It's been so-o-o-o-o cold here that our poor little Maggie has been having some distress about being out in it! So Mark and I made a little stop at the Dog Bakery last weekend. The Dog Bakery is a store here in TC devoted to baking yummy things for dogs...oh, it smells heavenly!...as well as selling various other dog accoutrements. And one of those dog accoutrements is booties! We brought Maggie in for a fitting on Saturday. While we were at it, we had her try on a fleece jacket. While I did love the jacket, I wasn't convinced she really needed it...so we only went home with the booties.Well, let me tell you about dogs and booties. It is not a combination that naturally goes together. First of all, the booties are hard to get on. Now Maggie is a very patient dog, but it was still evident that she was not too enthusiastic about the booties. I tried to explain how much better it would be when we got outside for the walk, but she didn't seem convinced.
Next, no matter how tight you make the velcro straps, THE BOOTIES FALL OFF. Out of four booties, Maggie managed to divest herself of three. She actually got quite strategic...she'd run ahead to the end of her retractable leash, then sit down and work on the back ones with her teeth.
Finally, she'd had enough. She just sat down! And then she lay down! I, being the mean person I am, made her get up and keep going. The nice lady at the Dog Bakery said it takes time to break them in. Come on, Maggie! Here we go!
She reluctantly complied.
We walked about a third of a mile, then turned around. You have never SEEN a dog so eager to get home. Racing, galloping home! Straining at the end of her leash, booties thwacking in the snow! Ahhh, home at last! Goodbye booties!
We'll try them again another day.
3 comments:
Eyup. As soon as it warms up, I'm going to go back outside and look for my face. It fell off whilst I was trying to change a burned out headlight on my car.
More later,
B
That photo of Maggie in the snow is THE BEST! Chelsea has some boots she uses for hiking is really rough terrain. They were critical in the Wallowa mountains a couple of years ago. It helps if their nails are trimmed short. Duct tape also helps keep them on. But really, they always fall off. We've tried three different brands over the years and none of them perform the way we want them to.
You should knit or crochet Maggie a sweater!
Great idea about the sweater, Allison! And good tip about the nails...I think they do need to be trimmed. It warmed up a little around here today (20s) so I thought maybe we could walk without the booties...but same problem as before: she gets about two houses down and starts lifting up her paw and then limping. She just won't go! I have a dog that doesn't want to go on walks anymore! I never dreamed I'd be in this situation.
Yesterday we tried a walk along the bay, because someone had suggested that perhaps it's the salt and not the cold irritating her paws...so we were wading through deep snow, me making a path and Maggie following...and the same thing happened. Only this time, since Maggie wasn't on a leash, she just turned around and went home on her own! And I'm left standing there in my snow pants, Sorels with three pairs of socks, fluffy coat, hat, mittens, etc. etc. that it took me 10 minutes to put on, thinking HUMPH! next time I'm just opening the back door!
So when you put on the duct tape, do you just cut it off of the hair later? Or are you putting it only on the bootie?
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Bob, sorry about the face, there.
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