Pearl doesn't like to get her paws wet when she goes outside. I wanted some shoes to put on her when the grass was wet, so I began to research. Dog shoes aren't cheap and there's no way to know if your dog will tolerate them. There are lots of videos on YouTube of dogs walking funny in shoes. This happens when the dog can't feel the ground under their paw. I found one type of shoes ("Pawz") that were thin and flexible like an empty balloon. I decided to make some for Pearl and she had no problems wearing them. Here's how I did it:- Buy some balloons according to the size of your dog's paws. Pearl wears medium size Balloon Booties and prefers pink, as any Princess would :o)
- Cut off the "neck" of the balloons, where they become most narrow near the opening. If this is too tight around your pooch's paw, trim back to make a slightly wider opening.
- Stretch them over the paws and you're good to go!
These are also helpful to protect paws from dangerous lawn chemicals. The Balloon Booties can be cleaned with soap and water, then dried and dusted with baby powder. Pearl's original set has lasted many months already. If she looses one while we're out, they're cheap and easy to replace.
Lately Pearl has developed an infection on the top of her paws from excessive licking. I needed something made of breathable material which would cover her paws, allowing them to stay dry and clean. Since Pearl's an inside dog, I thought socks would be ideal. We found some infant socks at the Target Dollar Spot and bought several pairs.
I keep them on her feet using a piece of wide elastic with velcro on the ends. These are not attached to the socks so I can use the same set of bands as I replace socks. The bands look like this:
Okay, I know you can't see much detail in this photo but I'm sure you can imagine elastic and velcro. I like to put the socks on inside out so her nails don't get hung up on any strings inside. Then just wrap a band around and roll the cuff down over the band. These have worked beautifully for Pearl and since she can still feel the ground under her paws, she doesn't walk funny either. Now Pearl is on the mend and hopefully she'll be bare-pawed in no time! 
Since both of these paw covers are easy to make and pretty cheap, I thought I would share this post in case anyone else could use these ideas. Enjoy!
2 comments:
Those are very clever Cory and Pearl is one very lucky Princess Puppy !!!
Pearl loves to be pampered, and I think she knows how lucky a Princess Puppy she is! :o)
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