What
are booties? They're little sacks made of a variety of material that are used to
protect a dog's feet. The dog might need protection from harsh trail conditions such
as granular or icy snow, a sharp gravel trail or he may have an injury that you need to
put medication on and use the bootie to keep him from licking the salve off. Booties
can be made from polar fleece, nylon pack cloth or even old blue jeans. Polar fleece
works best in snow while the other materials work better on dirt and gravel. Some
people even make their booties out of polar fleece with a covering of pack cloth on the
sole for added wear.
To make a bootie for your dog, you will need; a piece of polar fleece or other material about 4 inches wide by 12 inches long. This piece of material will make a bootie to fit an average Siberian Husky, but you can make it larger or smaller as you need it. You will also need a piece of elastic webbing 1 inch wide by 6 inches long and a piece of hook and pile velcro 1/2 inch wide by 2 inches long. Use a strong thread and sew the hook velcro piece to one end of the elastic webbing. Turn the webbing over and sew the other end of the webbing with the pile velcro on top to the material. The piece of webbing and velcro should be centered on the short edge of the material about 1/2 inch from the top. This will be the outside of the bootie when finished. Next, roll up the elastic webbing and fold the material in half so that the webbing is now inside. Sew a seam 1/4 inch from the edge starting at the top. When you approach the bottom, sew a semi circle around the bottom and finish with a 1/4 seam back to the top. Be sure that you don't catch the free end of the elastic webbing in the seam. When finished sewing, you can cut off the excess material at the bottom and turn the bootie inside out. Just put the bootie on the dog and wrap the elastic webbing around the leg and stick the velcro together. Make sure the bootie fits the dog before you make a bunch of them! The bootie should just fit without being too big or too tight.
Some people just sew up a bootie without using the elastic and velcro. They hold the bootie on the dog with black electrical tape. However you hold the bootie on the dog, it should be tight enough so that it doesn't come off, but should not be so tight or stay on the dog so long that the circulation is cut off to the foot. Happy sewing!