I've just got in from my weekly bike ride with my dog (we go for a few miles by bike on Saturdays, just me and him). But, when I was walking to the place where I usually go, the roads had been redone. As the weather was so hot the tar was melting and I didn't notice. As I've been away for a while I wasn't sure when the road had been resurfaced. There are no pavements as it is a simple country road but I started noticing my dog limping. I looked at his feet and they were thick with tar and stones. I stopped and tried to pull off as much as I could then phoned my dad (he works on lots of sites so I phoned for advice!), my dad said to walk it off. So I continued with my ride. At a t-junction there were two maintenace workers, one on a mobile and the other just stood around. The woman who was standing around was smiling at my dog which was when I asked her why there wasn't a sign anywhere saying that there was melting tar on the roads and for people to be aware of this. She told me that they don't have a sign like that so I asked her why don't they write a few and stick them up somewhere. Surely it can't be that much hassle as she was only standing around! I showed her the state of my dogs paws and continued. I went onto the the ranges (I live on the Salisbury Plain) and these are just dusty roads which the army, dog walkers, joggers and off-roaders use. We stopped at our usual point to have a rest and a drink and I noticed that his paws were slightly better. And off we went again. But, once we'd finished on the Plain I had to go back on the road. Luckily for me and my dog, it was mostly in the shade so there wasn't as much melted spots but I had to keep pulling him around to stop him from treading in more sticky tar! When I got home my dad had some special soap which is basically granules and we rubbed it into my dog's feet then washed it off. But there is still some tar remaining.

This incident has quite upset me and the fact that the workers couldn't even be bothered to help cheesed me off more. Had to get this off my chest. And by the way, if you're out walking your dogs this weekend and the road looks at all shiny, go back the way you came because the last thing you want is my problem.

K

You can remove tar with lard, butter, WD40 etc.

The best thing to do is not to take dogs out after 9.00 am and before 8 pm

Trying vaseline then baby shampoo. Regardless at what time of the day I took the dog out, they should have had signs stating that there was tar melting. And they didn't even wanna know about it!!! And I definitely wouldn'tused WD40 on the dog's paws lol!

WD40 will be harmless to a dog's feet...............

WD40 is fine, I used it to get tar out of Megans coat, worked a treat

But the tar has broken the paws on the feet and there's blood so I realy don't want to use anything chemically. Sorry, I didn't mention it before.

Lard, butter and even marj really do work and shouldn't sting, pretty messy though :D

Nothing can be anymore messy than this pickle lol. He's asleep at the moment so I'll do it after their dinner. Thank you!

At least if you use one of those three he will help you clear up the mess :)

Poor thing my friends retriever had this happen to her so she rang me up and we just warmed it up again with a hot shower and pulled it out but it sounds like your poor dog is in a worse mess.  Hope he feels better soon.

Well, I gave him a thorough wash with some washing-up liquid which has helped quite a bit but his paws are so matted together. Just when you think you've managed to sperarate it all, it dries and forms clumps again. Also rubbed vaseline in his fur where it has splashed but doesn't seem to be doing much. I'm going to do the washing-up liquid technique again tomorrow and then some baby shampoo on after.

Luckily, I'm having to go to the vets this week with my other dog so I'll have a chat then. Otherwise, we'll have to let it grow out and that could take ages.

Rub in plenty of butter/marge/vegetable oil and let it soak for a bit (try and stop him licking it off)  then you can get more of it out with washing up liquid :) :)  keep using the butter/marge/oil and washing off until its all gone :)

Try vegetable oil, margerine oil...Don't use anything that will be harmful to your dog since they lick their feet.... It will eventually wear off but I would give this a try. My hubby works in an imulsian plant and this is what he has used, he has also paved for 10 years and had where owners dogs have come into contact with their freshly paved driveway....

Sorry but I am amazed anyone would make thier dog run alongside a bike in this scorching heat.  Surprised the poor dog didn't keel over with heat exhaustion.
Hope his pads are ok.

Olive oil works a treat...just comes straight off...

He wasn't running alongside the bike on the road and it was not scorching hot. Thank you.