Shoes for dogs is an emerging trend in the fashion world, but do our beloved pooches really need a pair?
While some dogs need to wear shoes to protect their paws while out on the job or for medical issues, "there can be a lot of problems" with booties for the average dog, veterinary doctor Shalsee Vigeant told Seven Sharp.
"There are some actual medical reasons and some good reasons to put shoes on your dogs," she explained.
"But I think some of the problems are, I think, if you're putting these shoes on to cover a problem — dogs chewing at its toe or licking its foot — and you're not actually checking to see what's going on, that can be a big problem for us. We have seen that.
"A lot of these shoes, too, are kind of waiting for a foreign body to happen when dogs that want to eat those.
"I do think you have to be careful with it."
But fashionable footwear isn't all bad.
"Some of the good reasons that you use those shoes, like the sand's really hot when you're out on black sand. We forget that sand gets in them and that can cause problems."
So is there ever a good time for dogs to wear shoes?
"There is, in a sense," she said.
"We get dogs that start to get arthritis and nerve degeneration in its back legs and it might drag those back legs and they form sores. Shoes are a really good reason for that.
"And if you live in places where you need to de-ice a lot, some of those chemicals that de-ice are not really pet-friendly to the skin or kind of caustic."
Shoes are also good for dogs walking on hot pavement.
"There is a lot of other reasons that they can be medically good, it's just making sure that you're using them in the right way, as with everything."
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