Question: My dog loves walks and with winter upon us, salt is everywhere. Salt seriously dries out skin, so what is a good moisturizer for both her and me?

I have all natural coconut oil based lotion and cream and Aveeno Oatmeal lotion, are either of them OK to use on Maggy, the border collie?

Answer: 
Vaseline works just fine. A dab on the paws before bed and a dab before walks. If you want I'd shop for one but you can make homemade moisturizers for your dog. 

> 
> Shea butter
>  Lavender oil (Lavendula augustifolia) (I chose this because of its calming healing properties)
>  Vitamin E oil
>  Beeswax
>  Olive oil. Pure. Organic. Extra Virgin
>  Little metal containers
>  All the products that I got were all natural, human grade.
>  The actual making was super easy:
>  I used a double boiler over low heat and combined
>  4 tsp. of beeswax
>  2 TBSP of shea butter
>  2 TBSP olive oil
>  about 1 tsp of vitamin E oil
>  a few drops of lavender oil
>  I stirred all the ingredients together until the beeswax melted and then poured it into the round metal tins and let it set.
>  I only use this as needed. For instance, I won’t use this every single time the dogs go out in the snow in the backyard, but I will use it when we are going for long walks. You don’t want the pads to become too soft, as this may cause more injury. Also, remember that keeping the hair between your dog’s pads can make the balm easier to apply and help minimize snowballs. From: <http://mybrownnewfies.com/2013/12/12/homemade-paw-balm/>
> 
> 
> 4. Moisturize, moisturize, and then moisturize. Your dog’s pads can easily get dry and cracked so ask your vet about good pad moisturizers designed especially for dogs. Do not apply hand moisturizers for humans as it could soften the dog’s pads; thereby, possibly lead to unwarranted injury. From: <http://www.dogingtonpost.com/paw-care-taking-care-of-your-dogs-feet/>
> 
> 
>
The dryness might just be a symptom and salt might be the problem to address. 

When living in a Northeast city with my dog, I vaguely remember vets telling me that salt was very corrosive for a dogs paws and that the dog should wear booties or the salt should be rinsed off after walks. We had a small Tupperware container of water near the door and would briefly swish the 4 paws in it.