Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Who skis with their dog? We do and he's a great trail dog. So far the snow doesn't seem to bother his paws, but we haven't been out in terribly cold conditions yet (25 F and above so far).

We bought a set of booties from Spark Paws (link below). I thought the double strap design would work well, but they seem to come off very easily once he gets off the track and runs around in deep snow. And tightening them up seems to bother him (the strap probably starts to dig into his ankles).

Any other recommendations? Ruff Wear is usually good but I really wonder about the single strap design.

https://www.sparkpaws.com/products/wint ... oots-black

My husky doesn't have a problem with cold but the snow clumps and stick between her paw pads. I haven't tried this yet but sled dog owners use a wax to coat paws. Not sure if it would help with the cold

i've been skiing with my border collie 13 winters now, i'm so grateful she's still going with me! anyway...

conditions like you're describing are usually fine. any colder (or deeper, stickier snow, etc), we use musher's wax - it doesn't stay on for the whole ski, but it protects her paws till she gets warmed up, and having something on for half the ski is better than nothing. on those days, it's kind of hit or miss whether i need to help her with snowballs in her pads or not.

as for booties, she acts like her legs are alien appendages when she's had them on, and they don't stay on either. i have walkee paws, which are a sort of gaiter design, and they do stay on - but the alien appendage thing gets amplified. so i'll just use those only on the up in conditions i know are really tough for her (cold, deep, heavyish snow). they're a bit embarrassing for her at the trailhead, but they work really well - if your dog can handle them!

https://walkeepaws.com/?tw_source=googl ... b4QAvD_BwE

I use dog mushing style ones, single velcro strap. They're made of either fleece or cordura. I've found the ones with the non-elastic velcro stay on better than the elastic ones but that may vary a bit by dog. One tip is to get them a bit on the big side, then sew a "dart" or gathering of the cloth just at the top to make them a bit snugger, this makes them stay on a lot better. This has worked well for our northern mutt (we use them below -20C). They'll still loose them, it happens, especially in deep or crusty snow or if they go charging off after a rabbit, fox, or ptarmigan etc. If you don't have shops that sell dog sledding stuff in your area, its probably best to order them from a dog sledding place, they are way cheaper, and you get a discount if you buy a bunch. I've tried a variety (including some custom ones my partner made) and this type is the best reliability-cost-effort combo for us.

Mountain Ridge in Alaska is one supplier: https://www.mtnridge.com/SLED-PET-DOG-BOOTIES_c_20.html

I've been skiing with dogs for decades. Some have trouble when temps are in single digits, some have trouble with snow building up between pads when its near freezing. And some have just torn a nail or sliced a pad. After trying many different dog bootie options with no success, a vet recommended that I check out the simple nylon boots that mushers use. Which, when I thought about it, made a huge amount of sense.
And it has been a game-changer. They're not padded, but my dogs feet are tough from trail running so that's not a problem. What the dog musher booties do is stay on my dogs' paws. Really well. At first I thought they'd be too thin for when we are mountain biking on rocky surfaces but that has not been a problem. And most of my dogs get used to them pretty quickly so their walking while holding their paws up has not been a big problem. I use the ones from www.mtnridge.com, but there are numerous websites selling these sorts of boots so they're not hard to find. And they're cheap compared to the ruffwear boots.

My chocolate lab is now 13 years old. He has never worn boots. Bare paws he would be sensitive to icing and certain snow in very cold temps, but use of Musher's Secret prevents that entirely and he has never had any issue when protected thusly.