Easy DIY Dog Boots

Reading Time: 4 minutes

It’s cold out and your dog doesn’t need to suffer – make him or her some easy DIY dog boots to protect their feet!

There are a lot of reasons to protect your dogs feet including slippery ice, harmful salt that hurts their paws, the cold elements like wind and snow, sharp objects that can be hidden in the snow and even to help with their visibility!

This is what you’ll need:

scissors
sewing machine
Velcro
Elastic
The material you want your boots made out of (we recommend polypropelene as it is relatively non abresive on their feet and doesn’t absorb water easily, you can use fleece for light use but keep in mind it absorbs water easily (although great on the paws), or you can possibly use corduroy as it is heavy duty material but keep in mind is a bit abrasive on their paws). If you want to get real fancy, you can use cordura for a bottom portion and 200lb polar fleece for the top portion taht doesn’t touch the ground and just protects their legs from the elements.
Vinyl material to use as the non-slip sole. If you don’t have vinyl, you can always use a gripping jar opener 🙂

Instructions for the Easy DIY Dog boots:

Determine dimensions for the DIY dog boots. Measure their paws circumference and leg length: measure all the way around the widest part of your dog’s foot, add 1 inch for seams. Determine how high you want the boot to go on your dog’s leg (Italian Greyhounds have long boots because their legs are skinny, they get cold easily, and it helps them keep their boots on) and note where their legs bend.
Cut a rectangle that is half of the foot circunference and twice the length you want the final boot to be. For example, if your dog’s foot is 4 inches around (including the inch of seam allowance) and you want the boots to be 6 inches long, you need four rectangles 2 inches wide and 12 inches long — one for each foot.
Sew the DIY dog boots. Fold the long rectangle in half lengthwise. The fold is the toe of the boot. Sew the side seams. Fold over 1/4 inch around the top of the boot. Fold again and stitch as close to the first fold as possible to hem the top of the boot. Turn the boot right side out. (You can sew a fleece piece to a tougher fabric if you want to make a more cozy product for your dog, add an extra 1/4″ in width to account for the added layer.)
Attach Velcro to secure the DIY dog boots. Pin a 1-inch long tab of the soft side of your Velcro to the back of the boot. Cut a piece of elastic one inch shorter than the circumference of the DIY dog boot. Pin one end of the elastic under the soft Velcro tab. Stitch the Velcro tab all the way around, sewing the elastic in place. Sew a corresponding hook tab to the other end of the elastic, hook side in. The elastic will wrap around your dog’s leg and the Velcro will hold it in place, keeping the boot on your dog’s foot.
Add the traction material. Cut a circle that is about 3/4 the width you made the initial design. Sew onto the boot. You can opt to add kitchen calk or puffy paint instead (or in addition to) as it also acts like a traction material.

This is a basic design so you have an idea what a pattern looks like

Here are some finished products:

This is a finished product that provides coverage, safety, and warmth for your dogs paws!

This owner added a reflective material to the boot, made it longer to cover more leg and made the traction pieces much larger.

Here is another one that is full leg, I like how this owner made it the same color as her dogs fur and added some furry lining inside!

This shorter design is great for dogs that only need booties!

This is what it would look like if you wanted to use fleece for most of the boot but corduroy for the ‘paw’ portion to protect from the watery elements and abrasive ground material. Note how the corduroy has about twice as much material in the back as in the front. Also note the placement of the Velcro – it goes after every bend in the leg.