snow and paw care advice and male peeing habits

[Kate MacKenzy]

Hi all doodle lovers,
doodlebug is about to face his first vermont winter, any advice on paw care, avoiding snow build up on his feet and underside?

Also, hes now 6 months, and still squats to pee, will he learn to lift a leg? his undercoat is getting unpleasant as hes peeing all over his legs? Any advice welcome.
Thanks
Kate

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Take him to the dog park and he will learn from other males what to do, or if there are places outside where other male dogs like to mark and leave their scents....some male dogs get it and others don't I guess. As for snow build up on their paws, I keep the hair on their underside of the paws clipped down and always take a towel and dry their feet when they come in.

[Kate MacKenzy]

Thanks for the advice, when he's in town, he does sniff at places marked by other dogs, but maybe will get it eventually, .my last dog was a bitch, so havent dealt with the issue before. The snow on the paws, Ive used dog boots before, so maybe Ill get him some for Christmas. Ill have to get some pics posted, hes the love of my life and such a card.
thanks
kate

[Sandy]

Toby is 14 1/2 months, and he only lifts his leg about 50% of the time.

[Adina P]

My 3 y.o. Rosco squats to pee in our yard, but lifts in other territory if another dog has marked there. He first lifted his leg around 10 months and then not again till 1 year. He will lift on bushes, trees, or other places that have been marked by other dogs. But otherwise he will only squat.

As to the winter paw care, the best I can advise is to do a search for 'snow' or 'snow balls' in the search box in the forum as it has been discussed before and I can't recall all that was said...we have minimal snow in my neck of the woods.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Luca is 19 mos old and I've never seen him lift his leg, anywhere, to pee. He doesn't get himself wet though and he usually licks himself thoroughly afterward. Saves a lot on TP.

[Heidi]

My 6 month Bear does both now, but he was getting his belly wet when he squatted. So I took him in to get groomed and they shave his groin area and trimmed his private part as well, and now he doesn't get his belly. Can't help you on the snow though, we barely get rain. Goodluck.

[Lorraine Bromley]

Neely squats and doesn't wet himself its only when I have dropped the leash and let him go and then of course right on the leash!! From the little we saw last year from out friends gd they were covered in snow balls and just have to thaw as tugging them off pulls and hurts them. I was thinking about getting the crate out again and having it placed on the heated tile floor. Then vaccum the water up, if he doesn't drink it up, using a wet vac. We took him to our sons hockey game and had him play in the snow off the zamboni. He loved it he only had a enough to lay on and dig in his nose to toss snow balls. So when the big drifts come we're going to have a ball.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Dexter squats half the time and lifts the other half. He didn't lift at all until he was 10 months and started doing it a lot more after we got Kirby.

We just let them go nuts in the snow (when we actually get any) and then brush the snow off with a towel. Some people have boots for their dogs.

[Diane]

Sounds like Muttluks (boots) might be a possibility for the snow. I have been wondering about the same issue. If you do a search on boots (under dk discussions), lots come up. I haven't gone through it all myself yet!