Dog + Salt = Ouch!

Labradors.  Everyone loves Labradors.  Or, if they don't, they just haven't met ours yet.  We've got Archie, and he's 35kg of love wrapped in slightly smelly brown fur.  He looked just like the pup in that picture when we got him at 10 weeks old, and now he's much bigger, but still quite cute and I think he's a fabulous dog and a great companion.

Our town is going through an unusually cold snap right now.  It's been at least -10c most days for the past two weeks and we've had a bit of snow too.  Because you have to clear your footpath (or pavement) by law, people are out sweeping and shovelling after each snow fall.  Then they throw down lots of salt (or grit) to keep it thawed and help with grip.

These lovely clean footpaths, with their fabulous grippy qualities, are fabulous for people.  Not so much for dogs.  Archie keeps getting the salt stuck in between the pads of his toes and it hurts for him to walk. So he stops and sticks out the sore paw straight out to me and I have to get down and wipe his foot for him.  Sometimes just giving it a rub with your glove on does the trick, but sometimes, particularly when it's terribly cold, I have to take the glove off and wiggle around with my bare fingers.  Not fun.

This morning he managed to get salt in both back paws at once.  And that means we weren't going anywhere at all and he couldn't stand up properly.  So he sat down.  And then rolled flat on his back with his feet in the air so I could minister to his gritty paws.  All this on the side of the road, causing great amusement to the passersby.

Does anyone put shoes on their dogs?  Do the dogs accept this?  I'm not sure Archie would go along with dog shoes.  That said, it opens up a whole wide world of accessories that I'd not previously thought of ...