a few weeks ago, luc injured his paw hiking - split the pad open, there was a decent-sized bloody sore.

i've kept him quiet - running around the yard and playing, but no walks (we tried letting him rest it, then took him hiking again, and it opened up worse, which is why i haven't been walking him at home).

it's pretty well healed now - a bit of a scab left, but that's it.

would it be a bad idea to take him on my run tonight? we're only going 5k and it will be a slow pace - 6:15/km. or should i let the pad be totally healed first? he lost a lot of the callouses and toughness of his pads when i was injured, which i think is how he then got this injury in the first place.

Run but check the pad to see if it is holding up - you could bootie it until the scab clears and then just keep an eye on his pads as you get him back in training. I would try and run as much on natural surface as possible (grass,gravel, sand, dirt) and monitor his pads.

thanks lynn!

....geez, i'll have to find the booties! actually, luc has real issues w/booties, but i'll see how he feels tonight, the ruffwear ones would help. i do have some pad wax but i doubt that would do much here.

i can do a slightly longer route that will take us to a park nearby - not a lot on the grass/trail, but better than nothing. next month we'll start trail running again (i'm still getting myself back into shape, and i'm not going to drive to a trail for a short run), but i do like his pads to be hard even for that, in case of sticks/stones etc. i know for myself, to protect against blisters etc, i apply rubbing alcohol to toughen them, but i'm assuming that is not a good idea for dogs.

do you bootie your dogs all the time, or do they mostly go bare-padded?

Leerburg sells Tuf-foot for dogs. You might want to look into this product and its uses. I don't know if it would be better to wait until the injury is healed to use it. I think it depends on how bad the cut is because it is 75% isopropyl alcohol. On an open cut,
I think that would be painful.

neat, thanks mary. yeah, i'd wait for it to totally heal. hmmm, isopropyl alcohol....that's the same as rubbing alcohol, i think, so same idea as what i do to my feet. if they toughen slowly maybe i'll look into applying something on his pads.

Best to avoid alchohol and resin based foot stuff as they can remove the natural protective oils from the dogs foot and overdry the pad leading to cracking. Better to just run the dog and let the feet toughen up naturally - if you notice the pads thinning or wear patches lay the dog off for a couple of days - feet recover pretty fast.

fair enough. they were tough enough naturally before, they just got soft over 5 months of nothing. i'm sure they'll toughen again, i just want this to heal okay

hi,

my GSD, Jonah, is just now 5 months and he torked something last week while playing vigorously. it is his LF elbow that is painful on palpation. of course he thinks its not painful enough to slow down or stop doing anything that is normal in his puppy brain, but i have heard that "large breed dogs have floating lameness issues while growing" (like growing pains??). quote from a vet... any thoughts? this was obviously a strain of some sort, as i did see it happen, not a mystery lameness.

crating him and keeping him totally off it will be a disaster, just not realistic---he would be NUTS upon release and probably re-injure it worse. i really would rather "pass" on anything like Rimadyl, which would just encourage him to use it more b/c it would stop hurting---?? i have temporarily ceased any Orbee fetch, and am only walking him on lead---just trying to keep him less wild (haha).

he is getting chicken leg quarters and RMbeef bones in addition to Canidae ALS, vitamin C 500 mgs. SID, and he is about 40 pounds (NOT FAT or even chubby).

if anyone has exp with a puppy boo-boo of this type, plz let me know.
thanks!!!

jen

Jennifer, I would love to address your questions, but can you start a new thread, so that everyone can address your individual problem, and not swamp this original post?

 Quote: alyssa myracle

Jennifer, I would love to address your questions, but can you start a new thread, so that everyone can address your individual problem, and not swamp this original post?

Yes, Jennifer, if you go here
http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/10
you can click on "new topic" (in blue near the top) and start a new thread.