190
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #175,271 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Officially a Staple Pet Item! Lifesaver.
Listen. Our floors have basically been a layer of dried dirt since November. Trying to wipe down my dog's paws after sprinting at the speed of light through our mudpit yard clearly wasn't doing the trick, and trying to use a big bowl/large cup of water + a towel to clean her paws just took too long and was very messy. So, in short, I love this thing. Loooove. But I have a few tips:
1. Introduce your dog to it before using it!!! (Unless your dog just doesn't care at all about having their paws messed with.) The last thing you want is your dog being afraid of this little thing and having them pull away and fight you while using it. It'll probably be a completely new sensation for them, and I for one don't like forcing my dog to do things and give her negative associations with that thing. So anyway:
a. First I rewarded her first for sniffing it, bumping it with her nose, just interacting with it.
b. Then I rewarded her for voluntarily lifting her paw(s) to touch it. (Shake command. See video. You can see she's less thrilled about her left paw, which is also the paw she is not used to us messing with. She's fine with it now.)
c. After she was comfortable with that, I would stick her paw into it (no water yet) and hold it there, while rewarding her. As I reward each new part, I stop rewarding the previous step (like the paw-touching.)
d. Next, I rewarded heavily when I move it up and down and around on her paws (super new sensation!),
e. And then finally I repeat that with water and/or soap. (Only reward while using it! Not after taking their paws out!)
Now she'll come inside and let me do it without rewarding her at all. She doesn't enjoy it per se, but she is not afraid of it or stressed about it. The introduction process initially took about 30 minutes, and then after the intro I only rewarded her while using the product on her paws the first like, 10 times I used it.
2. Water alone works fine. I've only used a drop of her dog shampoo soap if she's insanely dirty.
3. Next tip, only fill it 2/3-3/4 way up. This way you can do vigorous up/down/twisty movements with no spilling.
3. Do this over a mat or towel, or have a hand towel ready immediately after taking each paw out of the water. Otherwise you'll still have to clean up the floor. (Microfiber towels dry the paws pretty quickly.)
5. Sizing: I went for the Medium and it works perfectly. My dog is technically a “Large” dog at 57lbs, but she has a narrower build and her paws are not very big. I wanted the rubber parts to be able to get in and around her paw pads as well as being able to go up her legs a bit and the Medium is perfect.
Last thing: the water gets so muddy that while wiping the paws dry, you might think the thing didn't clean them! But I assure you it's just the muddy water - we have clean paws over here and no more dried mud on the floors. Clean-up of the product is very easy, I pretty much just rinse between uses and then clean it at the end of the day and lay it to dry. However, it IS dishwasher safe!! Anyway, everyone in my house is on board using it, and we like it a lot. It is so much quicker and way more effective than trying to do anything else.
January 2021 · Pet Supplies · verified purchase