Frosty Paws

Fluffy toes!

Although winter is upon us, Roxy's desire for adventure has not subsided. She loves to frolic in the snow just as much as she loves running in grassy fields during the summer. Although the cold temperatures don't appear to bother her in any way, she does have one issue that is not only irksome but leads to injuries as well: her frosty paws. Roxy is not a pure-bred German Shepherd, and as a result she has some unique features including adorable tufted toes. She has 2 inch long puffs of soft fur that jut out between all of her toes.

Despite looking very cute, these tufts are notorious for trapping huge clumps of ice and snow as Roxy plays outside during the winter. When we were in the White Mountains during the winter, golf ball-sized junks of ice would build up between the pads of Roxy's feet. These pieces of ice had sharp edges and often trapped in debris that would then cut Roxy's pads as she walked. Roxy ended up stopping constantly to try to bite the junks of ice off of her paws, but it was no use. No matter how many times we removed the ice, more latched on after a few steps.

Roxy trying to get the ice off her paws in the White Mountains.

Musher's Secret prevents frosty paws.

 Although we are hoping to avoid any snow/ice during our Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike, I do want to be ready for anything. This week I tried out a new product to help protect Roxy's paws during winter adventures. Musher's Secret is a natural wax that was developed to for sled dogs in Canada. I was a little skeptical about such a seemingly simple product having any sort of impact on the snow, but I was pleasantly surprised. I lathered up Roxy's paws today and we headed outside for a winter walk. After about 30 minutes of walking in the deep snow, I checked her paws: no huge ice balls!

Now a 30 minute walk in Indiana is not quite the same as a trek through the mountains, but snow is snow, so I am happy with the results. I also like the fact that the food-grade waxes used for Musher's Secret are 100% non-toxic, so you don't have to worry about your dog getting sick from licking it off their paws. For this first trial run of Musher's Secret, I didn't want to over do it, so I applied a only a very light layer of the wax. As you can see in the picture to the right, there is still some snow on Roxy's paws, but no huge ice junks like she was getting before. Next time I apply Musher's Secret I am going to fully saturated all the fur between her pads with the wax to make the protection even more effective.