Always a Lost Cause

Let’s talk about paw pads! Foot care is just as important for our dogs as it is for us humans — dogs can suffer from blisters or torn paw pads, burnt paws from walking on pavement that’s too hot, or mats between their toes. Ouch!

Injured paw pads make walking painful and can get infected, and mats between their toes can cause walking problems or a variety of skin issues if your dog licks at them. It’s important to properly care for your dog’s feet beyond making sure their nails are trimmed, and it’s pretty simple!

What Exactly Are Paw Pads?

Paw pads consist of a layer of pigmented skin, usually pink or black, covering fatty tissue. Since fat is insulating, these give your pup’s paws a bit of protection from colder surfaces in the winter. They’re also an integral part of your dog’s foot structure and work in conjunction with your dog’s nails (which provide protection for the pads). Paw pads help with your dog’s balance, and provide traction, stability, and shock absorption, too.

You might notice that your dog’s paw pads are rough and calloused or smooth and soft — this all depends on the terrain your dog regularly walks on. If you take your dog hiking often, or they take regular walks out on asphalt, they’ll have more calloused paw pads due to the exposure to rougher terrain. If your dog is older and doesn’t walk as much, or spends most of their outside time running around on grass, their paw pads are likely to be smoother (and more likely to tear when they do walk on rougher surfaces).

Just as we humans can build up calluses by incremental exposure to rough surfaces, you can do the same with your dog if you plan on frequent hikes or know they’ll be walking on rougher surfaces throughout their life. Start with shorter periods of time on these surfaces to let the pad build up toughness over time.

Paw Pad Maintenance and Care

Make it a habit to check your dog’s paw pads regularly. Gently spread their toes apart and inspect the sides of their paw pads and between their toes for any injuries or foreign objects (like burrs, pebbles, or dangerous foxtails). It’s also a good time to check for any swelling or discoloration. Watch to see if your dog shows any signs that they are in pain or have tenderness when examining their foot.

Avoid Walking Your Dog on Hot Pavement

Hot pavement or asphalt can burn your dog’s paw pads. You can easily check to see if the ground is too hot for your dog to walk on by placing the back of your hand flat on the pavement and try holding it there for 7 seconds. If it’s too hot for you to keep it there for the full time, it’s too hot for your dog to walk on! If the pavement is that hot, it’s probably too hot for a dog walk or other outdoor activities.

Keep your dog’s potty walks during hot weather short, try to walk your dog on grass and in the shade, and have lots of cool, fresh water available for frequent rehydration.

How to Care for Your Dog’s Paws in Winter

Winter can also be tough on your dog’s paw pads, with snow, ice, and salt. No ice-melt product is completely safe for your dog and many can cause your dog’s paw pads to dry out, crack, or even burn, and can be toxic if your dog ingests it by licking it off their paws. Try to avoid walking them on salt-treated sidewalks if possible. 

Keep your dog’s paw pads trimmed of excess fur between their toes. This way they won’t collect paw “snowballs” between their toes as easily. These snowballs form when snow and ice get wrapped up in dog fur, melt from their body heat, and then refreeze. Snowballs on your dog’s feet and legs can cause a lot of pain and discomfort since they are pushing your dog’s toes apart and pulling on the hair. 

Have your dog wear booties outside during the winter. Or, if they don’t tolerate boots, apply paw wax prior to going outside in the snow or ice.

Wash and dry your dog’s paws after any trip outside – especially if they’ve been walking on salt-treated surfaces. If your dog’s paws have collected snowballs, use some paw wax to slide the ice out from between their toes before washing with warm water. A portable paw washer, can give you a quick and easy way to wash off your pup’s paws with less mess!

Protect Your Dog’s Paws with Paw Wax

An easy way to protect your dog’s paws is to use paw pad waxes, which are a great option if your dog doesn’t tolerate wearing booties or you can’t find one that stays on. Paw pad wax, like Musher’s Secret (originally created for working sled dogs), is easy to apply and moisturizes their paw pad, creating a barrier around your dog’s foot that repels ice, salt, dirt, and helps protect your dog’s paw pad from burns. Think of it as an invisible boot! Apply to their paws just before heading outside.

Should You Moisturize Your Dog’s Paws?

You should moisturize your dog’s paw pads if they are cracked, peeling, or too dry. Avoid using human lotions or moisturizers and stick with products made specifically for canine paws. Be careful not to overdo it — if your dog already has soft paw pads, moisturizing them can make them more susceptible to tearing or ripping when they walk on rough surfaces.

Keeping Your Dog’s Paw Pads Trimmed and Mat-Free

Keeping the fur or hair that grows between your dog’s paw pads nice and short can also help to keep their feet healthy and provide more traction on slippery surfaces. Traction is especially important for senior dogs! Combine trimming your aging dog’s paw pads regularly with putting out mats or carpets so they can get around your home with less slipping.

When their paw pads are trimmed it’s easier for you to inspect and clean their paws, and keeps ice build-up out from between their toes during snowy weather. It also helps to prevent any matting between your dog’s toes, which can be painful and cause your dog to chew at their feet (which leads to hot spots and other skin issues). Some dogs don’t have much fur growing on the bottom of their feet, but medium to thick-coated dogs tend to have fuzzy feet that can benefit from trimming.

Thanks!

When it comes to multiple medical/trauma problems in one patient, whatever is most life threatening is treated first. 

TL;DR: Since the only wilderness-type treatment for a concussion would be to rest until symptoms resolve, they’d probably begin treatment for hypothermia (see other posts) and then wash out, pack and cover (or close and cover if a graze) the gunshot wound. 

Here’s how that breaks down:

Starting out, let’s assume that Character A, regardless of what kind of medical professional they are, has taken some kind of wilderness/remote upgrade course and knows how to perform assessment/treatment based on wilderness/remote standards.

That assessment strategy involves a quick primary assessment of the ABCDEs. During this part of the assessment, they’re only looking for immediate life threats, so if one is found, they would stop to fix them immediately before moving on. A is airway (stop and fix if choking, bad positioning so air couldn’t get through, or to insert an airway), B is breathing (stop and fix if no breathing, breathing that’s too fast or slow to support life, bubbling sounds coming from holes in the chest), C is circulation (stop and fix if no pulse, pulse that’s too slow or fast to support life, spurting blood), D is deformity (stop and fix if the mechanism of injury warrants holding the head still to prevent a spinal injury if necessary (though this is usually done before everything else), or reducing a fracture to save a limb), and E is environment (stop and fix more slowly evolving safety issues, prevent heat and cold illness).

There’s a possibility that the gunshot wound could have life-threatening bleeding or airway issues depending on where it is, and the head injury could be so bad it’s messing with the character’s heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. Since you want your character to live and you don’t intend to get them to advanced help, though, lets assume the GSW is relatively minor (not to the head, chest, abdomen, back, or shoulder) and the head injury is nothing worse than an uncomplicated concussion.

In this case, the character might stop at Airway briefly to place an unconscious character in a position where they could breathe. They might stop at Breathing if there was a sucking chest would they had to cover (if the gunshot wound was to the chest, which, again, this one wouldn’t be), and then stop again at Circulation to treat for any life threatening (spurting) bleeding. Deformity wouldn’t probably be a huge issue here unless the mechanism of injury (how the person was injured) for the concussion looked like it was likely to have caused damage to the spine. It wouldn’t be until Environment that further hypothermia would be addressed by placing someone on something waterproof and maybe getting them to some kind of shelter.

Now, these actions are carried out in minutes and only stop or mitigate life threats. Once the airway and blood loss issues are addressed, the rescuer goes back and finds everything else with a secondary assessment, takes real vitals, and plans care.

You’d have to pick your gunshot wound really carefully if they’re not getting back to civilization any time soon. Pretty much all gunshot wounds require surgery to save life and function (ability to move, bear weight, and feel the affected limb). You might be able to get away with shooting someone through the arm or buttock with only minor loss of function if they couldn’t get surgery, but anything to the shoulder, gut, or chest is going to cause either significant loss of function (shoulder), or death (gut or chest), without surgical intervention. 

Today's animal of the day is the Black-Bellied Pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla)!

Photo credit: Tessa Ullmann

Also known as the long-tailed pangolin or ipi, this bizarre species of mammal can be found in the tropical forests and swamps of western and central Africa and is unique because it is one of only ten species of living mammals to possess scales. These scales are made of keratin, the same stuff that human hair and fingernails are made out of, and help to protect the pangolin from predators. When threatened, the pangolin will roll up into a tight ball, which both shields its vulnerable underbellies but also exposes the sharp edges of its scales. In addition to this defense, the coloration of its scales, combined with the black fur on its belly, helps to camouflage the pangolin as it maneuvers through the forest canopy.

Photo credit: Rod Cassidy

Unlike the nine other species of pangolins, black-bellied pangolins are most active during the day. This is believed to help reduce competition with their sister species, the white-bellied/tree pangolin, which has a very similar lifestyle but is more active at night. These pangolins spend most of their lives in the trees and are capable of using their long, prehensile tails to hold onto tree branches. Their tails are even strong enough for the pangolin to dangle down from a tree branch with just its tail! Their sharp front claws also help them to climb, but are also used to dig into tree bark to seek out burrowing ants and termites, which they then slurp up using their long tongues.

Photo credit: Rod Cassidy

Sadly, while the pangolin's scales might protect it from predators like leopards and pythons, they have become a hot commodity in certain Asian markets. They are believed to have certain healing properties, which is untrue, but are also considered a delicacy. While the African species of pangolins aren't as heavily targeted compared to the Asian species, poaching combined with habitat loss has caused the IUCN to label the black-bellied pangolin as vulnerable. To make matters worse, because these animals are so shy and sensitive, it is virtually impossible to keep them in zoos.

Photo credit: Sean Brogan

Monte Kali: A Mountain of Table Salt

Monte Kali is an unusual landmark in the small town of Heringer in eastern Hesse, Germany. It’s a spoil heap containing nothing but sodium chloride or common table salt, which is a byproduct of potash mining. 

For over a hundred years, potash mining has been a major industry in the region. It started with the opening of Wintershall potash works, which began mining in 1903, and today is the world’s biggest potash mine with an operational area about the size of Greater Munich’s.

Parasite is, of course, the Best Picture winner at this year’s Oscars and definitely one of the best of the year, building momentum since its debut and win at the Cannes Film Festival back in May 2019. The film is a surprise for viewers, especially those not accustomed to Asian cinema and the director’s previous films. The script that also won Best Original Screenplay is something you can’t imagine happening, but are constantly having a blast discovering with each new turn and revelation. And while being a comedy and a thriller, the story works as a metaphor about the class struggle happening the world over and the walls being built to separate the poor from the rich. The direction makes everything a joy to watch, the actors are fun and game, and the art direction is also worth noting for a film that feels like elevated theater. I loved it, and I’m happy it won, and although 1917 was the most transportive film of the year, Parasite is also pure cinema and a story worth discovering at the movies.

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Positive reinforcement can be a powerful training tool for dogs, but it’s not as simple as just praising everything that your pup does.

If you want to get that most success out of positive reinforcement training, there are a number of important Do’s and Don’ts to follow.

Do…

Immediately Praise and Reward Desired Behavior

Dogs live in the moment, so your response should be immediate. This can include both treats and affection, and should be used whenever your dog does something that you want them to do.

If you’re house training a dog, treat him every time he does his business outside. Working on commands? Pet him each time he does what you say.

Keep it Short and Fun

The goal is to get your dog to realize that good things come when she obeys you. Because of that, you should make training short, fun, and positive — ideally ending on a good note.

Wean From Treats

While it’s absolutely okay to use treats in the beginning to get the behavior you want, over time you should wean your dog off of them but continue to offer praise and affection. Eventually, your pup will forget about the treats and do what you want just to please you. In effect, you become the treat.

You can also condition your dog to associate a certain sound, like “Tsch!” or a clicker with receiving a treat. When you remove the treat, your dog will still respond to the sound.

Don’t…

Make Things Complicated

If you want your dog to play fetch, don’t tell him to “fetch the ball.” Instead, just say “fetch” and immediately reward him when he does it. Get too complex with your commands or teaching in general and there’s no way your dog is going to understand. Be specific and be simple.

Show Inconsistency

You can’t reward your dog for staying off of the couch and then later let her come up and offer affection. Behaving like this will simply confuse her about what you want. Additionally, it’s important that everyone in your household follows the same rules or your pooch will run herself ragged trying to figure out how to behave with each person.

Stop Correcting Your Dog

A big mistake that often accompanies positive reinforcement is that pet parents start thinking they can’t say no to their dogs. This is absolutely not true. If a dog is acting inappropriately, you can and should still correct the behavior.

A tupilaq is a creature from Inuit folklore, made by a shaman from parts of dead animals, or sometimes children, as a tool of revenge.

After being formed from bones, skin and hair, a tupilaq is released into the sea to track down its target. It is said that if the intended victim possesses stronger magical powers than the tupilaq’s creator, it can be sent back to kill the one who made it.

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