Product Review: PAWZ Dog Boots

PAWZ are disposable, reusable dog boots that are basically balloons you put on your dog's feet. They are made from natural rubber, and it's difficult to overstate how much these look like party balloons. It just occurred to me that I have yet to attempt to inflate one though. Anyway, these are available in seven sizes to fit paws up to 5" long. Each size is a different color.

It took me a long time to fall in love with PAWZ. They're basically the Crocs of the dog fashion scene. Cheap rubber shoes that are surprisingly comfortable and get the job done while looking cringe-worthy. I mean, they look like I put balloons on my dog's feet.

You wouldn't think that thin, unpadded rubber boots would work very well. They don't have any insulation. They don't have a hard sole. They don't have grippy treads. They don't offer very much protection, but they do offer a small barrier between hot pavement, cold snow, abrasive gravel, and your dog.

We use these at work quite a bit. They are worlds better than most of my impressive collection of dog shoes because they stay on pretty good, and it's not the end of the world if we lose one in the field. At $18 for a pack of 12 boots, I just kind of shrug when Zip comes out of the brush without one.

Most dogs are willing to wear PAWZ even if they hate other shoes, because these don't feel like wearing much. Their toes can expand naturally. Their nails can grip like normal. They have almost as much traction in these as they do in bare feet. There aren't in constricting straps either, the boots just pop on. I've seen people use vetwrap and bandaging tape to help keep the boots on, but honestly my dogs don't lose them unless we're working in really rough terrain.

Pros

• Inexpensive, easy to replace
• Really genuinely waterproof, at least until they develop holes
• Durable enough to handle an entire day's herding, sometimes two or three days before they really fall apart
• They actually stay on almost all the time
• Comfortable for dogs

Cons

• Not protective enough for really hot or really cold conditions
• Look absolutely ridiculous
• Not breathable at all
• No color choice, my dogs wear medium so we only get blue

Bottom Line

These are surprisingly effective without throwing my girls off their groove too much. I am hesitant to put anything on them that could change their gaits, limit their traction, or change the way they move. We work on really abrasive, rocky terrain most of the time, and PAWZ hold up well enough to spare their feet when they start getting sore.