Winter Fall Prevention

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Since the winter freeze has hit, what do you use to keep the walkway free from ice but safe for the doodles - both their feet and if they lick it off their feet?
Has any heard of Magic Ice?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Kyoko--that is so true. In my city they use beat juice on the streets :) Maybe I should walk my dogs for nutrition.

[Kyoko]

I was thinking that since we walk on the street, my dogs will step on whatever the salt truck sprinkles anyway.....

[F, Calla & Luca]

We could all move or maybe global warming will take care of it : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, my attempts at reassurance on the relative harmlessness of rock salt has obviously failed miserably. Mybe someone else has a better suggestion to the "fall or poison your dog?" dilemma.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I didn't say it was but it certainly is more concentrated in crystallized form than the amount found in salt water. Even oxygen, which is essential to life, is toxic in high concentration over time.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I guess I should have said that they are minerals which are compatible with and essential for life. We ingest them on a regular basis. We don't do that with say, mercury or lead, which were also on the table of periodic elements in chemistry class. All I know for sure is that they're safe in reasonable quantities. We let our dogs swim in salt water, and walk bare-pawed on the wet sand along bodies of salt water. Why is walking across some rock salt in a driveway more dangerous?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Cool Another Science Lesson Just joking girls.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Karen, please don't kill me but what do you mean by they are not chemicals but chemical products. If salts, and they are all salts that you mentioned, are not chemicals my chemistry courses were seriously misleading. They are not synthetics, they exist in nature.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I am not crazy about chemicals either. That's the problem for me with all these "Safe Paws Snow Melt" kinds of gimmicky things...they never say what's in them. They have these websites that can scare the whatzit out of you about all the hazards of everyone else's product, but they never tell you what's in theirs. I'll take my chances with plain old salt, too. There's salt in the dogs' food...we know it isn't toxic. Obviously too much is bad, so you just don't let them stand there and lick the driveway, lol.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

LOL got it. Dare I say, I'm sticking to plan old salt, aka: magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, sodium chloride or potassium chloride.
Dare I say--I hate chemicals.