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GOOD LORD! Sure glad I don't have to entertain these gimmicks to keep my dogs hunting. I don't care what anyone says, theres no doubt in my mind that some breeds have better feet than others. take a poll, what breed of dog are these guys that are coating, soaking, babying there dogs feet with some snake oil running???? Used to see bloody feet all the time when i had walkers, haven't see ONE since I upgraded. Just sayin.

Larry I used to think all light colored pads was a sure sign of potential sore feet. Have discovered that is not always the case. Have had some dogs with the dark pads that did not hold up to roading on the sharp gravel roads, then running tough races as well as some with the light colored pads. That being said I still like dogs feet to be tight, dark pads,& lots of hair between the toes. But with enough hard runs with little rest between runs most will still show some tenderness at times. Just my experience Thanks Al baldwin Over the years I/ve been known to hunt the best i could afford and bred was not an issue.

Not to start any bickering matchs but I dont care what kind of dog a person is hunting if that dog is not conditioned it will sore up if hunted hard enough. Yes some dogs are tougher footed than others but if hunted hard enough day after day (which most dont do) they will sore up. Conditioning whether it be some type of healing or toughening agent along with roading or exercising the hound will help more than one will want to believe. Not only does excersising help with their feet it conditions the intire body and an in shape dog catchs more game that is a fact. Andy

I wouldn't say that I hunt my dogs to the point of having to worry about foot soreness, obviously because it is not an issue, and for a reason. I can say that I condition the same as I always have and hunt as much as i always have and did have foot problems with walkers, where I don't have foot problems anymore since that breed of dog is gone from my kennel. Frozen crusty snow and cliffs and bloody pads and tracks were a given. now I'd be stunned to see blood in a track. Haven't seen a bloody track for 5 years. Its all what you are willing to do or put up with for whatever trade off you think you are getting. To me its not worth it to hunt a breed of dog whose feet can't out hunt the amount of time i choose to spend hunting, wether I condition them or not.

Even the toughest footed animals bleed.
Just saying

krk hunting wrote:My hunting area is very hard on dogs feet no matter what the conditioning. Dont get me wrong though the better the conditioning the longer you can hunt. When my dogs are getting sore footed i use a product called koppertox and it usually buys me a few extra day 1-2 depending on how sore. I also use a product called hoof alive and it is great for helping the pads to heal much quicker. I have found i usually can get that dog out a day or two sooner if i use this after the koppertox.

Thanks

Kevin

Kevin
How many times did that ol hound bite ya putting that koppertox on his sore feet !!!
I like it , works well , but a messy workin with it.

Brent,

It is very messy, I use a paint brush now and rubber gloves because it doesnt come off your hands easy either. i sure have had good luck with it especially during bear season on those long races and one more hunter to get filled before we get a break.

Thanks

Kevin

Todd Davis wrote:Even the toughest footed animals bleed.
Just saying

some way easier than others is the point i am making. But yes everything can be worn down to the point of bleeding, if thats what it takes to justify and defend putting up with poor feet...

My dog houses have torch-on on the roofs and I have a few wood platforms for them to lay on and hang out on in their pen with the same thing... Seems to help.

The point is know one wants to put up with sore feet so if one conditions the hounds by excersising (roading in most cases) you are helping out your hound and uping your catch rate all in one. Yes some dogs are just more tuff fotted than others but if not conditioned properly and enough, they are still more prone to not out last the conditioned hound. It would be nice just to go grab old Junior off the chain at the start of the season and not worry about feet or being in shape but it just doesnt work that way. Andy

Having hunted in many different types of country and all different breeds and strains of hounds I will tell you conditioning is very important but some dogs just have tougher feet. Funy thing is you can't alwasy tell just by looking which dog is going to stand up the best and at times you will be surprized. I am like Gary on black hooves on the horses but I have seen some with light feet or liminated type hold up very well so nothing is ever a given. We hunt a lot of rock in this country here and we even get into the malpais or volcanic rock at times and this is pure heck on any dogs feet. when you are hunting free cast and on horseback the dogs are on the ground moving all day so they make a lot of tracks. some dogs just naturally hunt harder and cover more ground than other dogs and this also has to be taken into consideration. Some of the tenderest feet I have seen have been on Treeing Walker dogs so i have to agree with a lot of the comments but usually given proper conditioning and not letting them blow pads right off the bat before they are tuff sure helps. As breeds go I can say plotts and black and tans seem to have the best overall feet but that is just a general observation. Pad thickness just like skin thickness varies in hounds you can tell that when you are giving them shots. Some walkers and redbones you can slide a needle into them like butter and some old black dogs or old type blue dogs will dang near bend a needle. some guys say big dogs get sore footed quicker becasue they are carrying more weight. Well the weight factor is true but usually they have bigger feet so they are actually spreading the weight out about the same for their size. My toughest footed dog right now is also my largest dog and he is a very active hunter. He is almost snow white except for a red head and a red tailspot and his pads were pink as a little puppy but man is he ever tough even in volcanic rock or that ragged sharp crusted snow he just keeps going while some others are leaving red tracks.

I had one old hunter tell me he uses Bag Balm on his dogs with sore feet and they heal up quick. this goes against my thoughts as it would seem to soften them but if it works for him I am ok with it. I tried Musher's Magic a product for sled dogs and like Brent said you better have a hold of them when you go to put this on their sore pinkys or you just might bet bit cuz it must really sting.

Wiley Carroll told me years ago that if you can live with it buy that small decorative cinder volcanic rock and put it in their pen or where they walk and then throw rock salt down on it too and this will really help. I tried it and those dogs feet got really hard and tough but man it is a pain when you come to clean up time.


A lot of southwest bred big game hounds out of years of selective breeding have very tuff feet because the guys that bred them up would cull a dog that was a tender foot. It's a tough deal when you are really hunting hard and you jump up and are ready to go get that tom you didn't quite catch the day before and the sore footed dogs don't want to come out of their houses.

Give them an aspiran or a little bute and get out on the trail again becasue just like that old man told me. them feet is a long ways from their heart son so let's go catch that lion. LOL!

Well, my dogs have big thick black pads and they still get a little worn down the first couple runs of the season no matter how much I road them which far exceeds 2 miles a pop. That crusty snow is like razor blades on my dogs. However, I had a walker/bluetick that was the only one in the litter with black pads and I picked her mostly for that reason and her feet always blew out before my black dogs...part of the reason I don't have her anymore. Toward the middle of the season, the only feet problems I have are the pads highest up on the ankle and the dew claws that seem to get caught on the crusty snow and ice. The next litter I have I'm gonna try cutting that pad and dew claws like the SW guys do just for kicks. What are your opinions on how the running dog in the breeding affects feet? Seems like if those dogs were bred for running all day, they must have good feet. It all boils down for me if the dog will still go EVEN IF they have blown pads...I just keep hunting 'em.

Love that one about the feet being a long way from the heart Mike. I hunt the skin off of my dogs after bobs in the snow. When it gets a crust for days on end it really shows who's feet are toughest. All dogs are not created with equal feet. The thing is that when the scent is in there nose my dogs forget about the bloody feet. At times I have really gotten worried, like they might even bleed out or something. They have amazed me at how much they can take. I was in the army, I've walked a lot of miles on bloody feet. Hounds amaze me.

Right on Sarge! It's a matter of heart, and if it was easy everybody would do it.

In the wet climate of the northwest,I use koppertox if a dog has a fungus or soft foot.Usually a new dog for soft foot,and long about sometime in may one of them might get a fungus between their toes.