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Question for all you bear hunters......What do you guys do at this point to salvage or get a hound through a few more bear runs after thin spots begin to show from a few hard runs on the shale and sandstone? In the past, I've used Tuff Foot coming into the season and it does make the pads harder but often times may cause splitting between the toes. This fall I've been using that gummy "Pad Guard" which doesn't make the pad hard and doesn't seem to do much good.

Is there any product on the market that will hold a pad from getting worse at this stage of the game? The sad thing is none of the dogs are sore footed, but I realize one more tough boar in the shale can, may or will blow one or more of these dogs out of the game............

Any serious comments would be appreciated........

Ike

Ike I use Pine tar you can buy a jar at the feed store. an old timer told me this little trick. Warm it up on a medium heat (campfire coals works good ), don't get it too hot or it'll get too thin, take a paint brush and brush it between the toes and over the pad seems to work good. dogs are pretty spry the next mornin. hows the bear huntin goin?

Mike

Thanks az_gogetem, and I'll give it a try. The hunting is going well, rigging bears and looking for size then driving on. We rigged a sow, a young boar and a lion today and never turned out cause we're saving the hounds for a killer. I hope all is well with you, and hope you're getting on some lions and bears as well.............

keep'em treed,
Ike

I use coppertox, it works real well for your situation. Make sure it is dry before your dogs get on concrete or your truck, unless, you would like green dog print pinstriping LOL.
Heck I am surprised Hal did not tell you about coppertox.

festus wrote:I use coppertox, it works real well for your situation. Make sure it is dry before your dogs get on concrete or your truck, unless, you would like green dog print pinstriping LOL.
Heck I am surprised Hal did not tell you about coppertox.

When I had dogs with bad feet the coppertox is what I used also.l would use it more as a preventative for these dogs. It will make the pads softer and more plyable so this sort of thing doesn't happen. I guess this will dissmiss the black footed therory.

Mr.pacojack wrote:

festus wrote:I use coppertox, it works real well for your situation. Make sure it is dry before your dogs get on concrete or your truck, unless, you would like green dog print pinstriping LOL.
Heck I am surprised Hal did not tell you about coppertox.

When I had dogs with bad feet the coppertox is what I used also.l would use it more as a preventative for these dogs. It will make the pads softer and more plyable so this sort of thing doesn't happen. I guess this will dissmiss the black footed therory.

Not sure about the black foot theory being dismissed. I'd hate to see Ike's pics if his dogs had white feet. They'd be out of the game.

festus wrote:Heck I am surprised Hal did not tell you about coppertox.

Never spoke to Hal about treating a hound's feet festus, never hunted with Hal but once and that was only so he could watch my red dog's rig. I'm open to ideas, cause I've watched this game for alot of years now and never found anything that kept a hound solid on bear in this dry, shaley, sandstone country. I've only had two dogs (or been around two dogs) that had really thick pads and never wore or begin to slip in this country and it was that Ryan dog and one of his pups, my five year old Kody dog. He has made every step this fall my red dogs and plot dog has made and is the only hound without wear marks on his toes--and he has a pink color to his pads ha! I'll take a photo and post up............

My red Choco dog also has thick pads, but there are signs of wear on his toes but not nearly as bad.........

ike

larry wrote:
Not sure about the black foot theory being dismissed. I'd hate to see Ike's pics if his dogs had white feet. They'd be out of the game.

Ike wrote:He has made every step this fall my red dogs and plot dog has made and is the only hound without wear marks on his toes--and he has a pink color to his pads ha! I'll take a photo and post up.........

ike

larry, I sure hope you didn't buy a lotto ticket today

Sorry but even Kody has a little wear on his toes, not bad but wear none the less!

Ike next year try that coppertox from the begining and see if it makes a difference also if you can boost the biotin in their diet that will help.You can get that at any Vet and it is cheap.

nope, no lotto tickets, lets see those pad pics Ike, what breed of dog is it with these ?"somewhat"? pink pads? Sure there are exceptions to every rule, every once in a while. Run three dogs ea. black footed and white footed, conditioned the same in the off season, on crusted snow for 3 days in a row. After the first day you will have your answer, moisture also plays a factor ya know. Go shoe 10 head of horses, as a general rule, not always (gotta give you walker guys hope) white feet are softer.

larry wrote: Run three dogs ea. black footed and white footed, conditioned the same in the off season, on crusted snow for 3 days in a row. After the first day you will have your answer, moisture also plays a factor ya know. Go shoe 10 head of horses, as a general rule, not always (gotta give you walker guys hope) white feet are softer.

One question they had on the Master Farrier text that I took was which was a tougher hoof? White or Black and the answer was neither. A bad footed horse is linked to the bioten it makes in its stomach and this is a proven fact. Breeding is more to blame than anything. Take for example a mule. Everyone thinks a mule has harder feet...Right ? No Mules are so much easier to trim than a horse. But they have thicker walls and a better moisture content, the hoofs are more plyable and don't crack or break off. Same with horses and dogs. Some of the worst footed horses I have shoed in my 20+ years of shoeing have been black footed horses.
But no one wants to blame breeding(or they want to blame a breed), white foot is easier to explain for the color (breed) blind person

But I will have to agree with you somewhat. Walker people for the most part are very bad about continuing to breed a bad footed dog. But I think you will see more of a problem in any group of animals were the breed dominates all the other breeds in numbers. Other groups or breeders will focus in on that when it should be taken care of with the breeder.This is more of a man made problem than a breed problem but has become a breed problem

larry wrote:nope, no lotto tickets, lets see those pad pics Ike, what breed of dog is it with these ?"somewhat"? pink pads? Sure there are exceptions to every rule, every once in a while.

I was wrong Larry, as there is a little wear on one toe of that Kody dog after I washed it off and looked a little closer. He and his old man do have thicker pads, no doubt about it but the shale and sandstone around here on a hard running bear will take a toll on any pad...........

And sorry but Kody has more black than pink on his pads.....

ike

ive had the best luck with coppertox also ike one thing ive noticed is putting it on a plott dog or darker dog it will turn the hair white if you get it on to thick. but sore on the first day putting coppertox on and running the next day. Like someone else had said on here its good to put on for prevention also JUst green and messy an stinks