The best way to protect your dog’s paw pads from injury is to have them wear dog booties when walking, hiking, and playing on rough terrain or in extreme temperatures. If your dog has a tough time wearing booties, you can invest in a paw pad wax or balm that helps condition and protect your dog’s paw pads. If you’d like to take your dog hiking, go on longer walks, or play games of fetch in a rough-terrain dog park, get your dog’s paw pads used to it over time by starting with short-duration exposure to those surfaces. This way, you’ll be slowly building up their calluses. Take a minute or two every day to do a paw check on your dog, look for any rips or tears on their pads, and check between their toes and paw webbing for anything that might have gotten stuck in there. Keeping the hair that grows between your dog’s paws cleaned and trimmed helps keep their paws healthy and gives more traction on slippery surfaces in your home, and trimming dog paw pads also makes it easier to spot when there is a problem. Avoid walking your dog on hot pavement and avoid letting your dog walk on surfaces that have been treated with de-icer or salt, as these can burn their paw pads. Take your dog out for their walk early in the morning or late in the evening to keep their paw pads safe from pavement burns, and if you’ve got to take them out during the hotter parts of the day, protect their paws by walking them on grass and other surfaces that are likely to be cooler than the streets and sidewalks. With some easy preventive measures like daily paw checks, conditioning your dog’s pads to rougher terrain, and using booties or paw pad wax or balm, your dog will be able to enjoy their hikes and walks all year round.