Feet.......................opinions

[stabba 10,745]

Had dogs with what you could class as appalling feet but never sustained serious injury. also had the tightest feet imaginable and got knocked up on nearly every outing. A lot depends on the dogs running style imo and how those feet are treated. personally I like to give lots of roadwork and free running which tends to help a lot. Jmo though.

[birddog 1,354]

do big heavy dogs put more pressure on their feet ? do lighter faster types put less ?

[lurcher2020 285]

I keep needy x's never had one with bad feet and seem to be able to run any ground come to think of it never had a beddy x laid up either always ready to run

[Carraghs Gem 1,675]

My lad has decent feet to look at them anyhow, no injurys so far but hes young yet, i will throw up a pic later

[wezza 396]

I like a dog to have well knuckled up tight feet although I've yet to see a dog be hindered in any way by not having feet like this.

My pal has a collie bull deer grey with nice feet and suffers terribly with injures on various ground, not just one type.

Yet he has a saluki cross dosent have the best looking feet but seems to glide over any terrain with out any problems.

 

Again my pup (bull whippet saluki grey) has feet which are strong and well knuckled up, something which was a factor in choosing a pup from this litter beside working ability and he seems to be fine on his feet so far, time will tell over the coming seasons. One thing I do think makes a difference to the feet & pads is plenty of road work and of course walking and free running over as much different terrain as possible. This keeps the pads hard, nails short and builds the overall strength.

 

[Chid 6,687]

my 2 dogs feet , not the tightest but never had a problem and ive run them on some rough ground

[foresterj 1,096]

Handsome is as handsome does.

[aaron the coursing man 144]

my mate and i have been discussing this....he has a wee bull x and a smart saluki x, i have a collie x and a deerhound x in both cases 1 has tight 'button' feet and the other longer more open flexible feet, whats best ? is it a case of ones better on different ground ? i have a wee theory that given the right conditioning ie woodland walks / upbringing, beach walks (sand shingle pebbles etc) and of course road walking that you can build in strength flexibility and toughness to longer digits. my pal on here trevor w sent me some cracking pics of his dogs feet (i hope he jumps in here with them) he because of past experience is very fussy about feet and his big dogs feet are among the best i've seen. does any amount of care, nail trimming, conditioning etc really matter or is it just down to breeding / genetics ?

GOOD FEET ARE TIGHT FEET

[Sirius 1,391]

Good feet are essential, however you will always get, cuts, grazes, split nails etc even with the tuffest of feet.That's not a real foot problem that's just hazards of the job.

I like a tight fleshy foot with strong bones, but even they won't stop a flint or a awkward rock it's just luck, it's just some feet suffer less damage than others.

Some of the worst feet I have seen have been from whippety types and bullx types. But not owning the said dogs and running them hard, they could of been the best in the world just looked awful.

Funny thing feet, especially in lurchers as there are so many breeds in the mix with very different types of feet.

[birddog 1,354]

but aren't the whippetty types lighter on their feet? ive had whippetty types that worked for years without injury but conversely ive had a fast as feck racing bred whippet who would injure herself walking across a bowling green and she was only 18lb, her mother ('hadaway' from the north east) had iffy feet, especially from racers i think it's genetic...we all know the bother 'chalky' had with the 'country music' strain, i raced against a famous daughter of him and her feet were dodgy at best, just like other virtues and vices are passed down, good or bad feet regardless of running ground can be inherited from a generation or two ago

[troter58 1,711]

got a 3/4 greyhound x deerhound worst feet ever put a photo up later 9 year old two toes broke on front left one on right big dog 27tts good 65/70 lb so i put it down to his weight pushing down yet my 3/4 whippet beddy runs same ground and the dogs feet are sound so i think weight has some thing to do with it .atb

[jcm 2,327]

Iv a wee saluki x which has good feet tight button feet

[fireman 11,197]

In my opinion,...and it is only an opinion.....

 

"The best type of feet,.are those that sustain the least amount of damage, over a long period of varied work."..

Were the acd x's the best footed dogs you've hand CW?,i ask as the one's i've seen had the feet you'd wish for anyway.

[Astanley 11,598]

I,m convinced that the running action of a dog has a bearing on how well the dogs feet hold up to wear and tear , some dogs ,especially dogs with heavy shoulders , seem to pound the ground with their front feet and use them as anchors , other types have a smoother action they lean into bends more , the front feet are used more as balances , there is less abrupt force exerted .I will always prefer a dog with good tight feet , but I do think there are other considerations as to why some feet hold up and others don,t .

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

 

 

Were the acd x's the best footed dogs you've hand CW?,i ask as the one's i've seen had the feet you'd wish for anyway.

 

Hi Fireman,....

 

Yes, the ACD lurchers, had excellant feet,..however, I've seen a few Slughis, running in Morocco, and although they seemed to be, a raggedy arsed bunch of critters,.they were certainly durable ...

I also rate the foot structure, of the Siberian Husky types,..but, to be honest,..most of the hard working Herding types have good strong feet,...cos as you know,..they fecking need them

Edited May 17, 2013 by CHALKWARREN