remedy for tender pads

[justincorbell]

Anyone have any recommendations for a remedy for tender pads? I've been hunting my dogs quite a bit here lately and between the thorns water and rock roads they are starting to slow down a good bit due to their pads being tender. Anything I can do to toughen em up? Appreciate the info in advance fellas.

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[Reuben]

I use CutHeal and it seems to speed recovery...

[joshg223]

I’ve used tiff-foot and mushers secret in the past with good results



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[joshg223]

Tuff


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[justincorbell]

Appreciate it gentlemen

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[Goose87]

Don’t take this as a smart a$$ reply and will admit to scratching my head the first time my paw paw told me this when I asked him the same question, run it back on them, they will sore up and slow down for a short time but eventually they’ll build up good thick strong pads, same way as working through blisters to create calloused tough hands, I understand some situations a lay is only option but far as general soreness from wear and tear and regular using just keep pushing them through it and do what you can to help them out in between hunts, I mix a good disinfectant, coppertox, terpentine, little DMSO, and pine tar, can’t remember the amounts of each, I made a gallon last time and have just run out, I’ve been researching on simmering oak barks in water just under a boil for a specified time to extrachb the tannins and use it as tannic acid to soak the dogs feet in to toughen them up, haven’t done it yet though...

[Reuben]

Pine tar and terpentine were used on the farm for most every ailment on the animals including us at times...Volcanic oil was a favorite for the animals and my grandfather used it on himself for arthritis...

[The Old Man]

Although some of the things mentioned will help there is no substitute for regular miles. Years ago I was camped in the mountains for a couple of weeks and some of the dogs had gotten real sore footed (the logging roads down there are real hard on a dogs feet especially if you are driving cattle since they are constantly stopping and accelerating while leading stock) but I just kept using them and one dog actually wore off a good portion of the pads on his front feet, not the pad covers but the pad itself, never saw it before nor since. That dog was 90 days or so getting sound again.
While on the subject of feet-I once had three littermate brothers that had identical feet "visually" and to feel of them they were the same also for thickness and texture but one of them was real bad to get sore footed, one of them was never sore footed in his life and the third one would sore up what I would call normally for a good footed dog. I studied those dogs and pondered what the difference was and all I could ever come up with was that they were gaited and strided different, appeared to me that made the difference in how well their feet held up, I have noticed a big difference in how horses are strided and the way they hit the ground, have any of you ever watched or noticed this in dogs???
I've also noticed a difference in the wear on dogs feet per the terrain, lots of fast hard driving up hill will wear holes in the toe pads, flat ground or down hill wears the big pads.
I've always paid a lot of attention to dogs feet, no foot no dog. It's sorta like the way you tack your horse, don't make lots of difference for little short trips but if you are really pounding them daily and in the heat those things really come into play. Seems like hot weather is harder on a dogs feet as well.

[Shotgun66]

Agree with the conditioning and genetic points that Goose and Oldman mentioned. I have what I consider to be a really nice bay dog with genetically bad (splay) feet. The Blue Kote spray is the only product I have found that works consistently. I apply it before and after a hunt when the weather is dry and the ground is hard or when I hunt the rocks & cactus out west. It’s god awful nasty stuff that will stain your hands. Wear gloves before applying it and keep the dog off any surface you don’t want purple paint on. Hope it works for you as well as it has me.
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https://www.walmartpetrx.com/p-898-dr-naylor-blu-kote-4-oz-dauber.aspx?


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[Mike]

Hooflex for horses works real well on their pads. I used to brush it on mine a couple weeks before heading on long hill country hunts.

[The Old Man]

Mike the Hill Country rocks are as tough on a dogs feet as anywhere I have ever hunted, I hunt the mountains and rocks here and in WV but the rock in the hill country is different, my dogs hold up pretty good there but still it is rougher on them. We usually hunt 3-5 days and some of them will be a little sore but not crippled.