Evanston in winter can be very hard on a small dog's paws. The city—and our condo building's maintenance people—slather more salt on the sidewalks than can be mined from the Bonneville flats, and that and ice tend to get between a dog's toes painfully.
We've used Musher's Wax, which does seem to help with the salt, but it doesn't protect from the cold. Dogs hate heavy boots. What to do? We've tried carrying Trooper's 17 pounds from our front door to the nearest pee spot, but both Debby and I have bad backs and that isn't a good idea.
Yesterday we tried a product called Protek PawZ, little fat thickish rubber balloons that come in varying sizes. They're billed as being both disposable and biodegradable. And they're cheap—the Small size packs contain a dozen booties for $13. They're available at pet stores and Amazon.com, and even Bed, Bath & Beyond.
It does take two people to put the booties on—one to hold the dog and the other to stretch their openings and slip them over the paws—but the rubber is limber enough to make the job fairly easy.
To our surprise, Trooper took to the booties quickly. Initially he tried to shake them off, but after a few seconds of stalking indignantly around the living room, he began walking normally. Outside, he ambulated as if he wasn't wearing anything.
Nice solution to a vexing problem.
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