Sophie Bear's paw pads are damaged - is the dog walker at fault?

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Today was their first day with a new dog walker. She took them to a dog park, even sent me a video of them playing. I was so happy that they were having fun with their new friends. When I got home Sophie greeted me with the usual enthusiasm, running down the stairs to get to me (she sleeps on my bed when I'm not home :). Then I went to take them for a walk. Sophie was stalling at first, not wanting to walk, which was unusual. She was sniffing at the ground like she was distracted by something but there was nothing there (did she not want to admit that she was hurt?), then as I encouraged her, I noticed she was limping. But not in the usual way that dogs limp when one of their legs are sore. Rather, she was walking like she did the first time I put boots on her feet. She didn't want to put her feet on the ground. I couldn't see what was wrong because it was getting dark outside so I just picked her up and carried her home. I put her back down on the grass but she was still walking that way so we went inside. I looked at her feet under the light. There are small pieces of paw pad on all her feet that are missing and you can see the tender flesh underneath. It's not the whole pad, just small pieces, pretty much on all the paws.

I did a search on here about what to do with torn paw pads (or rather, worn away paw pads??), so I got some good info: keep them dry and clean, don't let her walk on them too much, they will heal quickly, socks help... (Love the new Google search feature!).

My question is, should I be concerned about my new dog walker? She seemed so great otherwise. Do these things just happen sometimes or was there something she could have done? I did notice in the video the dogs were running across the paved pathway chasing each other which is what I'm thinking was the problem. I probably wouldn't have let them do that for too long but then the video is like 15 seconds so who knows how long they were on the pavement for.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Poor Sophie. I don't think anyone is to blame, sometimes these things happen. I hope she heals soon!

[BG and Gavin]

Give her another chance for sure.  Let her know to limit running to the grassy areas.  This type of injury has happened to Gavin before and I remember Joanne talking about Spud having this too. 

[Leslie and Halas]

Oh, no. I hope she heals quickly. I'd give the dog walker another chance after talking to her.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This happened with Guinness & Murph once too.  We were playing ball with them in enclosed paved tennis courts.  As I recall, Murph got it the worst.  The Vet treated it and then wrapped the paws for a few days.  I felt horrible, but she said it's pretty common for dogs who aren't used to pavement.  We did take them back to those tennis courts but only let them play for really short periods of time.  I think their pads are actually stronger now, but we still watch them closely on pavement.  Poor baby....the good news is we found that it heals up pretty quickly.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Poor Sophie.  Feel better soon.

Years ago I had a little dog and would take her to the river every afternoon.  We would go out on the rocks and she loved to rock hop.  I had to watch carefully otherwise she would end up with bleeding paw pads.

[Miss Ellie]

Oh poor Sophie...hope she feels much better real soon!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Poor Sophie. Heal soon.  I'd give the dogwalker another chance too. Not something I would expect but I will now.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Sending Sophie my love and you, too. Poor girl, poor mama.

[Moe]

This happened to my doodle at an abandoned tennis court. I was at the park with a friend and we let the dogs run around for about 20 minutes. The court is in good shape. I'm not sure what it is made of. It is not concrete. At the time I blamed the groomer. She had been groomed the day before. I didn't mention it but I never went back to that groomer. 6mo later I went to the same park and the same thing happened. The paw pads were literally worn down and pink from running around on them like a mad dog. It was not hot either time and the surface is not particularly rough. I felt terrible that I let this happen a second time and that I had blamed the groomer. It could be that Charlie is a tenderfoot also. We usually walk in the woods. She is almost never on pavement. My friend's dog didn't have problems either time but she is always walked on the street.

I would show the dog walker. I'm sure she has no idea. She probably wasn't negligent either. It is just one of those things.

I used Musher's Secret. I think it helped.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone. I really appreciate it. Sophie is back on her feet again, it took no time at all. We are still taking it a bit easy but she is much improved. I do think her pads might be a little sensitive because she doesn't run or even walk on pavement nearly as much as she used to (as F said). The dog walker is going to take her to a different park, with no pavement. The only downside is that it gets muddy there when it rains, but I'd rather a muddy doodle that an injured one!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Sweet Sophie. I hope she heals completely soon.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Glad to hear she is doing better!