Worn paws

[goldcreek]

The last two days I've been playing fetch with Bonnie on the road in front of our house. It is the only spot without snow right now. It is just wet, packed, sandy dirt. It didn't even occur to me that it would be bad. But Bonnie's feet were just ruined today after playing for only 5 or so minutes. She is crazy for the ball and really skids for it. She has ripped up her stop pads, worn raw spots on the front toes of all four feet, and worn away patches on the backs of her hocks. She would never say anything, never tell me no. By the time I noticed something was wrong there was a lot of bleeding. I feel awful.

The wounds aren't deep, certainly not worth going to the vet over. I just rinsed with warm water, then a betadine wash. It is going to be so hard to heal them cleanly though. My property is either snow or thick wet sucky muck/manure. Or the sandy abrasive road. I guess I'm just going to keep up the washes everytime she comes inside and try to limit explosive activity like fetching.

I think maybe her pads are just soft from the long wet winter. Any ideas on how to build up her pad toughness? Or was it just a bad idea playing on the road? It is so frustrating having no good way to work her out this time of year. I want to start getting her in better condition before getting serious about agility and herding in the spring. We both have bad cabin fever.

[Vicky]

Awww, hope Bonnie's paws heal soon, i would try the booties too!.

[Prestt_man]

Booties are the bomb... wish i could get daisy some nikes... would be the coolest dog on the block fo sure

[sheepskin_border_collies]

Like Herding Addict said, in the hot summer here the ground gets really hard and can do some major damage in dogs working cattle paws. I put Vaseline on their pads and that seems to really help keep them touch yet soft so they do not crack open