Wednesday, July 15, 2009

sticky paws...

So, yesterday David embarked on a search for something to put on the pads of Gracie's paws that will prevent her from sliding on wood/tile floors until she is stronger. The poor girl desperately wants to explore but can't stay upright for too long. She inevitably winds up splayed out on her tummy. Then she just gets frustrated.
So, I've tried wetting her pads with water which works, but only for a short period of time. We've tried to come up with something to put on our floor with no luck (at least finding anything economical). David was determined today. He was online and finally came up with an idea he was willing to try. We have the hair remover 'Nads' which is NOT a wax that you heat (for those that are already wondering if we tortured her with hot wax). It is thick and sticky and does not require any heating. I attempted to hold her still so David could put just a tiny smear of it on her pads. She is a squirmer and will kick and whine if you are holding her and she wants down. Anyway, David managed to get some on all 4 pads and we put her on the floor for a trial. It worked great!...for about 4 steps. By then, her pads had picked up enough dirt off the floor to make the sticky factor null and void. The Nads rubbed off easily, Grace didn't even notice when it was on or when we were rubbing it off. And now we are back to square one! We have thought about booties but feel that's not a great idea considering her blindness. We don't want to make her any more uncomfortable with walking.
We would welcome any ideas! Have a great day!

3 comments:

Os_Cinzentos said...

good luck!
I'm sure you've explored this but for use in dogs shows there are a number of anti-slip ointments/liquids available on the market.
the other option would be to cover your entire wooden floor (which is where the problem occurs, right) with some sort of thin, inexpensive anti-slip mesh fabric, to make adherence easier for gracie's pads.
In IKEA they have a mesh of this sort to place under carpets, to avoid slippering. Heck, at our place it manages to keep the hall rug in place despite two adult weims running amok on top of it.

Cami said...

Have ya'll looked at this website? I thought about getting these for mine so they wont slip on our hardwoods but havent tried them yet - http://www.puppylovepawpads.com/

Judy said...

My weimie was afraid of linoleum, so I bought several cheap doormats from the discount store and made a path for him to follow. As he became more confident, I removed the mats one by one. Now he goes everywhere!