Hello Friends,

In my last post, I mentioned how 2017 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail Annie Kelley needs special boots to keep her paws – oops – feet warm as she follows teams along the Iditarod Trail. While my friends and I don’t need boots and wool socks to keep our paws warm, we do need dog booties for protection.

Helping the musher remove the booties.

As a sled dog, my paws are adapted to keep from getting frostbite.  I have a special kind of fat in them that doesn’t freeze or harden; kind of like olive oil. My paws also have extra tough skin for added protection. Then . . . why booties? Snow can get clumped up in my paws and that makes running kind of difficult. The booties also keep my pads safe from getting cuts along the trail.

Rule 16 lists the mandatory items that mushers must have on the trail during the race. They need “eight booties for each dog in the sled or in use.” (16 dogs per team x 8 = ? You need to figure that out, I’m a dog, not a mathematician!) Our mushers also pack extra booties in drop bags. Bow Wow! That’s a lot of dog booties. Keeping us safe and healthy is the number one priority of mushers. Dog booties help with that.

Tail wags to all of you,

Zuma