide spectrum antibiotic and Tetracaine - a anesthetic. It works great for in between the pads, toes and nail beds. I have also used it on lacerations, although not the intended use the powder did seem to help stop the bleeding as well.

The $60 boots from cabelas are garbage... one set out in the desert lasts about 6 hours before they are trashed and cabelas changed their return policy...

Go to gundog supply and order Lewis dog boots. All of my friends out here run them and they last... cheap too.

Mushers Secret. [url]www.musherssecret.net[/url]. I've never been a big fan of booties and such. Mushers is great stuff.