Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

What is the one comment I always hear as we walk by? "Oh, look!! He's wearing shoes!"

Yep, the most amazing thing about my Service Dog, is that he wears shoes.  Not that he keeps me from falling over, alerts, picks things up when I drop them (repeatably sometimes to his annoyance).  When I respond, as I often do, "Well you wear shoes, why shouldn't he?"  I always get this puzzled look.

Dogs have paws, not hooves, and they are delicate.  There is all kinds of ooky stuff on the ground.  De-icer, sticky dirt, glass, etc.  If his feet become injured I have to reassess what I can do without him.  If I were to go to the grocery store I would have to part next to a cart return (with carts in it) so I could have a walker.  I would have to stay close at home because he wouldn't be there to alert and allow me to get into a safe location.  I could not walk through the local mall.  School would be difficult to navigate, and I would have to figure some way to carry my books and not be in pain from carrying them, or off balance because one hand would have to pull them and the other would have to work a cane and not entangle myself (it has happened, and it isn't pretty).

So here is a salute to all of our amazing, shoe wearing dogs!

Some shoes that are used: Muttluks, Ruffwear