Bendel is adventurous. She loves to jump, climb, run, chase things, and overall give me a heart attack every 5 seconds. She is fantastic off the leash and a very good listener, she just goes all out when were out hiking.
A week before Christmas we were on a casual trail in Florida. We got back to the car, no limp, no crying, jut all of the sudden blood…everywhere. Like pools of blood on my seat on the ground. Immediately I start PANICKING. Bendel is completely unfazed (the dog feels no pain), and I quickly realize she took a giant chunk out of her paw. Thankfully it wasn’t deep just pretty large.
Knowing we had a trip to the mountains filled with lots of much tougher hiking I decided to order dog boots. I read tons of reviews and settled on the Ultra Paws Rugged Dog boots from Chewy.
Bendel can be drama, but overall she’s pretty go with the flow as long as it’s something fun for her. I knew introducing her to the boots in the house would not have gone well. I decided to put them on her right before we got to the first hike. I figured she would be too distracted by all of the new smells and wouldn’t care about the boots. I was right (thank god), and after she awkwardly clomped around for a minute or two off she went.
What I learned:
- Buy the right size. I almost ordered her a large and last minute read reviews that sizing was big. Thankfully I sized down to the medium and they fit perfectly!
- Make the boots a positive thing. Introduce them in a high reward situation.
- Make sure they are on tight enough. They will absolutely fall off and you’ll be stuck collecting boots in the woods like the worlds worst game of iSpy.
- Have your camera ready – the initial walking will be hilarious…trust me you don’t want to miss this.
Bendel did get one small blister on the top of her ankle from them rubbing, but I will take that any day over a completely shredded Paw.
Checkout the photos below to see Bendel in her adorable boots.
