I made Fritz Dog Boots!

This is from a few years back but still worthy of sharing with my friends here. :)   We adopted Fritz from Adirondack Save-A-Stray four years ago.  He is a rescue dog that came to NY from Puerto Rico.  He is the best pal we could of asked for.  He knows what's 'his' in the house and what not to touch of ours.  If it's not given to him it's not his and he won't touch it. 

Fritz loves the snow but his poor paws get so cold when walking in the snow we get here in Upstate New York.  It's either the cold or the salt they put on the roads that make his paws hurt.  He will hold a paw up and refuse to walk.  So I had the bright idea of making him boots. ;)

This story starts out in January of 2009.  The day started out with me finishing Fritz's snow boots.  I had bought the materials a while back and had started working on them.  I thought they turned out good compared to all the different boots I had searched out online.  That and I have never made a dog boot before..lol 

Back Side of Boots:

Front of Boots:

Needless to say Fritz was not amused with them.  I thought they looked adorable on him...but Fritz had other thoughts.  If looks could kill...lol

 

I had to force him to walk with them on.  He actually did okay with them.  They have as you can see in the pictures white grip pads which kept him from slipping around.

We went outside.

And that's where all went wrong.  I took him to the backyard and put him on his run.  He just stood there. He was probably so embarrassed that one of his dog friends might SEE him with those 'things' on his paws..lol   So I decided just to walk him about the yard on his leash until he was comfortable with them.  He was doing good and then I decided it was time to go back in the house.

Well Fritz had other plans and jerked his head and slipped out of his collar and took off running......down the street.  Flipping off his boots as he ran.  Well I was right behind him running.  After about a mile I couldn't run any more. (It was below zero that day)  He thought it was this big game.  He'd run about a block and wait until I could catch up a bit and then take off like a bat out of hell.  I thought I was never going to catch him.  We ran/walked for miles.  I had people coming out of their houses with treats (which being a picky dog Fritz ran away from them refusing their treats).  I had this guy walking his Golden Lab trying to help.  He tried for the longest time to help me get Fritz.  Fritz would run up and see the dog until we bent to grab him...then he' run off.  Ahhh the fun he was having! ;)

Bill had been at home the entire time I was doing all this.  He had no clue what was going on.  He finally noticed I was gone and my camera was sitting on the truck as I had tossed it up there when Fritz took off.  He took off in the car looking for us.  As soon as he saw us he drove up opened up the door beside Fritz and jumped out and grabbed him.  I couldn't believe it...he didn't run from him.  He thought I was just playing a game! grrrrr ;)  My lungs felt like fire...breathing in all that cold air.

When we got back home I only had one boot left in my pocket! :(  We drove around looking for them.  We found 3 total.  1 was still missing.  I think these teens that were walking by may have picked one up.  We looked and looked and it was no where in site. :(

Speed ahead to this winter (2011) Yes it took me until this year to decide to try them again..lol   I had used one of my jar openers for the first four so I had to scrounge around for another jar opener.   I had used the opener for the grippies on the bottom of each boot.  With another opener found I made him a new boot.  He's done well with his boots this year.  No running away from me.  Although that nightmare fills my mind every time I have him out for a walk with his boots on. ;) 

 ~~~~~~~~~~

I found the idea to make these boots at the link below.  I used her general idea and changed it up a bit.  (higher boot, double elastic and added a warm lining)  You'll find the pattern here:

http://domestikgoddess.com/sew-your-own-winter-dog-boots/comment-page-2/#comment-6102

 ~~~~~~~~~~

I am joining Debbiedoos' Pet Partay!