I searched and didn't find any discussions so I'll ask.

I live in Mesa, AZ (the Phoenix metro area) and have begun taking Jäger with me everywhere. I have his crate secured in the bed of my truck with a pad inside and shade cloth covering everything but the door. I'm concerned about the need to protect his paws from hot asphalt and have spent a good deal of time looking at dog boots. Yesterday I put him in the truck and noticed the tailgate was very hot. I wanted to move my hand quickly but Jäger didn't seem to care. So I'm wondering; do I need boots if I'm always looking to get him off the asphalt as soon as is practical or keep him moving? I'm talking about quick trips across the parking lot into a business or to visit someone and not staying in one spot for five minutes of more.

Also, who knows about snake proofing. I'm a retired NCO and spend a fair amount of time down range with the AZNG running ranges and working with soldiers on marksmanship. Jäger goes with me and rattlesnakes are a realistic danger. I need to do something for his own good as I'm frequently the first one to a range complex.

Off subject, I was amazed by how eager (happy excited) Jäger is to get to the people shooting. He prefers machine guns to rifle/pistol and when the ma duce opens fire he tries to low crawl to it. Ears up,tail wagging, big smile "If I only had a thumb I could to that too" kinda stuff. I know it's bad for his hearing (he's been as close as 10 meters and still is charging to the guns.) does anyone know of a hearing protection for dogs?

I`ve lived in Scottsdale,AZ for about three years now and I`ve never had to get booties for my dogs. Their paws are a lot tougher than your feet and 5 minutes from the car to wherever your going is just fine. I run around on hot concrete in the summer and as long as you keep moving even humans aren`t going to have problems. If you`re really concerned you can dunk his feet in water.
I don`t know anything about snakeproofing but a lot of vets have their snake bite vaccine on sale this time of year.
Nice to see another person from AZ on the board. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I've used this stuff for a while, especially when the dog will be on asphalt and concrete a lot, but I haven't used it for heat issues. Probably wouldn't hurt. Email the company for more info.

Tuf-Foot

I live in the Phoenix area too and I run my dog from 45 to 60 minutes on my bicycle everyday around my neighborhood.
Now that it's starting to get hot around here again, I've wondered if I should take precautions to protect his paws as well. I usually ride in the evenings after it's cooled down a little so I'm not too worried about the heat, but I'm wondering if the everyday, rigorus contact with asphalt has negative effects on his paws. I took a look at that Tuf-Foot stuff and his paws kind of look like the the ones in the picture on that site but that doesn't seem to have an effect on his enthusiasm for running with me.

Having heard from you'all I'm not going to worry about boots unless we get into trouble. I'll be aware of the time we spend standing still on hot surfaces, but other than that I'll let it go.

I'll keep the cleaning patches for hearing protection idea.

Thanks for the input.