Summer: the ground is much hotter than the air
The number that surprises everyone is the gap between air temperature and surface temperature. On a sunny day, asphalt can run 40 to 60°F hotter than the air. An 85°F afternoon can produce pavement well over 135°F — hot enough to cause pad burns in under a minute of contact.
Dark asphalt is the worst offender, followed by artificial turf, rubberized playground surfaces, metal, and sand. Concrete runs cooler than asphalt but is still a problem in direct sun. Grass and shaded dirt are dramatically cooler and are what you should be routing toward.
The other thing worth knowing: surfaces stay hot long after the sun has moved. Asphalt that baked all afternoon can still be dangerous at 8pm on a summer evening. Early morning is the genuinely safe window; evening often isn't, even when it feels cool to you standing up in shoes.
Signs of a pad burn
- Limping, or refusing to walk after being fine
- Licking or chewing at the feet persistently
- Pads that look darker than usual, or unusually red
- Visible blisters, or missing patches of pad surface
- Reluctance to put weight on one foot
If you see blistering or missing pad tissue, that's a vet visit — burned pads get infected easily and are painful for a long time if not treated properly.
Heat is a bigger risk than pavement
Paw burns are painful. Heatstroke kills, and it does so faster than most people expect. Dogs cool themselves almost entirely by panting, which becomes ineffective in high humidity, and they carry no useful capacity to sweat.
Highest risk: flat-faced breeds (Bulldogs, Pugs, Boxers, Frenchies), overweight dogs, seniors, puppies, dogs with heart or airway conditions, and thick-coated northern breeds. For a brachycephalic dog, a walk that another dog would find unremarkable can be genuinely dangerous.
Summer routine adjustments
- Walk at dawn and after dark. Shift the whole schedule rather than shortening the same midday walk.
- Route on grass and shade even where it's less direct.
- Swap physical exercise for mental work on the worst days. Scent games and puzzle feeders tire a dog out without heat load.
- Carry water on every walk in summer, not just long ones.
- Never leave a dog in a parked car. Interior temperatures climb dangerously within minutes even with windows cracked, and even on days that don't feel hot.
- Booties work if your dog will tolerate them, though most dogs need a gradual introduction indoors first.
Winter: salt is the hidden problem
Cold itself is manageable for most dogs. The bigger winter issue is chemical: rock salt and de-icing compounds. They cause stinging irritation on contact, dry and crack the pads, and — the part that matters most — are toxic when the dog licks them off its feet at home, which every dog does.
Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride are more aggressive on pads than plain sodium chloride. Ethylene glycol antifreeze, which pools in driveways and parking lots in winter, is a separate and far more serious hazard — it tastes sweet, dogs will drink it voluntarily, and a small amount can be fatal. Any suspected antifreeze exposure is an emergency.
Winter routine
- Rinse or wipe paws after every winter walk. Warm water and a towel by the door. This one habit prevents most winter paw problems.
- Check between the toes for ice balls, which form in the fur between the pads and are genuinely painful. Trimming the fur between the pads in winter helps a lot.
- Use a pad balm before walks as a barrier and after as a repair.
- Watch for limping mid-walk — often salt sting rather than injury. Rinsing solves it.
- Avoid the sweet-smelling puddles. Bright green or orange, often near parked cars.
- Consider a coat for short-coated, small, senior, or thin dogs. Not vanity — a Whippet in freezing wind is genuinely cold in a way a Husky is not.
Year-round paw maintenance
- Check paws weekly. Look between the toes for grass seeds, cuts, cracks, and swelling. Grass awns in particular can migrate into the foot and cause abscesses.
- Keep nails short. Overlong nails change the dog's gait and put strain on the toes and joints. If you can hear clicking on hard floors, they're too long.
- Trim the fur between pads on hairy-footed breeds — it collects ice in winter, mats in summer, and reduces traction year-round.
- Condition gradually. Pads toughen with use. A dog that walks on grass all year will struggle with a sudden long hike on gravel.
None of this should stop you going out. A dog that walks daily in all weather is healthier and happier than one that doesn't, and the adjustments here are mostly about timing and a towel by the door. If you're picking somewhere to go, the city pages list parks and shaded green space near you, which in July is the difference between a good walk and a vet bill.