Thread: Labradors feet

My Black Lab has worn the skin off his feet last weekend in the riverbed & being a typical Lab just loved jumping into the water breaking the ice on the surface, they looked to have healed so I took him out looking for a Pheasant yesterday & he has worn the skin off the edges of his pads in the riverbed again (doesn't stop him hunting whilst out but is really sad when we are at home).
I was wondering if there is any treatments you guys have come across that will help heal it or do I have to give him a week or so off? We used to use a product called PadAid on our old dog but its no longer available & Vet suggested Vaseline or babies butt cream but that stuff just tastes too good for him & makes a mess on our carpet & the useless Chocolate Lab we have just wants to wash his feet also.

Any suggestions or do I have to try & tone down his hunting habits a bit.

When I had a small clothing manufacturing business, I use to make up 100's of booties for racing huskies, then some of the local musterers heard of it and I was supplying them for the autumn muster. Recently I have seen some of the SaR dogs wearing them. Maybe a set of booties for a week or two would give the dogs paws some time to heal, after all you cant hold a labrador back when theres water involved.

I have seen those & my father has them for his dog & they are well made with a good rubber sole but when hunting they come off sometimes & are quite pricey to lose. The S&R dogs are a bit more precise & calm looking compared to the youthful exuberance of my Lab in hot pursuit of a winged parry down a river or a hare along the stopbank, but he does calm down after a couple of hours.

We used to think that taking the dogs to the beach (salt ) made there feet harder . It's been years since I've had a dog with soft pads . I've herd meths works but would seek more advice beforehand

The meths on Fully healed pads note!!!

Beach sand n salt water aids healing tho

Booties ? Canine spirit sell some awesome kit for active dogs.
Canine Spirit : Dog Boots

Having said that, being a lab he'd probably just eat them

Nipple cream is another option - works well on healing tatoos !

Thanks guys, he is going to be a happy boy with runs at the beach this week.

+1 on Canine Spirit, love that website.

"Salve" is another goody, it's waxy so can chuck some on his pads before you go out (hopefully he will be a bit distracted and not lick it off). Also this is basically a duct-tape type item, it's fecking awesome on everything. Comes in a round tin with a red and black and yellow design.

Awesome for people and animals alike. Cuts, bruises, pimples, chafe, itchy bites, you name it.

If the dog gets super tired out and might just look like sleeping, try chucking some salve on and popping some socks over the top of his feet (maybe secure with tape, but not too tight). Give him a bone or something to chew at and leave his brother in another room

Best of luck!

@ebf I have found another site I want everything from (including the dogs and handlers ) Tactical K-9 gear....erhmagherd it's all so aaassssummmmmmmm

got booties for my jack russell after he cut his pads to bits on rocks in the sounds
takes a coulpe of mins for him to get used to them but after that hes good to run all day
they are the padded ones with a grippy sole, sand ,rocks and sea are no problems with them on

iv got a pink spray its just called pad-spray. it came from the vet.
my boss used to dip all the working dogs feet in meths for his dad.

That pink spray is the shizzle & what we used to use but the Vets say its not available any more hence where the problem comes in.

Its still available on the shelf at our vets. Have also used Aerotete spray - needs to be scripted by a vet but great stuff to have on hand for a multitude of reasons....first aid in a can for about $40

Originally Posted by Bob Da Browning

I have seen those & my father has them for his dog & they are well made with a good rubber sole but when hunting they come off sometimes & are quite pricey to lose. The S&R dogs are a bit more precise & calm looking compared to the youthful exuberance of my Lab in hot pursuit of a winged parry down a river or a hare along the stopbank, but he does calm down after a couple of hours.

Can't see him keeping the footwear on, he's like a greyhound on P, the sleekest lab I've ever seen. I used to use the meths on my hands when I was rowing and kayaking and it worked great to dry out the surface and form tough callouses once the blisters were sealed. I could fit the old 20c coin inside the blister hole on my right hand with the callouses around it above the sides of the coin. Probably preferable to the other stuff I used. Salt water swims helped the healing.