07/30/2025
Here is some great information about bo**ies and foot care from Matt & Elke Hall
- Dr. Kimberly McCreedy, Head Veterinarian
Booties! When? Why? And so many!?😮
There are dozens of scenarios they can, could, or should be used. And times NOT to. Here are a few examples.
Pre snowfall, September-mid October. Depending on terrain most of our runs require back feet bo**ies over 15-20 miles. (If running these distances regularly) This is to pretect the “digital pads” just below their toe nails. Unfortunately the life expectancy of bo**ies on gravel, rocks, or frozen tundra without snow is about 15-20 miles.
Warm temps 15 to 25 degrees above zero. Yes thats warm! The snow will start to stick to their fur and you’ll get “ice balls” forming between their pads as the snow sticks to the fur. Similar to rolling a snowball down hill, it will continue to grow if the snow is at all sticky. You can prevent this without the use of bo**ies if you stay up on keeping the hair trimmed flush with the pads or with a buzzer even all the way up between the pads of every foot. In these warm temperatures you may also see snowballs forming on the backside of their forearms. This is why you’ll see dogs wearing “leggings” often blue or red on their front legs.
Cold temperatures 25 below zero and colder. The colder it gets the snow becomes harder and more abrasive. Depending on the length of your run, you’ll need bo**ies to protect their pads from abrasion. More than 20 miles in these temps for our team calls for a full boot!
Generally anything over 35-40 miles. This is the mileage where temperatures and snow stops meaning as much vs the amount of times those feet come up and down onto any terrain. The main reason 90% of the time dogs always have on bo**ies distance racing. We are always running long.
Exceptions:
The type of dog, or the genetics of your dogs.
How warm is “warm”. You will often see mushers rotating just booting front feet then back feet the run after if it is above freezing and the dogs feet are in good health. This helps the dogs regulate their body temperature haing two feet at a time in the snow. Maybe planning a 20-30 minute water break mid run. In Iditarod I’ll often leave my camp sight late afternoon early evening when its above freezing without bo**ies even if I’m not camping for 60+ miles. But 30 miles in I’ll stop for 20+ minutes to put out water bowls for hydration, and give them proper time to cool down after a hot start to the run while I bo**ie and snack the whole team for the remainder of the run.
What’s in this photo? Approximately 2,000 used bo**ies we got back from the Iditarod this year. Put out to dry for many months and now it’s time to get the party started. Sorting each bo**ie first by size, then for holes, then into bundles of 4. We buy 4,000 new bo**ies each year. Each bo**ie gets used appropriately 2.5 times before it gets thrown away. (About 100 normal condition winter trail miles is the lifespan for smalls, 80 miles for mediums, and 60 miles for large, due to the weight of the dog) That’s 10,000 bo**ies a season to sort and bundle. Here is a few movies worth of our version of knitting to a Netflix special.
Before you ask! These are kipmik dog bo**ies. 330 cordura nonstrech velcro. https://www.kipmikproducts.com/
