Last season my lab cut two of her pads open two weeks into the season. Boy what a bummer. She was down for weeks for them to heel. She is a house dog but that don't take one bit of the hunter out of her, If anything it makes her more loyal to me. My question is , is there anything I can do to toughen her pads, or maby hehp them heal quicker if they do get cut? Them booties are out of the question, she won't have nothing to do with them.

My lab is a house dog ,a 85 lb lap dog . I work him on a stone and concrete drive way every night , he thowes up a rostertail of stones when I send him on a fetch .His pads are very tough , like leather . Another nice thing his nails wear down ,I have never had to trim his nails in 4 1/2 years . I agree a house lab can be great in the feild and marsh !

There's a product out there called 'tough pad' or pad tough' that seems to help some. I don't know exactly how it works but I do use it on my boys before the season opens. But I have to agree that the best method is to walk them on concrete everyday for a month before you hunt them.

[&:] My black lab (all 115 lbs of her) is also a house dog, but loves to terrorize the squirrels in the birdfeeder. She cuts her pads often. She is laid up as we speak from an injury day before yesterday.

My vet gave me a bottle of PAD-TOUGH. It is a spray with aloe and Comfrey. It is a protective covering and toughening agent for Dog's pads. It has alcohol in it also, so it stings pretty bad when applied to a cut. It stops the lab from constantly licking the wound, thus giving it a chance to heal.

Hope this helps!

If you "road" you dog appropriately, the feet will be as tough as leather.

in north central Fla. we have a lot of flint rocks in the woods. some of them have razor sharp edges.
all of my dogs get cuts and bruses.befor the season I will mix in a large coffee can 1 ga.???I think I mix 1 lb. of salt and 2 to 3 quarts of white vinigar.
I take each dog and stick there paws into this solution for a min. this will toughen there feet and leg as far as it goes into the mixture.

if they already have a cut,it will burn some , but also heal the cut in a few days.in all the years I have run dogs in the rocks,I have not had one lame for over two ot three days.when I say burn some,( when you turn them alose)get out of the way.they will roll and rub all over the house.unless you do it in the kennel.

this mixture is the best I have found,(even from the vets).I have been useing this for about 30 to 35 years.with great results.

Tuf-foot,toughpad,padtough all bascially the same product just different names.All will toughen a dogs pads.When cuts occur I first heal the wound using pad heal,or bag balm.Pad heal and bag balm will speed the healing process and worth while to have either one or both in your first aid kit.

Lion Country Supply is a great place to order many dog products.Toll free at 1-800-662-5202 or online at http://www.lscupply.com

In addition to using the pad treatments, we also use booties in some situations. It seems that Wheat and Bean stubble are the hardest on the odgs. Most of the booties out there are really expensive, but dogbooties.com has some very cheap varieties. They are not as tough as the others, but you can afford a heck of a lot of them. There are a couple of varieties, we use the fleece the most, but the cordura ones are the toughest. Make sure and use tape as well as the velcro.

During winter, you should trim the hair between the paws to prevent ice forming and hurting its paws.

More good info here.I'd suggest trying the boots well before hunting season.If you introduce the boots early enough most dogs will adapt to them before hunting season.Its difficult to get the dogs used to boots the day of the hunt so start early and it will surely pay off once hunting season gets here.Good Luck,Take care,Jackson..