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Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to The Houndation's podcast. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about our dogs,

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Speaker 1: pause how to care for them, injuries to watch out for,

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Speaker 1: and a whole bunch more. Now, before I get into this,

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Speaker 1: I have to try to keep my job by telling

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Speaker 1: you about the biggest sale of the year, our Black

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Speaker 1: Friday Sale. Head on over to the first light dot

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Speaker 1: com and take a look around if you want to

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Speaker 1: get some sweet hunting gear at a big, big discount. Now,

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Speaker 1: even if you're not in the mood to shop and

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Speaker 1: your basement already looks like a Shields delivery truck exploded

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Speaker 1: in it, you might want to go. Just take a peek.

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Speaker 1: We are offering discounts up to fifty percent on a

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Speaker 1: ton of stuff, so there's probably something you just can't

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Speaker 1: live without that will be cheaper now than any other

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Speaker 1: time of the year. All Right, A lot can go

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Speaker 1: wrong with our dogs, and it's sometimes just a crapshoot

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Speaker 1: on what that will be. One thing you can dang

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Speaker 1: near count on, at least if you have some level

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Speaker 1: of working dog, and definitely if you have some type

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Speaker 1: of sporting dog, is that they'll have an issue with

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Speaker 1: their paws at some point. It's a given, and the

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Speaker 1: more you take them out into the wild to do

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Speaker 1: cool stuff, the more likely it is to happen. This

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Speaker 1: is what this episode is all about. So let's talk

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Speaker 1: about some paws. Do you want to know some crazy

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Speaker 1: stuff about your feet? I bet you do, especially if

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Speaker 1: you're wired like Quentin Tarantino or perhaps cal Let's start

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Speaker 1: with an easy one. Did you know that a quarter

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Speaker 1: of the bones in your entire body are located in

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Speaker 1: your feet. That's twenty six bones per foot. And feet

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Speaker 1: are ticklish, which can be a nightmare if you have

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Speaker 1: older siblings when you're growing up. But it's also a

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Speaker 1: good sign because sensitive feet are better than a non

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Speaker 1: sensitive feet, which can be a sign of neuropathy. If

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Speaker 1: you really get after it, your feet can produce up

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Speaker 1: to a half a pine of sweat a day. Back

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Speaker 1: in the fourteenth century, across the Pond, they measured feet

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Speaker 1: with grains of to decide on shoe size. Now I

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Speaker 1: know that sounds made up, but it's a true fact.

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Speaker 1: According to the seven seconds of research I did on

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Speaker 1: this one shady website about feet, apparently there are three

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Speaker 1: barley corns per inch, so every shoe size back then

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Speaker 1: was broken too. One third inch increments. I guess you

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Speaker 1: work with the tools at hand if you're into running,

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Speaker 1: you know, just for fitness, or maybe to calm your

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Speaker 1: mind and keep the demons at base so the big

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Speaker 1: sad doesn't envelop you. You're putting up to five times

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Speaker 1: your body weight on your feet with each step. The

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Speaker 1: average American walks about one hundred and ten thousand miles

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Speaker 1: in their lifetime. The Achilles tendon is the strongest tenon

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Speaker 1: in your body. And did you know that it takes

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Speaker 1: twelve to eighteen months for a toenail to completely regrow.

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Speaker 1: You want to know how I know that is true

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Speaker 1: because about four years ago I went pheasant hunting with

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Speaker 1: my lab Luna, and it was nineteen below zero when

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Speaker 1: I got out of the trucks to start hunting in

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Speaker 1: the morning. The spot I had chosen is a dreamy

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Speaker 1: public land cattail slew. It's just a little litle bit

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Speaker 1: of a hike from the parking area. The last part

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Speaker 1: of the hike before you hit the good stuff, takes

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Speaker 1: you to one of those slow, meandering streams that are

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Speaker 1: so common in western Minnesota. I figured that stream was

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Speaker 1: good and frozen solid, and it was for almost the

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Speaker 1: full width of it. But when I got close to

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Speaker 1: the far side, Luna ran in front of me and

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Speaker 1: busted through, which meant that my right leg busted through. Two. Now,

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Speaker 1: we fall through the ice a lot hunting late season pheasants,

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Speaker 1: so it wasn't that big of a deal. But it

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Speaker 1: was real cold, and I started the day off with

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Speaker 1: a frozen foot. By the time I got back to

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Speaker 1: the hotel that night, my big toe was almost black,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, well, that can't be good. The

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Speaker 1: only other time I injured myself to the point where

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Speaker 1: a body part turned black, it was when a barbed

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Speaker 1: ware fence broke when I was crossing it in Oklahoma,

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Speaker 1: and the part I injured was the body part I

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Speaker 1: least enjoy traumatizing on metal fence posts in the wild

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Speaker 1: any husky. That toe did not look well for a

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Speaker 1: long time, and eventually my toeenail fell off and I

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Speaker 1: wondered if it would rero. It did, but it took

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Speaker 1: months and months, and for a couple of seasons after that,

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Speaker 1: every time I got really cold, the whole toe would

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Speaker 1: go a little off color. Feet our mooy importante, which

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Speaker 1: is like saying I don't know your head is important,

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Speaker 1: or boy? Am I sure? Glad I have these arms?

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Speaker 1: But still they are. And now imagine if you had

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Speaker 1: four of them and you weren't allowed to wear shoes,

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Speaker 1: ah scratch that you could put those booty things on

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Speaker 1: your dog's feet. If you want to see your dogs

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Speaker 1: suddenly dislike you while working on its, disco moves to

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Speaker 1: shake them free. I don't know who needs to hear this,

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Speaker 1: but dogs generally hate and don't need clothes. They're like

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Speaker 1: toddlers and hippies that way. Dogs do like their paws

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Speaker 1: and we should too. In fact, let me hit you

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Speaker 1: with a couple of dog paw facts here before we

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Speaker 1: really get down to business. Dogs are supposed to have

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Speaker 1: eighteen toes, which I bet comes as a surprise to

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Speaker 1: some of you math challenge folks. Five in the front,

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Speaker 1: four in the back. The extra one up front is

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Speaker 1: the dew claw, which is a topic for some debate

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Speaker 1: on whether they are useful or whether they should even

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Speaker 1: be left on a dog. A lot of people have

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Speaker 1: them removed, but dew claws aren't a mistake. They help

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Speaker 1: dogs grasp things better, like when they are gnawing on

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Speaker 1: a bone, and they help dogs make quick, sharp turns

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Speaker 1: when they are running through different types of terrain. Some

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Speaker 1: dog breeds actually have dew claws on the back legs too,

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Speaker 1: like Saint Bernards and Newfoundlands. While dew claws are found

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Speaker 1: on the back legs of many different dog breeds, you

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Speaker 1: won't find them on wild wolves though, which is kind

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Speaker 1: of interesting. Now. Humans are plantigrade, which means we walk

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Speaker 1: on the soles of our feet, but not dogs. They're

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Speaker 1: toe walkers or digital grades just like cats, mongooses Canada

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Speaker 1: mongooses wait, that can't be right, and even hyenas. This

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Speaker 1: is beneficial for stealth, which if you ever watch a

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Speaker 1: coyote trot through the woods you realize is something that's

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Speaker 1: pretty cool. Not only do they cover ground effortlessly, they

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Speaker 1: do it whisper quiet. That's a feature of their system,

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Speaker 1: not a bug. Just like us sweaty weirdos. Dogs sweat

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Speaker 1: through their feet, but this isn't meant to cool them down.

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Speaker 1: They do that through panting. What this does for them,

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Speaker 1: because they are likely sweating in a stressful, high intensity situation,

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Speaker 1: is give them more traction. Unfortunately, that doesn't work for us.

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Speaker 1: So if you find yourself chasing down something on a

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Speaker 1: tile floor wear shoes. The same goes for if you

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Speaker 1: find yourself being chased by something on a slippery floor,

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Speaker 1: wear some shoes. Dog paws are literally connected to their

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Speaker 1: brain through a bunch of nerve endings, which is essentially

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Speaker 1: a direct line to allow them to make split second

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Speaker 1: decisions while they are really trucking along. The thing about

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Speaker 1: dog paws is if they have an issue with them,

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Speaker 1: it's usually pretty rough. Sometimes this is a matter of

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Speaker 1: matching up a certain dog with a certain kind of

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Speaker 1: paw to specific conditions. For example, I used to own

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Speaker 1: a Golden Retriever. She was as sweetheart as they usually are,

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Speaker 1: but she had a lot of fur. Aside from the

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Speaker 1: fact that her coat was a huge pain in the

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Speaker 1: ass when it came to cockle burs and ticks and

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Speaker 1: other things, she also had furry paws. Some dogs have

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Speaker 1: this where fur grows between their toes. With that Golden our,

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Speaker 1: late season pheasant and grouse hunts often turned into uncomfortable affairs.

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Speaker 1: A few hours into the day, the snow would clump

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Speaker 1: up between her toes, and if you've ever tried to

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Speaker 1: run with even anything like a sock, scene between your toes.

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Speaker 1: You know how much that can suck. Some issues aren't

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Speaker 1: breed specific, though, like pad issues. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: you've ever had a dog that has cut its footpad,

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Speaker 1: but man, can that take a long time to heal.

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Speaker 1: I had a lab that took a good chunk out

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Speaker 1: of the metacarpal pad one time, you know, that big

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Speaker 1: heart shaped one in the middle of their foot, And it

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Speaker 1: was on a quail hunt Nebraska, and that issue flared

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Speaker 1: up over and over all season long. The tissue pads

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Speaker 1: are made from is not dissimilar to the tissue that

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Speaker 1: our fingernails are made from. This allows dogs to walk

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Speaker 1: on cold surfaces without discomfort, as well as fairly hot surfaces. This,

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Speaker 1: like when you lose a toenail after a pheasant hunt,

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Speaker 1: can also result in the situation where a cutpad that

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Speaker 1: exposes the sensitive stuff underneath will take a dog largely

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Speaker 1: out of the game until it heals up. Check your

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Speaker 1: dog's pads often, especially during the hunting season. This is

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Speaker 1: just a good idea. In fact, going between the toes

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Speaker 1: and checking around is a good idea too. But here's

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Speaker 1: the thing about that. Some dogs hate it, especially if

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Speaker 1: they have a sand bar or something else between their

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Speaker 1: toes that's causing them some pain. This is a good

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Speaker 1: situation for a dog to suddenly get nippy in kind

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Speaker 1: of a self defense way, but that doesn't excuse the behavior.

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Speaker 1: This is also why good trainers recommend that you mess

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Speaker 1: with a puppy's feet a lot when you first get them.

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Speaker 1: In fact, what you should do is play with their

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Speaker 1: their feet, their jowls, their eyes, their ears. They need

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Speaker 1: to learn that you're going to root around in those

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Speaker 1: parts whenever the mood strikes you, and that they just

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Speaker 1: have to let it happen and be comfortable with it.

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Speaker 1: This is because you're gonna need to at several points

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Speaker 1: during the dog's life. A puppy that is conditioned to

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Speaker 1: having its toes messed with at nine weeks old is

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Speaker 1: going to become a dog that doesn't care if you

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Speaker 1: do that, and that matters. This is especially true for

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Speaker 1: when something does go wrong, whether that's just like a

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Speaker 1: little cactus bine between their toes during a quail hunt,

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Speaker 1: or maybe when they step into a foothold trap while

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Speaker 1: you're grouse hunting the north Woods. You're also going to

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Speaker 1: need to pay attention to your dog's toenails. I can't

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Speaker 1: speak for all veterinarians, but i'd say besides dogs that

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Speaker 1: are chronically overweight these days, nail care is probably a

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Speaker 1: big issue they see, and i'd bet it makes them

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Speaker 1: secretly want to throat punch some of the folks who

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Speaker 1: stroll through their office, although they'd never admit that because

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Speaker 1: they are professionals and should be treated as such. Nail

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Speaker 1: care is huge, as we can all attend to at

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Speaker 1: one point or another in our lives. Even a little

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Speaker 1: issue with one fingernail can be a nagging injury, and

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Speaker 1: that might not take you to the er VI in

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Speaker 1: an ambulance, but will reduce your quality of life for

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Speaker 1: a while. Now, imagine if all your nails were located

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Speaker 1: on your feet and you didn't get to wear shoes,

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Speaker 1: so you were just barefoot all the time. The biggest

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Speaker 1: offender here, or maybe just the most common, are untrimmed toenails.

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Speaker 1: The longer a dog's nails get, the harder it is

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Speaker 1: for the dog's toepads to contact whatever surface they are

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Speaker 1: walking on, which includes the hardwood floors and tile floors

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Speaker 1: in your house. This makes them more likely to slip

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Speaker 1: and can even affect your dog's gait and its posture.

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Speaker 1: That might seem like bs, but it's not. And it's

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Speaker 1: not a coincidence that we have a lot of dogs

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Speaker 1: these days that tear their CCL ligaments. Long toenails and

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Speaker 1: hardwood floors aren't the sole culprit here, but they do contribute.

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Speaker 1: You know, genetics plays a role and ligament length and

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Speaker 1: likelihood of a tear, just as overall dog weight and

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Speaker 1: activity level does. But dogs did not evolve to walk

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Speaker 1: on tile surfaces, let alone run and play on them sideways.

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Speaker 1: Motion in their knees can be a bad deal. And

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Speaker 1: while it might seem crazy, keeping your dog's toenails properly

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Speaker 1: trimmed could save you like four thousand bucks in vet bills.

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Speaker 1: It's also just the right thing to do for them.

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Speaker 1: Long toenails are also more prone to getting ripped out

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Speaker 1: or partially ripped out, which if you've ever seen that

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Speaker 1: on a dog, you know it's something that's best avoided.

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Speaker 1: Trimming your dog's nails if your dog needs it throughout

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Speaker 1: the year is a must. Now. You can have a

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Speaker 1: groomer or your vet do it, or you can do

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Speaker 1: it yourself. Now, if you go that route and you

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Speaker 1: should know how to go that route. Remember the words

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Speaker 1: I said earlier about conditioning your puppy to having its

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Speaker 1: paws played with. So much of the stuff we can

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Speaker 1: do with our dogs in the first few months of

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Speaker 1: their lives will benefit us and them for the rest

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Speaker 1: of their existence, and that's definitely one of them. You

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Speaker 1: want to relax dog in that situation, because if you

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Speaker 1: accidentally cut one a little bit too short, you'll know

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Speaker 1: about it, and you'll feel horrible, as you should, for

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Speaker 1: torturing the one creature in the world that will always

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Speaker 1: love you no matter what. Now, remember also when I

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Speaker 1: said that a dog's popads allow them to handle hot

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Speaker 1: and cold surfaces pretty well, well, that's true, but there is,

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Speaker 1: of course a limit. Dogs can get frostbite on their pads,

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Speaker 1: which is no bueno. But they can also burn their feet,

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Speaker 1: which happens in the summer sometimes when people who aren't

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Speaker 1: very smart try to walk their dogs on asphalt in Phoenix, Arizona,

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Speaker 1: when the temperature of the air is damn near hot

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Speaker 1: enough to cook a steak to medium rare in a

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Speaker 1: couple minutes. So much of pawcare involves us just paying

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Speaker 1: attention to what we ask our dogs to do that

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Speaker 1: lab Luna I mentioned earlier. She's nearly twelve years old now,

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Speaker 1: so you can imagine she's a little GIMPI it breaks

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Speaker 1: my heart that this is the first hunting season I've

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Speaker 1: had to leave her home alone. But there really wasn't

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Speaker 1: a better choice, and believe me, I looked. But what

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Speaker 1: bothers me about how I treated her when she was

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Speaker 1: younger is that I got her when my twin daughters

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Speaker 1: were just one. For my sanity, I trained her when

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Speaker 1: she was a puppy to run along my bike so

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Speaker 1: I could get her out while hauling my little girls

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Speaker 1: in one of those little carts behind my bike. It

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Speaker 1: was a pretty good system that was so impressive. A

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Speaker 1: woman once stopped her car to ask me on the

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Speaker 1: side of the road if I did the whole thing

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Speaker 1: on purpose, meaning did I intentionally go out and get

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Speaker 1: a puppy when I had two babies. I told her

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Speaker 1: honestly that I only intended to have the one baby.

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Speaker 1: The other one was totally unplanned, but also that yes,

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Speaker 1: the puppy was planned, and it sort of was too,

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Speaker 1: except if you ask my wife, who wasn't really let

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Speaker 1: in on the plan until it was far too late

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Speaker 1: for her to say no. And if you think that

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Speaker 1: twelve years is enough time for her to forgive that move,

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Speaker 1: you'd be dead wrong. Now I can't prove this, but

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Speaker 1: I think running Luna in her formative years next to

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Speaker 1: that bike did not do her paws or her joints

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Speaker 1: any favors. I tried mostly to minimize when she had

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Speaker 1: to run on paved streets and paths, instead trying to

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Speaker 1: structure our route so she could stay on the grass.

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Speaker 1: But I live in the suburbs and it's just not

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Speaker 1: that easy. It was dumb, and I'm ashamed of it.

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Speaker 1: But I was also in survival mode, and I feel

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Speaker 1: like I kind of made up to her a little

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Speaker 1: bit by hunting like fiends with her for most of

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Speaker 1: her life, and hunt like fiends we did. But the

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Speaker 1: one condition that would just stop us cold was when

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Speaker 1: we got snow, and then a warm spell and then

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Speaker 1: a super cold spell, which results in super crusty snow.

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Speaker 1: This is the worst because the dogs break through with

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Speaker 1: every step and it takes maybe an hour before their

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Speaker 1: prints in the snow are laced with bright red spots

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Speaker 1: of blood. The roosters can also hear you coming from

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Speaker 1: a mile away, and you know the dogs are going

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Speaker 1: to be laid up after half a day of hunting,

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Speaker 1: because as amazing as their paws are, they aren't invincible,

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Speaker 1: especially in conditions like that. Far from it. So pay

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Speaker 1: attention to your dog's pause if you hunt desert country,

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Speaker 1: keep a leatherman happy in case they catch a cactus

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Speaker 1: spine somewhere, like I did while turkey hunting Textas one time,

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Speaker 1: and when that one inch spine stuck through my boot

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Speaker 1: into the soft arch of my foot, I hit the

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Speaker 1: ground like i'd been shot by a three tozho eight

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Speaker 1: to the skull. I threw in that white flag so

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Speaker 1: fast I tore my rotator cuff. And I'm not even

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Speaker 1: really joking. Our dogs live off of their paws, and

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Speaker 1: we ask a lot of them, so it's only fair

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Speaker 1: that we understand how they work, what might go wrong

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Speaker 1: with them, and how we can ensure their landing gear

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Speaker 1: stays as healthy as possible. Now, you can't avoid every

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Speaker 1: injury with them unless you stay inside all day, and

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Speaker 1: even then that's not really true. The best you can

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Speaker 1: do is ensure that you can mess with your dog's

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Speaker 1: paws without getting bit, and that you keep their nails trimmed,

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Speaker 1: and you're mindful of the surfaces upon which you lead them.

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Speaker 1: Then you give them a good once over after every

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Speaker 1: hunting trip or hiking trip, or whenever you bring them

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Speaker 1: along in places where paw injuries might happen. Do that

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Speaker 1: and come back next week because I'm going to talk

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Speaker 1: about finding the right veterinarian for you and your dog,

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Speaker 1: which is a topic that a lot of people don't

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Speaker 1: really think about, but it's very important. That's it for

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Speaker 1: this week. I'm Tony Peterson. This has been The Houndation's podcast.

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Speaker 1: As always, thank you so much for your support. We

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Speaker 1: truly appreciate it, all of it here at meat Eater,

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Speaker 1: So thank you, thank you, thank you for that. If

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Speaker 1: you want some more hunting content, you can head over

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Speaker 1: to the medeater dot com. Tons of articles, recipes, you

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Speaker 1: can watch a whole bunch of hunting films. It myself

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Speaker 1: and the rest of the crew drops. Or maybe you

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Speaker 1: just need another podcast to fill in your commute. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you can sit in your cubicle and your boss won't

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Speaker 1: notice that you're listening to Clay's Bear Grease podcast, or

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Speaker 1: maybe Brent Reeves This country Life. We have a lot

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Speaker 1: of great content there, so go check it out at

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Speaker 1: the mediator dot com and thank you, thank you for

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Speaker 1: your support. H