Stopper Pad Injuries (or more technically, injuries to the carpal pad) can occur in various ways.
We often see friction burns to the stopper pad in dogs who compete high speed sports such as Flyball. When the dog stops swiftly, bounces and turns himself off the box for the second leg of his run, it’s not unusual for them to damage the pad and/or strain the ankle joint if they don’t get it quite right. The same injury can happen during enthusiastic play or chasing a ball on hard surfaces.
Another injury to the stopper pad can be received when dogs are tearing through undergrowth in the woodland. Often when chasing each other (or an unsuspecting rabbit), leaping over trees and shrubs with little or no regard for their footing, sharp edges and thorns can easily catch the flesh of the pad or dewclaw itself and lacerate it.
This injury happened to Axl many years ago now while chasing a squirrel through a wood. It ran up a tree and when he got to the bottom, he put his paw down right on the top of a broken bottle and virtually severed his stopper pad entirely from his leg, necessitating emergency surgery and 8 weeks of dressings and treatment. Once the pad dressings came off, I was very cautious for quite some time while out in the woods in case he caught it again. Stopper pad protectors were our lifeline.
So what can we do to protect our dogs if these are the kind of activities they love to do? Well, there are some brilliant little protector pads you can get which the dogs can wear for doing things like flyball or woodland walks. These same nifty covers are also great if your dog has already injured his stopper pad or dew claw area as they will protect the pad after the dressings are removed and until you are confident that the wound has fully healed.
These ones are available through www.CanineCavern.co.uk
click link: Stopper Pad Protectors by Canine Cavern
Strains and sprains can be supported and prevented by such covers but there are also some good ones available through Back on Track which are great for helping dogs with arthritis and also those needing to get over serious injuries and surgeries.
http://www.backontrackproducts.com/Dog-Leg-Hock-Wraps-c23/
My catahoula is constantly ripping open her carpel pad, by climbing trees, iam a human paramedic, but this last time, there was no vet open at 6 am. I cleaned very well and dry bandage, she keeps ripping off, shes keeping it clean. Any other advise about this
Hi Lorie,
The best advice is to keep the pad moisturised and as elastic as possible. Skin that is dry and hard is much more likely to split. Skin that is elastic will conform to the changing terrain and “give” rather than crack so this will help it to heal and prevent it happening in the future. I would cover when she is out, to protect it, and something like the stopper pad covers will help you with that. This is an injury that will need a while to heal with integrity so keeping it covered through undergrowth etc is vital.
Best wishes
Do you ship to the USA?
Hi Jackie,
Yes, we do ship to the USA but you would need to message me to let me know what you wish to order so that I can calculate the shipping costs for you.
You can email me directly at Kerry@Rhodes2Safety.co.uk with your order and I can sort that out for you.
Best wishes
Kerry
Hi I got a grayhound and he’s split his top stopper I wounding if you can still race them with a dog stopper pad on thanks
I wouldn’t race a dog with an injury of any kind to be honest. Far too dangerous and what could just be a slight split now would very likely become a huge problem if put under such massive stresses that occur when running flat out.
Best wishes