06/07/2025
Always feel the ground for 10 seconds with your hand. If it is too hot to hold your hand down then it is too hot for their paws. This can include pavement, rocky surfaces, and sand, too. Dog trail boots are great for protecting their paws from hot surfaces. Musher's wax and lotions do NOT provide adequate protection from the heat. Their paws need a thick layer of protection -- similar to the soles of the shoes that we wear. I sometimes have heard people claim that dogs have some sort of special paws that aren't bothered by the heat because they are often willing to walk on it. This is NOT true. They may have toughened paws compared to our soft hands, but they also hide pain extremely well. Their paws will burn, peel, and bleed when burned. It absolutely hurts them to walk on hot surfaces. Dogs in the wild are naturally crepuscular -- meaning that they would come outside primarily closer to dawn and dusk to hunt. They are not designed to walk on scorching hot surfaces during the daytime.
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