treatment for thick, dry, cracked pads - Page 1

never really noticed it before but my dog has really thick meaty pads, a good thing, the bad thing is the front ones are very dry and cracked. he does a lot of road work on dry dirt/gravel roads that have hot surfaces.

any kind of doggie skin moisturiser?

would the road-work be the only cause?

Musher's Secret, buy it on the net.

http://musherssecret.net/

Musher's Secret (I swear by that and I can't remember who recommended it on this website) and for healing, organic virgin coconut oil or fractionated organic coconut oil.  It is antiseptic and ok for dogs to lick (not that you want them too).  Epsom salt soaks are awesome if you can get your dog to keep his foot in the warm Epsom Salts for a bit.  My dog will actually have the black part of his pad pull loose (due to allergies) and I mix Frankincense, Lavender, and a touch of Peppermint in the coconut oil.

Yes,  gaiting a dog on a hard paved surface can cause abraded pads. Try to find a grassy area to run him. I conditioned my ASL with Musher's Secret before she trialed for her AD. When I got her a few months before the trial, her pads were soft and bled easily. After a few weeks of the ointment and exercising her off the asphalt, her pads looked great and she completed her AD well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Mushers know more about conditoning dogs' pads than anyone else I know, so I asked some I knew for their recommendations - all said Musher's Secret.

I used the below recipe on a few mid summer puppies , The recipe works and works out cheaper than a branded product  , After the dogs pad has healed i would keep running on gravel

http://www.ehow.com/how_7666669_make-wax-dog-paws.html

Goes without saying that it's a good idea to work the dog when it's cool (morning or evening). Their pads can actually get burned if it's too hot. Check the surface with your own hand...you may get a nasty surprise!

I'm lucky in that I have 400 acres of bush with trails through it drirectly behind my kennel!

Have used Wool Wax [a lanolin product] and Musher's Secret, and both are excellent products for healing and protecting the pads in snow and other drying conditions.  For dogs that are running over harsh, abrasive terrain, however, I'd think you'd be better off with Tuf-Foot; in addition to healing the damaged pads, it will also help toughen them up as well so they're less prone to cracking and drying out again. We used the Wool Wax & Musher's Secret when the sled dogs on snow, but used the Tuf-Foot more often since our primary trail surfaces were either hard-pack sand, loose 'sugar' sand, or a hard-packed clay & soil composite with a significant amount of small and medium stone mixed in for good measure. Dogs that weren't getting pre-race season conditioning with a pad toughener generally had to pull up midway through their first day of racing or training on the latter course's trails.

When I was training a dog for an AD (on asphalt) that would crack or tear pads, I used Tuf Foot before training and Musher's Secret after.