Saturday, January 16, 2010

Really, you got me THIS for Christmas??

Well, when I got home from vacation I had a late Christmas gift! It was this...a JACKET! Really Mom, another jacket?? I already have one that I run from every time you bring it out! Mom did not let my "enthusiasm" deter her. Her excitement was too great, so I reluctantly let her put it on me and to my surprise it was MUCH more comfortable than my last jacket. Not that I was happy about this though!!

Mom says it is from this Canadian company called Chilly Dogs, and they had a Ridgeback on their site just like me. She said their jackets are designed for long, lean, and deep chested doggies like myself, so she thought it would be a better fit. If you notice, it goes over my head and then the bottom part that is adjustable goes below my chest and then fastens around my back. Plus, it is longer than most jackets to keep my tail feathers warm. ;) I am still not sure about all of this. Well, Mom was sooo excited she had me wear it out with my pal, Ozzie. I tried to interject and tell her what an embarrassment it would be but she insisted!


And not only do jackets give your furiends something to grab on to, but the red color also brings out their vampire side! YIKES! Did Edward get to you Ozzie? Mom, HELP! I told you this was a BAD idea!!


Well, Mom learned her lesson but not on this trip. Just this week, she took me out in my jacket with my furiend, Sierra, and this time she even put 4 new boots on my paws...how degrading!! The reason she got the boots is because every time I go out in the crunchy snow, my princess paws get cut up and bleed. I told her I was a tough princess but she didn't believe me. Unfortunately, our snow has been kind of crunchy because of the weather so when I have returned from play dates I have had bloody paws. :( Anyway, Mom figured the boots and jacket would be ok because Sierra usually does her own thing. Boy was she wrong! First of all, she decided that the boots, which are super cool, (although she doesn't think they were designed with snow in mind) are not good for playing with other doggies because the excitement levels are too high and I get a little too silly. They get snow stuck in the tops and then I lick the tops because my legs get too cold. Plus, when I am running around and playing they fly off if they are not readjusted and tightened as I am moving around. The snow probably doesn't help with this as it helps pull them off when I remove my paws from it's grasp. Also, even my furiend, Sierra, starting charging me with my jacket on. I think she was out for blood too...maybe Ozzie got to her...I don't know? I do know that next time I am with my furiends I am going au natural and maybe I can avoid their vampirish ways. Mom is in agreement but she says that the jacket and boots WILL be good for when I am out for a walk with just her and Dad. Maybe, but I am NOT a believer yet!



Update: Amber here, just got back from a play date and Nala's paws got chewed up by the snow. UGH! I am very frustrated. Maybe despite the challenges of the boots they will at least keep her feet from getting so chewed up. The jacket for sure is not for play dates (I knew that but thought for walks it may be ok) or even just walks with friends but now I am thinking she HAS to wear the boots regardless.


The arrows indicate blood. She left bloody marks all over the snow out there.


All four paws looked similar to this. :( Has anyone else had this problem with their dog before? Is it because of the short hair? I can't NOT take her out to play but I also don't want her paws to look like this every time either. I guess we will go with just boots from now on. I can't wait for the snow to be gone! Or at least melt and snow some nice fluffy snow that doesn't cut paws!! Right now, Nala is sweetly curled up on her blankie licking her injured paws. I washed them off for her with some warm water and gave her some warm broth to drink.

17 comments:

Claire said...

i have been having that exact same problem with roux the last few days! the snow here has started to melt and then refrozen so it's all rough and has been cutting up her paws like that... i don't know what the solution is! i have boots, but they come off all the time when she's running like crazy, so i don't know if that's the answer. if you figure out something great, let me know!!

Kasha said...

I love the jacket. Red is your color. As far as the paws go, Africa gets those sometimes when playing with her Rhodesian Ridgeback buddy. It is very strange isn't it? I can't believe you get to play in snow.

Daisy Dog said...

Owwie! Go visit Brutus the Frenchie His mom just found the ultimate paw protection. Link on my site.

Life With Dogs said...

Ouch! I can honestly say we don't have this problem, but snow out here tends to be powdery rather than icy. I'd love to see what solution you arrive at just in case...

BRUTUS said...

Hi there! Nala you are a beautiful girl! I've always loved Ridgbacks! Soooo sorry to see you are having trouble with your footsies!! Must be that crunchy sort of snow with a layer of ice on top? I've seen this happen before, my old JR terrier used to cut himself up just like this.
The Pawz booties have great traction. Almost a little sticky. We've logged 7 miles in our initial pair so far, still going strong. Haven't done a ton of walking in the snow per se (more on slush, ice, asphalt) but they seem pretty durable. I do keep Brutus' nails very short (we do agility), don't know if Nala's will be a factor in wear on the boots. For less than $20, I'd say they are worth a try to see if they help. I have a link to the Pawz site on my blog, and from there you can see where you might be able to get them locally (our cam from Moochie & Co, a boutique-y chain in several of our malls).

Good luck! Hope your feetsies are better soon. Nice to meet you!!

brooke said...

ouch! your paws look painful! hope you figure something out!
how far from remi do you live? we've been trying to meet up for a playdate! marymoor is like the disneyland of dog parks! huge park, lots of places to run, and places you can swim (if youre into that kinda thing).

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Oh my!

Those paws look furry ouchie!

Of khourse, I'm not much help given my bakhkground...

Tank woo fur sharing your new address AND your new khlothes...

Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
PeeEssWoo: I'm glad woo think I give Dubs some khompetition - I mean, I AM a Husky - that should get me some points over the Mal!

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, Nala - thank goodness you told me about your new blog address! I have been missing all your posts!!! Anyway, I am going to catch up now.

OUCH! Your paws look so sore! I don't have any helpful suggestions coz I have never lived anywhere really cold, never mind with snow! but I hope your paws get better soon. I think keeping the booties on might be a good idea...maybe just have them strapped on really tight?

As for your new coat...hmm, you'd better not go near any bulls! Ha! Ha! I agree with you about us deep=chested, lean dogs - we need coats specially designed for our shape! My humans had to get me one from Greyhound Rescue in the end coz it was the closest to my shape & size! But I don't wear it when playing either - too dangerous coz some of my friends like to grab it and pull and choke me around the neck! But I think it's OK coz we doggies get really warm when we're playing so we don't need a coat anyway! :-)

Slobbers,
Honey the Great Dane

Achieve1dream said...

I'm so glad you told me about your new blog address! I was actually wondering where you'd gone. I hadn't seen a post from you in so long!

The leg next to me was my brother Jackal http://jackaltraining.blogspot.com and no he would never dream of trying to steal my mackerel. I'm the boss around here. :)

Storm

Molly the Airedale said...

Your paws look very sore, Nala! Maybe you could check out Brutus's blog. He's wearing a pair of boots that he really seems to be liking and they're not all that pricey.
You look beautiful in red!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Thanks for letting us know about your address change, we don't like to miss your posts.

We don't have problems with the snow bothering our feeties but maybe it is because we are quite furry and maybe we are just built for the snow. But Mom says that she knows for sure that Phantom reacts negatively to the color red. Luckily we don't have to worry about the cold and wearing jackets.

Maybe a different brand of booties would work better for Amber. Brutus the Frenchie posted about some the other day. Mom will check on their blog link and send it to you.

Woos, the OP Pack

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Here you go, not sure if it will work for Nala, but maybe worth looking at.

http://brutusthefrenchie.blogspot.com/2010/01/agony-of-de-feet-solved.html

Woos, the OP Pack

The Army of Four said...

Oh poor NALA! Those feety-feet look so sore!
We do just fine in the snow, but great brother Booter (he was a Lab/Aussie Shepherd mix) got ice balls stuck in his pads and that was very painful. Mom got booties for him. He hated them at first but he eventually got used to them.
I hope you find something to help!
Tail wags,
Storms

JD and Max said...

Hi Nala,

We just copied our pal Brutus the Frenchie's blog site to paste here but we see several others have too! We're gonna try the booties he's been modeling, they look great and we suffer in the snow, but our paws have not got as sore as yours, you poor girl, that looks very sore.

We're glad you told us you had a new blog address, we were wondering why your blog was not updating on our blog roll, thanks for letting us know as we'd hate to miss your adventures!

We hope your paws are getting better. Schnauzer snuggles - JD and Max.

Sagira said...

Thanks for stopping by our blog and saying hi.

Ouchies, bloody paws look painful. We have a Weimaraner and have not had a problem with her paws getting bloody like that.

Remi said...

I actually love the jacket and have bookmarked that site for Remi's next rain coat. We got him a TeckelKlub rain slicker that is really nice, but he's outgrown it in 2 months. yarg. But, I'm hoping it will last a couple more months so we can wait until his growth spurt slows down before getting him another one. I've also contemplated the boots, but am again waiting until the growing stops. I got some balm for his pads, but Nala's owies look more like irritation to the nail bed from crunching through the snow. Let me know if you look into those Pawz!

Sames Blogs said...

BARK!! Our friend Kasha the Dane has some new boots too. Maybe you might want to see what her's are like. They seem to stay on. Hope your paws get better soon.
BARK! Sasha the Princess
Kasha is at: http://kashathedaintydane.wordpress.com/