Pet dogs require a good deal of maintenance as you need to keep them groomed and healthy. Naturally, different aspects of their wellbeing should be considered and focused on from whether dogs need to be walked more than an hour a day to can dogs eat millet in their food, but there's one area that often gets overlooked: the paws.
Your dog's paws are very important, and we'll show you a few ways to look after them as best as you can. Why is this important? Well, think about everything that your dog does. They're constantly putting pressure on their paws, so if there are issues with them, your dog could be in pain all the time. To avoid this, here are some care tips:
Trim their nails
Can you hear the scuttling sound of your dog's paws on the floor when they walk? This shouldn't be the case as their nails should never be long enough to touch the ground. Instead, be sure they're always trimmed as this can prevent instances where nails break and become infected or irritating for your dog.
Check their paws regularly
The easiest paw care tip is to check your dog's paws as regularly as possible. To be honest, you could and should do this every day. It's not hard to do, and your dog can always step on things that cause them harm throughout your daily walks and their own running around. Look for things like thorns, rocks, and other debris that might be stuck in their paw pads or between their paws. If you spot anything, remove it before it gets stuck deeper and causes infections.
Apply a balm
One of the most common paw problems is that they become too hard and cracked. Much like we can get cracked heels that are painful to deal with, your dog can have cracked paws. A simple way to prevent this is by using a pad balm for dogs that moisturizes and soothes their paws. Massage it in every now and then, and your dog will love you for it. The act alone can relax your dog, so it's a good thing to do before they go to sleep. In essence, a balm repairs cracked paws and can prevent them from getting worse.
Keep the hair between paw pads trimmed
You might think that overgrown hair between paw pads isn't a huge issue. Often, we look at it as more of an aesthetic thing than anything else. It's kind of the dog equivalent of hair growing out of your nose. It doesn't look great, but there are no health concerns with forgetting to trim it...right?
Wrong! When the hair between pads gets too long, it can become matted and ends up very painful for your dog. So, whenever you cut their nails, be sure to trim the hair as well.
Having a dog is very much like having an additional member of the family. You feel like a mom all over again, and this is how you should approach the situation. Think about how often you do things to care for your baby and strike up the same commitment with your dog. Start by looking after their paws, then think of all the other ways you can make their life better.
Do you have a dog? Mine's called Harry, and we love him--and his paws--to pieces!