Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased Ultra Paws Rugged dog boots in size large for my adult basset hound to use on snowy/salty sidewalks during our daily walks. While the Amazon store has no sizing chart, I found the chart on Ultra Paws' website, and the boots are true to their sizing. I have returned them due to poor design. Upon receiving the boots, I put them on my dog, and they fit well on all four of his paws. However, within minutes of him walking around on carpet, the front boots slide down beyond his pasterns and flew off. I attempted different adjustment combinations of the two Velcro straps (tighter and looser) following the instructions, but the problem continued. The back boots stayed on just fine, which leads me to believe that the problem is with the boot's design. These boots will not work on dogs, like the basset hound, whose paws bend 90 degrees at the pastern if the boot covers the joint. The boot has no angle or elastic material sewn into the fabric to accommodate for a steep degree of bend, so they only work well on legs that have a shallow-angled bend at the pastern, like a basset hound's hind legs, or if the pastern is above the actual boot where the fabric does not have to bend at all. To use a human example for clarification, imagine as a human putting on mid-calf boots that are straight and have no bend sewn into them for the 90 degree bend at the ankle. If you could theoretically flatten your foot in line with your leg to first get the boot on, like a dog can, the boot would quickly slide down until the top got past the 90 degree bend at the ankle once you began walking where the boot would then flop around and then fall off. That's what's happening with my dog. I am disappointed that neither the Amazon store nor Ultra Paws' website says anything about the types of breeds that can successfully use these boots. Instead, both sites and the boots' packaging claim that these boots will never come off, guaranteed, which obviously is an erroneous claim for dogs who have leg anatomy like the basset hound's. I recommend that anyone interested in purchasing these boots look at a side photo of an adult basset hound to see exactly what type of leg geometry I'm referring to and compare it to your dog's before purchasing the boots. If these boots will cover your dog's pastern and your dog has more than a 45 degree bend there, I would not purchase them. You will either need a boot that covers just the paw and not the forearm or a boot that will bend with the pastern. While my dog never wore the boots outside, I can attest that they appear to be of quality construction with thick non-treaded rubber heels that look like they should perform well on a variety of surfaces a dog might come across in city walks and going into buildings. [Update 1/4/2012: After returning the Ultra Paws boots, I tried a couple other brands. I finally found one that works very well with my basset hound. They are Muttluks "All Weather" model. Unlike the Ultra Paws, they have a flexible construction with a leather sole, nylon exterior, and an elastic cloth upper that allows the boot to flex with the dog's pastern. I've used them for a few weeks now on long walks and have not experienced any problems with them falling off like the Ultra Paws.]