Dogs feet won't toughen up

[FullCryHounds]

So far, everyone is trying to fix the result of the problem with medications and voodoo remedies, and not fixing the cause of the problem. Some dogs do have soft feet so the only way to fix the problem is better conditioning. I would be willing to bet your dog lives in a small kennel? Small kennels are what is causing the problem because he has no where to go day after day. So you spend an hour or two a couple of times a week roading him and the rest of the time he's sitting in his kennel and his feet go right back to where they were. Change how you are keeping your dogs by getting him into a large run with other dogs so he's active all day long and your soft foot problems will go away.

[Mike Leonard]

Some dogs just seem plauged with very thin pads and this is a trait desert hunters must try to eleviate and not breed in because it is herditary to some extent. As Shorty indicated slow steady excercise on differing surfaces usually will bring them to their best, but some will still slip pads or wear thin on a hard and fast race.
I hunt horseback about 90% of the time and depending on the the day I would say we usually are actually moving or hunting for about 6 hours if we don't get a fresh track quick. this amounts to anywhere from 12-18 miles. the dogs however are free cast so with their hunting and moving around the easily double that and maybe even triple it so you can figure they go 20-30 miles so they have to have good tough feet. I knew some old time lion hunters in Arizona who would put down small crushed lava decorative type rock in their pens and then add some rock salt to it as well, they claimed this would keep their dog's feet tough even when they were layed up for some time. I tried it but found it to be a real pain at cleanup time. Bad crusted snow can be hard on just about any dog's feet.