Get a better grip this winter (Photo: ice cleats with small spikes/teeth attached to a pair of winter boots)
One of my clients fell and broke her hip last year. Needless to say, it was a traumatic and painful experience for her and her dog (she dropped the leash, he ran away, and people chased him - he’s a very nervous dog, so this was very scary for him.)
This year, she wanted help teaching her dog how to walk nicely on the leash.
Last week’s blog post was loaded with tips to help your dog walk better on the leash.
This week, we’re talking about ice cleats to prevent you from falling on the ice whether you’re walking your dog or shovelling your driveway.
Ice cleats fit overtop of your boots (or shoes) to provide traction as you walk on ice and packed snow.
I purchased my first pair roughly fifteen years ago. They were made by Yaktrax and were the coil design.
Time to research and replace this pair of Yaktrax (Photo: my rusty, ancient pair of Yaktrax coils with the rubber snapped attached to my winter boots)
They functioned really well, except for on snow-covered sports fields, where they would constantly fall off. Yaktrax recently added a strap across the top of the foot, so they reportedly no longer fall off in deeper snow.
Coils provide a good grip on ice and packed snow, but they are insanely slippy on asphalt (and heaven help you if they uncoil a little bit and you have a runner mat inside your home.)
I continued to use this pair of coils even once the rubber on the bottoms had snapped. Despite no longer covering the entire bottom of my boots, they still functioned fairly well, until I tried them after an ice storm. After sailing along on my back alongside Magic for a good ten feet, I decided to (finally) research and replace this pair.
You can go down a real rabbit hole while reading reviews online, so allow me to save you some time.
After many hours reading reviews and asking friends and random strangers about their experiences and preferences, I realized that what I really needed was to talk to an expert. I spent an afternoon chatting with a very knowledgeable staff member at Atmosphere in Guelph, ON. He owns three different pairs of ice cleats for three different sets of conditions (including a pair for ice fishing.) Here’s his advice based on all of the clients he’s served over the years and his own personal use (and yes, he has a dog.)
Which cleats will suit your lifestyle the best? (Photo: person hiking beside a frozen waterfall with an off-leash dog)
We discussed coils first. I told him I had read a lot of reviews that said that the rubber on the bottom of the Yaktrax is still breaking really quickly. There’s also a lot of reports online that the coils are getting rusty almost immediately.
Atmosphere’s resident guru said that perhaps the people who wrote these reviews purchased the wrong size and didn’t follow the care instructions. You’re not supposed to put ice cleats away wet.
I was super interested to learn about cleats (the kind with tiny spikes,) because they are very popular with all of the dog walkers who I’ve met while walking in the forest. Yes, I stop people all the time to ask about their ice cleats.
The gentleman I spoke with said that Korkers Ultra Ice Cleats are a great solution for dog walking in the city because they aren’t as slippery on asphalt compared to coils and cleats with large spikes.
Here is a view of the top and the bottom of Korkers Ultra Ice Cleats (Photo: a pair of Korkers ice cleats sitting on a festive Christmas tree skirt)
The drawback to cleats is that sometimes a spike falls off while you’re walking and you don’t feel it let go. He suggests buying a backup set of spikes, so if one falls off, you have a spare ready to go.
Cleats wear down, so they don’t usually last more than one season if you wear them as we city dwellers do, on terrain that is part ice, part packed snow, and part asphalt.
What I personally love about Korkers is the design. They have a strap on the back that’s very similar to what you find on snowshoes. It tightens to your boot, so you can wear it on your snow boots or toss them on your Blundstones in milder weather.
When I’m researching a product, I want to learn it all, so naturally we talked about spikes next.
These are what spikes look like. (Photo: ice cleats with spikes/teeth attached to a pair of winter boots)
Spikes are the ice cleats that look like huge metal shark teeth. His advice about spikes was that they are amazing on ice. He wears them exclusively for ice fishing because they are quite heavy and would be dangerous on asphalt. He also said most people don’t find the heavy duty spikes super comfortable over long distances, so they may not be the best choice for long walks in the forest with your pups.
Personally, I don’t love the idea of giant spikes being anywhere near my dog’s paws as I trudge up icy hills in the forest.
I also thought it would be very impractical for most hikes, because you usually have to cross a street to get to the trailhead. One of my favourite trails is off of a busy road (it’s an 80 Km speed limit where people drive at least 100 Km/hr) and there’s a bend in the road, so you often have to hustle across at light speed.
The hike begins with a steep icy hill.
I imagined taking off my gloves to yank the spikes onto my wet boots in minus thirty Celsius while standing on the edge of this busy road and thought: spikes are not for me. I definitely wanted to be able to put my cleats on while sitting in the car and safely cross the road to get to my favourite trail.
What did I purchase?
Ultimately, the Yaktrax lacked the ability to adjust the size, so this writer went with Korkers cleats.
Magic is ready to walk and I am ready to test these out (Photo: Magic the Rottweiler posing with the author’s boots and Korker’s Ultra Ice Cleats)
Leave it to Guelph that I purchased them in December and have only needed wear them once so far, so I can’t say for sure how they perform over the longterm.
I can say that I tested them on icy sidewalks and a ramp and I didn’t slip at all. And yes, I went up and down that ramp several times just for fun.
Remember that how you FEEL matters very much to your dog. If you’re walking along trying not to fall and worrying about breaking bones, your dog will take the lead.
If your dog is a back-of-the-pack (sensitive to noises, on the nervous side) they will be super stressed out taking this job from you.
If your dog is reactive on leash, it will not improve until you take the lead on the walk. If you’re walking worried, I recommend some ice cleats to help you walk with confidence. It will make a huge difference to how your dog perceives your energy.
Calm and confident leadership all the way!
Have a wonderful (and grippy) weekend, Dog Leaders!
Alyssa
PS Do you use ice cleats? Which ones do you like the best?
PPS Yaktrax now makes ice cleats that are half coil and half cleat. The gentleman working at Atmosphere and I are both curious about how they will perform. Let us know in the comments if you’ve tried this combo cleat.
Photos by: Patrick Schneider @patrick_schneider (ice cleats with small spikes/teeth attached to a pair of winter boots,) Alyssa Foulkes (my rusty, ancient pair of Yaktrax coils with the rubber snapped attached to my winter boots,) Will Swann @wlll (person hiking beside a frozen waterfall with an off-leash dog,) Alyssa Foulkes (a pair of Korkers ice cleats sitting on a festive Christmas tree skirt,) Patrick Schneider @patrick_schneider (ice cleats with small spikes/teeth attached to a pair of winter boots, Alyssa Foulkes (Magic the Rottweiler posing with the author’s boots and Korker’s Ultra Ice Cleats,)