Winter weather wrath? Pooches' paws feel the pain, too

LOS ANGELES -- People aren't the only ones suffering from a seemingly endless winter of bone-rattling cold, record-busting snow and ice-slick sidewalks. Pooches' paws feel the pain, too.

While millions of residents from the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast shovel snow deep into the season and hunker down awaiting relief, their dogs are either missing out on walks or left vulnerable to injury with each salt-coated step.

Rock salt and shards of ice can cut feet or get wedged between toes, de-icing chemicals can burn paw pads, and frostbite can happen. That's led to a late-season boost in sales of doggy boots, which can be an annoyance for canines but allow owners to protect pets.

Malia Ebel of Concord, New Hampshire, has four dogs -- two that will wear boots and two that won't or can't. Either way, when it dips below zero, Ebel cancels the crew's two daily walks.

"My two little dogs won't go out the front door without them when it's snowy," she said of the dog boots worn by her Cavalier King Charles spaniel mixes.

The persistent winter has pushed Boston close to its 20-year-old snowfall record with more than 100 inches and seemingly froze Niagara Falls in place. While people throw up their hands at each new storm, the weather is giving a boost to pet clothiers.

At the Barker & Meowsky Paw Firm in Chicago, the number of boots sold each day in the last six weeks was four times higher than a typical day this winter, company President Alice Lerman said.

"Some days all we sold were boots," she said of the pet boutique that sells clothing, furniture and carriers for cats and dogs.