07/19/2025
Walk a Mile In Your Dog’s Feet!
Although our purebred dogs have several accepted foot shapes written into their breed standards, a flat foot isn’t accepted in any of them. Why? Because a flat foot is prone to break down under all conditions, especially if you run or jog with your dog, he or she runs agility, or participates in other high impact sports such as catching a frisbee. Look folks, this stuff isn’t just for show dogs.
Your dog’s digital and metacarpal pads are shock absorbers and work to protect the bones and joints in their foot. Their carpal pads work like brakes and help your dog deal with slick or steep slopes. Because dogs are digitigrade animals, they carry the majority of their weight in their toes (as opposed to their heels).
Certain breeds, like the St. Bernard and Newfoundland, have wide, sprawling paws to give them a better grip on snow and ice, and some breeds, like Akitas, Dobermans, Airedale Terriers, Bull Terriers, Keeshonden, Finnish Spitz, and Greyhounds, have “cat feet,” feet that have a short third digital bone resulting in a higher arches and a compact feline-like foot. Feet like this gives a dog greater endurance because their paws are so light. Other breeds, such as the Samoyed, Bedlington Terrier, Skye Terrier, and Borzoi have “hare feet,” that are more elongated because the two middle toes are longer than the outer toes.
Most all dog paws have pads made of a thick layer of fatty tissue that helps protect interior tissues from extreme temperatures while conducting cold poorly. As the paw gets cold when it hits the ground, arteries transfer chilled blood back to the body where it warms up again. That said, your dog’s feet will burn and blister on hot asphalt or the bed of a pick up truck (so don’t that person), and they can freeze or get frostbite. Those thick pads also help a dog walk on rough terrain – to a point. Dog boots aren’t a goofy thing to put on a dog, and if they’re good enough for Search and Rescue dogs, they’re good enough for your dog.
Image by Amos T Fairchild and shared under the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at Wikicommons
