The American Beagler Forum

Last night at about 10 after 10 I got an itch to take my out my four Buzzsaw hounds and my Rip dawg out for a few hour run. We have about 4 inches of snow at best. It was about 5 above maybe a little colder. I didn't really pay much attention to how cold it was cause frankly I didn't care. It's just a guess cause right now its only 18* out. About half way through the night out I saw my Pride male running around holding up his back left leg. I called him over expecting to find a thorn but to my suprise I found something like this on his toe and toenails. I was just wondering if anyone has had this happen to them and could it cause much damage? I would emagin that after a while it would cause them to have frostbite if not taken off. Thanks for looking and hope to hear someone elses experences.









Elliott

Elliott, can't make out the pics. What is it, iceballs?

Cant really see what is wrong.

My opinion only. At night there is no way for them to rid the ice and snow as in the day(sunlight). I know hounds adjust to there environment I would just be
cautious with the them that cold at night, not in the daytime. JMO. Continued exposure can't be good for there feet or facial area. Have had more than on hound
damage there feet on extreme snow and ice. Nothing permanent just not real good on them.

I do not think day or night makes a diff. but the hounds feet may not be in condition yet, might have to get him booties until he is conditioned thou.I have a freind up here that has a team of Husky sleddogs and he has run them for years and in some subdegree conditions and he still has to put boots on some of them every begining of winter.There is a Salve you can put between there toes to instead of the boots,it keeps the snow from melting between there toes.that is what starts the whole ice ball thing.Just my two cents,I am not a pro. Keith.

zander wrote:Elliott, can't make out the pics. What is it, iceballs?

greenesbeagles wrote:Cant really see what is wrong.

Yes they are iceballs about the size of golf balls.

greenesbeagles wrote:I do not think day or night makes a diff. but the hounds feet may not be in condition yet, might have to get him booties until he is conditioned thou.I have a freind up here that has a team of Husky sleddogs and he has run them for years and in some subdegree conditions and he still has to put boots on some of them every begining of winter.There is a Salve you can put between there toes to instead of the boots,it keeps the snow from melting between there toes.that is what starts the whole ice ball thing.Just my two cents,I am not a pro. Keith.

Thanks for your reply greensbeagles. I'm not too sure how I would get these hounds feet in condition when we don't really have this type of weather around for months at a time like up north. I'm not too sure if getting the boots would make much since around this area due to the lack of bad weather that we currently have. I'll just have to keep running them in these conditions while we have it here and pay close attention to there feet while running. Maybe in due time there feet will get in some kind of shape. I did notice after about an hour the one that was limping quite and started walking just fine. It didn't seem to bother the other four one bit. However all the toes of the other ones that had ice balls on them had turned completely white and didn't seem to have much of a blood flow to them.
Elliott

When I was living in Minnesota and running out west our dogs would get that, on their feet, whiskers, and anywhere they could form. Never hurt any of them

desertrunner wrote:When I was living in Minnesota and running out west our dogs would get that, on their feet, whiskers, and anywhere they could form. Never hurt any of them

cool deal desertrunner!! Didn't seem to lastnight but didn't know if it could cause frost bit to there toes or not. Thanks for your reply. I've had them form other places on a hound but just never there toes like this. Once again thanks for your reply.
Elliott

Yes, while out cutting wood and bring in, the moisture from your mouth and nose will freeze on your beard and mustache, the colder the air and the heavier your breathing, the heavier the frosting/icing... .
No doubt the drainage from the hounds nose and drool from the corners of the mouth were freezing instantly with contact of the cold night air.

Our Cocker gets snowballs badly on his feet and back of the legs as the warmth of his body will slightly milt the snow and then, when so cold, it will refreeze on his coat. Sometimes he will lay on the porch and eat them off himself.

You have to be careful running in the harsh winter nights, the coyotes are needing more food for energy to ward off the cold weather also. They tend to try a litter harder for a kill as the cold and hunger set in and the winter days add up.

S.R.Patch wrote:Yes, while out cutting wood and bring in, the moisture from your mouth and nose will freeze on your beard and mustache, the colder the air and the heavier your breathing, the heavier the frosting/icing... .
No doubt the drainage from the hounds nose and drool from the corners of the mouth were freezing instantly with contact of the cold night air.

Our Cocker gets snowballs badly on his feet and back of the legs as the warmth of his body will slightly milt the snow and then, when so cold, it will refreeze on his coat. Sometimes he will lay on the porch and eat them off himself.

You have to be careful running in the harsh winter nights, the coyotes are needing more food for energy to ward off the cold weather also. They tend to try a litter harder for a kill as the cold and hunger set in and the winter days add up.

Yeah a couple of them did start chewing on there own feet to get them off once I put them in the box. As far as coyotes I run tracker flash lights on them to help keep those SOB's away. For the most part it has seemed to work WONDERS in warding them off when they come into a pack while running. I had lights on every one of them last night which I don't always do. Now that I have enough lights I wear them on all my dogs at night time especially with this bad weather. Thanks for your reply S.R.Patch.
Elliott

try PADHEAL it conditions the dogs pads or skin it helps to build up or should i say tuffen the skin or pads just a thought its cheap and could possibly help for in the future?!!!

johns03272008 wrote:try PADHEAL it conditions the dogs pads or skin it helps to build up or should i say tuffen the skin or pads just a thought its cheap and could possibly help for in the future?!!!

There feet are not damaged at all or does it seem to bother them once I remove them. Really it only bothered the one while they were attached to his feet. The way I see it is its more like use walking around in the mud and the mud sticking to our boots and getting really heavy and awkward to walk. What I was mostly afraid of was them getting frostbitten toes if they had these ice balls on there long enough. I have come to the conclusion that this would probably not happen to them regardless if they were left out all night in these elements. Thanks for all the replies guy and gals.
Elliott

A little snow and cold shouldn't hurt em any. Those ice balls are common during long runs in the snow. Just watch their feet if you're running on the frozen stuff, whether it be crunchy snow or ice. It's real easy for their pads to get tore up in that stuff, and they won't let you know until it gets bad.

Looked like snowballs were packed on toe nails,When do'ing a lot of winter running on snow make sire that hair growing inbetween dogs foot pad is trimed back flush with pad if dog gets snowballs there it will make dogs foot sore

jim matuszewski wrote:Looked like snowballs were packed on toe nails,When do'ing a lot of winter running on snow make sire that hair growing inbetween dogs foot pad is trimed back flush with pad if dog gets snowballs there it will make dogs foot sore

Thanks for the addvise Matuszewski. I'll take a look at there feet and make sure the hair isn't long and if it is I'll trim it back some. That makes a lot of since.
Elliott