This article is very personal because I moved from the city to a house in the countryside, surrounded by a vast field, where my dog, a 2 year old Pointer, found many places to run, jump and explore… and it was then that he started having cuts in the pads of his paws.

I asked the vet in the area why this happened and if there was anything he could do, at the same time, I looked at forums to see if anyone had been through this with their pet and finally met a group of people who brought their dogs to hunt in the area, spoke to them and my research found these conclusions:

Paw pads are formed by a series of layers of keratinised cells, which provides hardness and abrasion resistance. Under this layer, there are cushion cells and subcutaneous fat tissue whose function is to cushion and absorb the pressure produced continuously whilst walking. They protect the phalanges’ bones from the impact.

A city dog, even if it gets plenty of exercise ( like mine ) will never have rough paw pads, the same thing happens to hunting dogs, at the beginning of the season the pads are softer, so we must be cautious and continually check  their legs and paws.

One tip is to go slowly, at first, through rough, hard and abrasive terrains to strengthen the limbs and create a hardened layer on their pads, always checking that they remain elastic, moist and free of cracks.

For long-haired dogs, it is important to remove the excess hair, cut it with small scissors to avoid the formation of knots, snagging or splinters. In the summer it is very important to keep the hair around the paw pad trimmed, to reduce heat and sweating in that area.

If at the end of the walk your pet’s pads are covered with mud, it would be advisable to wash and dry them properly to prevent irritation later.

For dogs that live in the mountains you can apply a layer of Vaseline to prevent burns caused by snow, ice and salt on the roads.

One of LUPOSAN products that can help you with that is the Biotin-PLUS. A natural product formulated with mixtures of herbs and microalgae that help regenerate hair, claws, skin and pads. This product can be purchased directly at 

https://www.luposan-iberica.com/es/cgi-bin/product_view.asp?sid=0202&pid=17&dat=7

Luposan Spain Conrado Grandville (notes) on Saturday, May 5, 2012 at 11:14