Paw Care for Dogs in the Summer

Did you know that hot asphalt can hurt your dog’s paw pads?  I’m sure you realize it can, but did you actually think about it when you took your dog outside?  According to Penny Tilton of Examiner.com, “When walking a dog outside, a person should remember that concrete runs 20°F hotter than the outside air temperature, and blacktop can run 45°F hotter.”  Wow!  I had no idea.

I know the hot sidewalk didn’t cross my mind at all until after the fact.  A couple of years ago the temperature was in the 80’s when I took Simba downstairs for about five minutes. A friend stopped by just to say hello real quick.  Well at first, we were standing outside with my sister waiting on the friend to arrive.  We were standing in the shade because it was blazing outside.  We didn’t know it was soooo hot outside!

Simba stood on the sidewalk for just a few and then he went over and explored the grass and anything else he wanted to sniff.  He usually heads right over to the grass because he loves to explore and smell new things so I didn’t think much of it.  Now that I think about it…he probably got those paws on the grass because the sidewalk was so hot.  I bet he was thinking are you crazy or what mom!? My paws are on FIRE! LOL silly me.

When our friend finally arrived, we walked over to the car and there was no shade on the sidewalk near her car.  In about one minute, Simba basically leans over to the side off two of his paws.  At first, I’m thinking he just tripped on the leash or something so I didn’t think much of it, but then he does it again and almost fell over!  I was like “what in the world!?”  I didn’t know what was going on.

Was he having a heatstroke? OMG! Before I got all hysterical, my friend’s dad mentioned that the sidewalk was probably too hot for his paws.  Well, duh…why didn’t I think about that?  I quickly scooped him up in my arms and took him back upstairs.  He went straight into his little dog house and laid down off of his paws.  I gave him some water and tried to cool down his paws with an ice cube and put some Dog Paws lotion on it.  I guess it was a good thing I bought a sample of that last month!

I think I will just lay here for a while…

After that, Simba basically just lounged around on his side totally staying off of his paws.  He looked so pitiful!  I thought I might have to take him to the vet the next day or something.  He just went to sleep and of course, I was worried about my boy!  Jordy was out with some fam and friends playing basketball, but when they returned about an hour later Simba jumped up and was running all around in full play mode.  He was totally back to normal!

Whew!  I’ve been keeping an eye on him and everything seems to be fine.  As stated above, we were only outside for about 5 minutes tops and he wasn’t on the sidewalk the entire time.  I’m glad I didn’t take him on a walk because his paws may have got blistered and we would have had to take a trip to the vet.  He’s doing fine though!  I was still a pretty new dog mom at the time and I wasn’t aware of everything just yet.

So I thought I’d share this with you and warn you or remind you!  Please make sure you check the sidewalk or road before you let your dog walk on it!  We tend to not think about it because we have shoes on our feet of course.  I will definitely pay attention to this from now on and I will only walk him or take him outside in the early morning or late afternoon when it isn’t as hot out.

Here’s a cute little infographic about Summer pet safety and paw care for dogs from Countersurfer.

“If it’s too hot for your hands, it’s too hot for the paw!” Now, that’s a good way to remember it don’t ya think?

Paw Care for Dogs

Here is a couple of helpful paw care for dogs articles I found:

• Hot Feet: Protect Your Dog’s Feet from Getting Burned on Hot Pavement
• Protecting Your Dog’s Paws During the Summer
• How to Protect Your Dog’s Paws From Hot Pavement
• Protect Your Dog’s Feet

Have your dog’s paws ever been burnt?  How?  What did you do?  Do you always remember to check the ground?  How do you protect your dog’s paws?