Tis’ the season where there’s snow on the ground and dogs are so excited to play outside. If you walk your dog by roads, there’s a good chance they were salted and that can burn and irritate your pups paws! Here’s some tips for how to keep their paws safe and toasty this winter:
Before going outside:
1) Get your dog a jacket with insulation! They provide additional warmth and protection from the snow and wind! If your dog doesn’t mind wearing dog boots, those are also a great way to shield their precious paws from ice and salt. Dogs with low body fat, small build, and short hair cannot tolerate the cold as well as bigger dogs, higher body fat, and double coats, so it’s important we keep them warm too!
2) Rub coconut oil on their legs. As a healthy oil with skin/coat benefits and hydrophobic properties, rubbing coconut oil on your dog prevents clumps of snow from attaching to their fur. When trying to remove them, it can tug on your dog’s fur if done wrong and can hurt them, so if they do have snow on them, use a kitchen whisk to gently brush up and down the snowy area to break down the snowballs!
3) Remember the signs your dog wants to come inside. If people were to walk barefoot in the snow, we’d all run inside with cold toes! This happens to dogs too. Signs their feet are too cold to be outside any longer include lifting their legs/feet out of the snow, looking for shelter, refusing to play or walk, or licking their paws.
After coming inside:
1) Check their feet, belly, and legs! Every time you come inside from a walk, it is so important to check that there isn’t snow or ice balls between their paw pads that can dissolve and cause your dog dehydration, irritation, or burns. Include this simple ritual into your routine to ensure your pups are safe after they come inside.
2) Towel dry your pup. Make sure they have no snow on their entire body, clumps or not, to get them warm. Warm their face, ears, back, belly, legs, feet, and tail with the towel.
3) Offer room temperature water. By making sure they drink water after they come inside, this can slowly raise their body temperature and encourages proper hydration without shocking their system going from cold to hot. If your dog likes to eat snow, too much of it can upset their sensitive stomach lining. Lukewarm water avoids this thermal shock.