My 14 mth Ridgeback girl has been placed behind other dogs in shows as they have better feet.
Now our girl had a couple of seasons already and a mean phantom the first time so roadwork was cut out for feelgood muddy field walks over winter.
Her nails are also too long, though she hates clippers I know her quick is long so am dremeling every couple of days a small amount with the odd nail clip. it is taking ages. I am going to take her to a groomer for help.
I have started roadworking her again but as I am quite a novice I would like to know how much is needed and how often? People often say oh yes roadwork will do it, but obviously with her being still young and a large breed I do not want to over work her.

some people have said calcium/vit c

Any thoughts/advice? she is a lovely lovely bitch and I would like to give her every chance of holding her own in the ring

TIA
Jane

What is the actual problem with the feet?

they need tightening up, they are a little spread
Ta

Roadwork is the answer then, along with getting on top of those nails :-) At 14 months I would be gradually building up roadwork with a young borzoi, probably doing about 30 to 40 mins of fairly fast walking with an off lead socialising romp in the middle. When I was seriously campaigning dogs they would be getting about 2 hours of steady trotting on roads a day (as mature 3 or 4 year olds), most judges would comment on their excellent muscle tone, good feet and movement :-)

Good feet in my opinion are bred in but can be improved greatly with the correct exercise, or ruined with incorrect exercise. I'm not sure nutrition plays a huge part now your dog is over a year old?

thanks, I cannot walk fast enough to trot her as she is a long striding bitch, I bike her at a slow/medium trot for about 20 mins 4 x a week
I cannot let her off lead locally as too built up, we drive a few miles south and do a good long field walk 1hr through ditches/dykes etc. She loves this
Her feet were better as a pup, we rested her from showing in Aug last year as she was too wound up and got very stressed. We have only just started showing her again and have got the comments about her feet.
I feel so guilty about her nails, they are off the floor but need some work to wear the quick back more, which the roadwork would do I guess.
She is an extremely fit, agile and overactive girl and loves exercise.
Am I doing enough for her?
We also have a 6 mth old girl who she plays with each day, but obviously walks with the baby are much shorter!

you got any shingle beaches near you?? if so take her there.

not close no, we do a monthly trip to a decent beach but it's 1.5 hrs away
I'd love to be closer to a beach she loves it there

breeding

I agree with that Sam.  I tried everything to tighten my dogs feet, nothing worked, its just the way his feet are ....... a dog isnt just 4 feet though, if the judge really likes everything else about him then they will put him up regardless (not that it happens very often though but I dont think thats just his feet lol )

i think maybe you just need to give him time to mature. dogs can change as they get older. and he still sounds like a pup.

Hi jane,
I had this problem once on a Gsd tried the sand/gravel/diet  theme not alot of good
what I did find that takin her to a abit of rough ground with a steep incline.
when on top would throw her retrieve so she had to pull her self back up.
Two or three times at first building up to what you think is sufficient for an exercise.
Don,t over do. It did improve my dog considerably and she did win many prizes.

If I were you I would stick to shows on grass helping to hide the fault.It is a breeding
thing. Good luck.

I understand about the breeding thing but she did have tighter feet as a younger pup, we regularly walked her 3 x a day for at first 10 mins a time on our pavements, her nails were short because of this and her feet were good.
It is only over the winter where things have slipped a little with one thing and another.

Hmm steep inclines, I live in the flattest part of the UK in Lincs... But I think I can sort something out as she does retrieve well and I am sure I can find a slope somewhere.

Our younger girl was born with super super feet as people notice it about her all too often so I am being careful not to let her feet decline.

thanks for all the opinions so far

Jane

My older boy has super tight feet & I've always road walked him, I've not once had to trim his nails. Feet are a "pet" (pardon the pun he he he) hate of mine and I'm being driven made by my over excitable pup who goes flat footed at training! You can see on the mats where he was stood from where little sweaty paw prints are! He's tight as a drum at home but once he gets round other dogs & gets excited he goes flat footed.

Is that maybe where your girl is doing the same? Are her feet ok at home but worse at shows/training?

I agree really, poor feet are just that poor feet.  You just have to hope someone else has something worse in your class.

I don't think her feet are really that poor, I've certainly seen dogs with worse feet winning things. Already now I've been really conscientious about her nails (which are thick and grow REALLY fast) and biking her her toes are splaying much less (it was one from outside toe most noticeable)
SO if I can improve them just a bit like this then it has been worth it...

interesting about putting it on for shows! might have to watch out for that!

Hi Jane. I know it sounds awful and blunt but sometimes better yo hear truths. The long long nails constantly needing trimmed is a very poor sign of bad feet.  People will say that they only walk in the grass etc but any of my big breeds I have owned over the years never or rarely needed to trim nails.   I rarely have to touch my small terriers.   Its a shame as I guess you have a breed it is so obvious on.  Feet seem to be important to. 

You can work on it of course to make slight improvements in the strength of the foot but the bottom line is poor feet are just that.  If you have been put behind others regularly it must  be reasonably obvious to.

Hope someone can give you some tips. 

Not sure I agree with you on this one, Blue.

I have a large RR male, 50 kg, and he's always had exceptionally tight feet, but I still have to cut his nails as we are never on hard surfaces. We are lucky enough to walk on our own land. I have had dogs that have only rarely needed their nails trimming, but they have had slightly softer nails.

They only got long over winter as she was on grass and fields not hard surfaces. Plus she had a phantom and refused to move at all for a few weeks. I simply foolishly and naively forgot to trim them.
I'm gently working them back now 2mm every 2 days to retract the quick.
When I was walking her properly pavements everyday she needed virtually no trimming.
Our puppy has great feet her nails are lovely and soft and easy to trim but do grow quickly. She is done weekly ( front only her back ones are super short)

I take full responsibly for letting it go though...

Swimming can tighten up feet

hiya if its any consolation, my 89kg dogue de bordeaux male has always had really tight feet but still needs his nails trimmed every week,so the comment that nails that need trimming are a sign of very bad feet is not wholly true,my male has one of the best fronts/feet in the dogue breed.i think youre right to up roadwork and try different surfaces like gravel/cobbles/sand-dunes,these are all things people in dogues use to tighten fronts/feet,regards,roy.

I thought a few of you may say that :-)  BUT the only ones I ever see with long nails in Ridgebacks , Rotties , Labs etc week in week out at my Tuesday and Wednesday ringcraft are dogs with not so great feet. 

Even dogs not walked on concrete if out and about enough generally don't need their nails cut weekly, would you not agree.

>Even dogs not walked on concrete if out and about enough generally don't need their nails cut weekly, would you not agree.

Some nails grow like mad though.  I have one dog whose nails just don't seem to grow much at all and another whose nails grow really quickly, particularly through spring and summer.

This, coupled with my desire for neat short nails, and my unwillingness to take too much off at any one time, means I trim his every couple of weeks during his growing season! :)

Like I said I never needed to trim them when she was younger and walked more regularly and far more active (only 14 mths but she is like a GRANNY compared to what she was like as a pup -hyper active always on the go)
Hers grew long simply cos I was a bit rubbish at doing them over winter <ashamed)
Is it really possible that fast growing nails are a foot fault?

I have to agree with Blue.

In my experience you have to breed for good feet, those feet that have thick pads and those with well arched toes, in our breed, never need trimming even when walked on grass.   The well arched toe means that the nail is in constant contact with the ground and is naturally worn down.   Those with a reasonable thickness of pad but whose toes are not so well arched will need trimming every couple of weeks.   Those with thin, flat pads, and splayed feet, these are the ones where the nail seems to come straight out, will need trimming every 3-4 days regardless of the ground walked on.   However, these thin, flat, splayed feet can be improved by keeping the nails short and road work at a brisk pace, which helps to bring the dog up on its pasterns, and makes the foot look vastly improved, as a dog down on its pasterns just accentuates the fault.

Is it really possible that fast growing nails are a foot fault?

I am not saying it is the case always BUT yes, Well really it isn't that they nails grow any faster it is just because the foot is not positioned correctly so the nails rub the ground naturally keeping them short.

I guess there is the exception but the ones I have seen with long nails have poor feet.

I remember a freind coming on one day a few years back and saying "my goodness how do you keep your dog's ( lab at the time) so short"  I never ever had to touch them.  I saw her dog the next week , it had poor feet and long nails. Flat footed.

Even in small breeds with furnishings tight feed with good pads are important.

Fingers crossed you can do something to help BUT I have been honest , I hope I am wrong though.

Thanks for the clarification and further info everyone :0
I am told her pasterns are fine, I will just persevere with getting the nails much shorter and continuing with ample roadwork and hope for the best!

We work ours on the bike for 30 mins at a slow jog on the quiet roads and in open fields that are quite rough, all have super feet.

Is there anyone out there with Pugs and find there nails grow ever so fast!! Its not so bad now that my pup is getting bigger and gets out on longer walks so the roads and harder ground are keeping them a good length, but when he was a puppy i had to trim them once a week at least!! it was amazing how fast they grew!

Thank god i don't have to do it now cause i think he would kill me if i attempted to cut them, hes a bit strange about me looking at his feet. no clue why as hes never had a fright etc, i think hes just a typical extra hyper pug!

>Thank god i don't have to do it now cause i think he would kill me if i attempted to cut them, hes a bit strange about me looking at his feet. no clue why as hes never had a fright etc, i think hes just a typical extra hyper pug!

Scotgal, do persevere with handling his paws.  There are plenty of times when you'll need to have a good look between his pads, cut an untidy nail, or just check him over.  It's far better to acclimatise them gently and regularly from pups than to suddenly have need to grab a paw.

One way of doing it is to handle their paws when they are sleeping or sleepy.  If you can hold a paw and later gently feel around they'll accept it more easily and less likely to be ticklish when awake.  They just get used to it and assume it's a humans weird way of demonstrating affection - odd, but nothing to worry about :)

We have a rescue dog that can be peculiar about his tickly toes but another we've had from a pup that lets me trim his nails and explore his pads like a horse would, I can just pick each leg up from standing and apart from adopting long suffering expression it doesn't faze him.  I know which I prefer and it's  definately easier...

Thanks for this,

When hes sleepy you are right, i can do anything to him he doesnt care, but when hes awake and full of beans there is no chance of me looking at his paws, When hes sleepy i always touch them but he really dislikes it when hes not sleepy, its strange! When he was a small puppy he was fine but now hes totally changed!