Eva - Border Collie - Northants - UK
Eva, started to suffer from lameness in her right hing leg at the age of 18 months. The vet initially diagnosed a partially ruptured cruciate ligament in her knee. After 2 months of anti-inflammatory treatment and rest (try telling that to a collie) the problem continued to show itself so we took her to a consultant. He found her outer toes to be very sore on manipulation. He suspected sesamoid disease, very unusual in such a young dog. After an expensive x-ray and joint tap, nothing conclusive was found...
So her owners turned to the internet and learnt of a problem called 'sprung toe' whereby the ligaments in the dogs' feet become strained by twisting on soft ground, a common problem in greyhounds apparently. They also discovered Dog Boots Active and after consulting our company decided to give them a try.

Her owner Tamzin writes: Eva is now able to take part in all her usual activities once again with her new boots. She has started flyball, which she thinks is collie-heaven! She is able to tear around on the lawn chasing swallows again and she is happy to accompany me out riding, without being bothered by stinging nettles or stony tracks.Eva is a different dog! She's much happier on all terrain and has been back to full activity, even starting flyball, which she thinks is heaven.

Tamzin is certain that she improved with the boots. she states: "She's gone lame twice when we've exercised her without them so I'm now totally convinced they are the answer!"

Australian Shepherd - South Carolina - USA

Louise writes: "I received the boots yesterday. The boot fits her foot very well and she seems to be accepting it without problem. She lost a large portion of a pad on her left rear paw back in March. The vet told me it would take months to heal. She has been wearing a cotton sock that I tape around her ankle, so she was used to something on the foot. The vet liked the idea of a cotton sock that was breathable and the fact that she tolerated it.. The issue was the pad was not making progress healing due to her licking the sock, which kept the pad wet. I looked for something online and liked your boot best out of all the different ones I researched.

I really like the leather on the boot pad and it appears to give her much more comfort when walking. She has even started to run in this boot and I do not notice a limp like I did with the sock. I know this is giving her more protection and comfort as well as keeping the wound dry. I am hoping that the pad begins to heal very soon. I wish I'd had this months ago.

Charlie - Springer Spaniel - Cheshire - UK

Bill writes: "Thanks for the dog boots, they arrived three days after my order, they fitted fine (after your advice on size). Today is the last day when Charlie, our Springer will have to wear a boot, after a deep cut to his right pad. The boot has been great for Charlie, providing much needed protection on his walks, during the healing of the cut (he goes daft without his exercise!). In the future they will always be carried with us and I'm sure the boots will be very useful for Charlie, as regards protecting his paws when the going gets tough on our adventures.

Lurcher - Somerset - UK

Her owner writes: The boots are absolutely great. They stay on come what may and believe me the lurcher using them is VERY active!! She lost a nail and the wound needed protection to allow healing to progress. Thanks to the boot she has been wearing, the injury has now cleared up and we are back to normal. Boots stowed away in case they are needed again!!!!!!

Ellie, Lurcher, UK

Ellie had bone grafts and implants to her front ankle joint and was in a plaster cast for 2 months

http://www.simple-shots.com

We made a special boot for Ellie to cover her cast. Judith, her owner reported :

The dog boots for Ellie arrived very quickly and one has been in constant use since. She returned to the Queens Royal Veterinary College, University of Cambridge today wearing her new boot! Everyone was very impressed. There were several other Lurchers in a similar situation there. I have to say it looks very neat and tidy and certainly keeps the plaster cast in good condition.

The boots have been brilliant, the weather here has turned very wet and I can take her out confident that the boot will stay in place and keep her plastercast dry. To find a full length, neat and waterproof boot was such a relief, not sure what we would have done without one.

Chrissy writes: We had a super walk round the Parks on Saturday morning sporting new boots and initially he was a bit slow but realised that they weren't going to go away and got used to them.

John, Ebony's owner writes:

The dog boots fit perfectly and "Ebony" our elderly Giant Schnauzer has taken to them with no problem at all.

Her sore foot has healed and she is running about again. I fit the boots every time she goes out on hard or rough surfaces and they keep
her feet protected and clean.

They also have the added advantage of her being able to come in from the cold without having to wait for her feet to dry on wet days.

Yuka's two dogs hate the wet, and the boots have made a real difference to them.

Steve writes

Maggie my welsh terrier responded with great joy at being able to run and walk through woods and on terrain that for at least the last 2 years she has not been able to comfortably travel through. She was barking and running back and forth!! This has been a real success!

Carla writes

The boots did arrive and they are wonderful! They stay on during our girls' most active times! Thank you so much for such a quality product.

Abby has suffered badly from arthritis in her feet. Gill, her owner, describes their experience of using our regular boots

Abby, being the surgery dog has no problem with anything that you do to her or put on her. as a puppy I used to put bandages on her legs then we'd play, a preparation for any injuries in her life and would not be at all bothered by it. Just as well. I certainly did not envisage this one, (needing boots for the rest of her life) So it DID all pay off. The boots arrived and within minutes they were on her feet. THEN I read the fitting instructions. Ok got that right, lets go. She bounces when she walks. Her behavior is ridiculously happy to the point of much mischief ( I actually threaten to take them off now if she doesn't behave) She has boundless energy again!! and I am just not used to having my springer back.... I have cried with happiness for her. Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou. I am still trying to get my head around that your boots have saved this miserable dog back to her real self and that she can be 8yrs old again. I am putting the boots through their paces and they are all that you say they are. Abby stands for them to be put on and pushes her hind leg back like a ballerina for me to pull them up and fit the straps. Quite something. Straight away they go on for 12hours a day. she cannot be without this support. unable to walk on anything other than carpet.. couldn't get up the stairs.. occasionally her back end would just topple over.. Jumping into the car was a thing of the past too. ALL of these things she does now with great gust (in boots).
for the first week she was on her pain killers and boots but for this week I am using the BOOTS ONLY to get a true evaluation of the percentage of support that your boots do for her, again on day 3 only I am impressed and amazed. I will have all my info together by the end of the week. I shall probably need to help her with pain killers but as It looks at the moment it could be half dose. Wow, this is incredible considering the degree of arthritic toes that she has.

In October 2004 we received an update on Abby:

It was around February of this year that I first ordered a pair of the boots for Abby and it was early days that I was assessing their ability, whether we were able to keep Abby mobile without any pain killers. Well we have been wearing them now for 8 months from 8am in the morning until bedtime, thankyou we do not use any pain killers for her and she leads an active life with them on.
With Abby being SO dependant on the boots for her rumatoid arthritis in her back feet we have encountered No problems at all. No sweating or sores between the pads, which was a concern of mine. She will insist on leaping into any water for swims. so a dry pair is always on hand wherever we go or I will be carrying her and the thought of 18.50kg of silly springer in my arms is not a thought that I relish.
Abby has had a few health problems this year as I previously wrote to you ( the parallised face) due to dodging the cat and slamming into a wall. Well with an MRI scan booked, we then went downhill with a condition called immune mediated thrombocytopenia, her immune system destroys her platelets. she was very weak and had had a mild bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract, which can be fatal. She is responding well to treatment but has been a long patient hawl, throughout it all even at deaths door YES, she still had her boots on, people are getting used to the idea that they are a permanant fixture, Her toes continue to deteriorate but all is well with your boots.

Karen writes:

They are great, the best for fit and staying on (which is a difficult thing especially on a young active dog). I am very happy with them.
The bigger size is just right to go over his dressing which is still needed, theese pads take forever to heal. We seem to be making good progress with the wound and I am hopefull that come Monday when we go for a check up that we will be able to be bandage free so I will be usig the smaller size to give a little protection for a while longer.

Sam, Budvar's owners writes: Budvar's paws have healed up now but we still have the boots just in case. They are rather worn now but still come in useful from time to time for both dogs if they have a knock or scrape to there feet

Gill's problem with her dogs related to prickly plants!

Currently having problems as dogs very slow when there is gorse on the ground. Takes ages to get anywhere because they are avoiding the gorse so not keeping up

Gill is using our regular boots for all her dogs, and you can see pictures of them on

http://www.treaclemines.co.uk/lizzie/gorse.htm

Lisa writes:

I followed your instructions and put one boot on at a time then playing a game which was just what was needed, I think he only tried once or twice to chew them off and then he forgot all about them, he still walks a bit funny in them, but he'll soon get used to them I'm sure - he doesn't get sore paws when he's out anymore and he runs across our large gravel drive as if it were grass now - no more limping slowly across it - which is just great.

Sasha recovered completely after using our boots for a while - and at great speeds too.

Alan writes:

The boots do work fine. I failed to bring the boots on a backpack trip and regetted it. Then we went for a 12 mile bicycle trek in the desert. I brought the boots along but did not put then on until the half-way point when I noticed a couple small cuts on one of Candy's front pads. I put the boots on and she took off like a new dog. She was so excited to have foot protection that she raced back and forth across the dirt trail. I finally had to command her to settle and slow down when she crossed in front and I ran into her. She had so much fun and finished the ride strong.

Debra writes

I love the dog boots. They work great at the beach in the hot sand, and for those cold wet morning walks. I have recommended them to several others.

Fiona writes:

We found your dog boots perfect for the recovery of our very active border collie's cut paw. She ran over some broken glass and had a deep laceration of the main pad and damage to the tendon. She refused to walk on four legs unless he had her boot on until it was mended. This took several weeks and she was able to enjoy a holiday in the Lake District during this time.

Bill writes regarding the boots purchased for his dog:

The big thing is the fit and stability. It is so great to see him running flat out again ... with out a flipper on one foot. I swear, his mood has changed. He was acting more like an eight year old dog than one two and a half. Back to having the seven-oclock sillies. For about an hour in the early eveninig ... he goes crazy. Slides across the floor ... bounces off walls .. throws his toys up in the air. Great to see that again.

Obviously, this little guy means a lot to us.Thanks for all you did to help. I've told the breeder about you, and I hope she'll spread the word.

Deedee is a very small dog and there have been problems with her freezing her feet to the deck of Christine's house. We worked for some time with Christine to get a boot that was small enough!

The dog boots that you sent me are fantastic!!!! As well as protecting my dog, I no longer have to worry about where she's running or what she's running over. The more people know about these dog boots the better, in my opinion.

Christine Rogers - Florida USA - Has rottweillers, german shepherd, shar pei, belgian malinois

Here is Christine's very enjoyable and amusing email about her early experiences with our boots.

We went to the dogs' training class today, and the trainer put the boots on Tyson, my youngest Rottweiller. (I tried at home on two others and they walked liked storks and looked so tortured and then the boots fell off, so I thought I probably did not put them on right!)

Everyone in the whole building came to see Tyson with his boots on. They worked perfectly! He walked like a stork for just 2 minutes and then started walking normally. He wore them for a whole hour. Everyone was ooing and aahing and Tyson was just eating up all of the attention. He was so proud of himself!

The trainer only put the boots on Tyson but said the dogs need to start wearing the boots everyday for a while to get used to them. He said to do our practice obedience with the boots on and give them lots of treats while we are practicing so they associate pleasure with the boots. He also said to cut down on their food so they do not get fat from the treats. This way there will be less stress when we start the cart training because they will already be used to the boots.

So we did our first practice tonight. My oldest and alpha dog went first and he acted like he had worn boots all of his life. I was so proud of him! Normally no one can touch his feet at all because of his arthritis. He usually will bite you if you touch his paws but he was no problem at all, I was amazed! He will be 12 years old in February.

Then Rocky, my champion dog, was second, and he was all nervous but by the end of his turn he was walking fine. Then Tyson was next and he acted like a real pro and like it was nothing. He was so smug about it!

Meanwhile my Shar-Pei, Ginseng, was watching all of this very carefully. This was a big deal because each dog laid down while I put the boots on each foot, then we would do our obedience, and then the dog would lay down while I took the boots off and put them on the next dog. So when her turn came, she was not nervous at all but she walked so funny!

I took her next door to our neighbor to show her off. We laughed and laughed and told her what a good dog she was! Of course, she felt so special because she was the only dog that got to go outside and by the time we came back in she was walking normally.

Then my husband came home and it was Foxy's turn, my Belgian Malinois. Foxy is very excitable and runs around and around and barks. We had her lay down and I put the boots on. She just laid there. She played "dead dog". My husband was amazed and said we should leave the boots on her all of the time! He never saw her stay in one place so long! He never saw her so quiet!

Of course she looked totally put out and sooo longsuffering. I took pity on her when I stopped laughing and encouraged her up and we started to heel. Her front legs splayed out from under her but she got back up but her back leg didn't seem to work. It wouldn't touch the ground. She kept pawing with it like a bull getting ready to charge except it was her back leg instead of the front.

We kept on walking and finally the back leg hit the ground however she would not eat any treats. She was sooo tortured! She was sooo pitiful! (She was not smart like Ginseng, she had disappeared when the other dogs were doing their training.)

But she got into the swing of things with Rocky's help. He could tell she needed help so he escorted us and sat when she was supposed to sit and laid down when she was to lay down, etc., so she could remember what she was supposed to do. Since she wouldn't eat any treats, I gave her extra hugs and kisses instead. When she was done, we told her what a good dog she was and spent an extra half hour petting her and telling her how good she did. You could tell she was still put out. I can't wait until tomorrow's session!?

We suggested just using one boot for Foxy and letting her get used to them one at a time

In the continuing saga....... Foxy was still acting tortured whenever we put the boots on. She would just lay there until we pulled her leash and then would grudgingly do her obedience work. She was not the happy, intense, bouncy dog that she normally is.

She wouldn't eat the treats, the hugs & kisses were ok but she still acted put upon. So last night I took her upstairs after obedience with the boots still on. I got her ball and acted like everything was normal and sat down. Immediately she she sit up on the bed and gave me her paw ignoring the boots completely.

I shook her paw (part of our ball ritual) and then threw the ball out the door and down the hall. She leapt off the bed, landed on the carpet, ran into the tiled hall, got the ball, turned around and came running back and jumped on the bed and sat down with the ball in her mouth and lifted her paw.

I shook her paw, threw the ball hard this time and it went rolling down the hall and down the stairs. She went chasing after it down the tiled stairs, got the ball and came running back and jumped back on the bed.

Needless to say, we did this for 45 minutes. She forgot all about the boots or else they didn't matter when it came to fetching her ball. I guess I just had to find the right motivation!

Later, Christine writes

In the continuing saga of the boots, Ginseng and Foxy got into a fight over a pig ear and Ginseng's upper leg under her shoulder got all torn up. We had to take her to the vet and get stitches. The vet said to put a tee-shirt on her to keep her from licking the bandage off, but it didn't work. She still licked the bandage off and then licked and pulled the stitches. We had to take her back to the vet to get everything replaced.

Well fortunately, we had the boots! I put a sock over her leg and then the boot. It works! She doesn't lick there anymore. She thinks she can't but she really could because the boot doesn't go quite so high on her leg. She wears the boot all the time now and struts around like she is so priveleged! No one else gets to wear a boot all of the time!

In January 2002 Christine writes

My two Rotties are now "Certified Pet Therapists" by the Humane Society. They had to go through extensive testing and part of the test was if they scratch people when they shake paws.

We put on the boots and got a jump on that part of the test! Now Rocky and Tyson visit hospitals, nursing homes, and adult day care centers wearing the boots! This not only protects the people that the dogs meet but also protects the dogs from picking up any bacteria and then licking their paws. It is a win, win situation for all!

One of the facilitators asked where I got the boots and I gave him your new website. He wants to order a set for his grandmother's golden retriever because the dog is always scratching his grandmother unintentionally.

Arnie has a fungal infection that dogs can get from fields. He's had all his claws pulled, but they're starting to grow back. He has to have his feet dressed and is wearing the boots over his dressings.

Clive's dog had to wear a splint after breaking her paw.

Clive writes: "The awaited boots arrived on Wednesday and were greeted with much excitement. They fitted like a glove(!) and we experienced none of the problems (like rotation) mentioned in your literature.

The performance of the boots was excellent in the long, wet grass of our first gentle walk and kept the foot beautifully dry. The 'breathability' of the fabric prevented any sweated internal moisture and kept the foot in perfect condition.

Mrs. Husband, Freckles owner says: 'I am so impressed with the dog boots. Freckles has worn them in all conditions, snow, rain, mud and her paw has stayed completely dry'.

Note from Pro-Active Paws. Freckles is using our dog boots with waterproof seam tape.