Dog boot sizes: measure the paw twice

Dog boot makers do not even agree on what to measure. Ruffwear, Hurtta and Kurgo size boots by the paw’s width; Muttluks and Pawz by its length, heel to the tip of the longest nail. Then they disagree on what to do between sizes: Ruffwear says size down, Pawz says size up. So trace the paw once, take both numbers, and read each maker’s own chart by its own rule.

5 charts, each read from the maker’s own page on 2026-10-05. We have not tested these boots.

How to measure a paw for boots

1. Stand the dog on a sheet of paper with its weight on the front paw — a paw spreads when it is loaded, and four of the five makers ask for it standing (Pawz does not say). Lift the opposite paw if the dog will let you.
2. Trace round the paw with the pen held upright, or mark its widest point either side and the back of the heel and the tip of the longest nail.
3. Width: across the widest part of the print. Length: back of the heel pad to the tip of the longest nail.
4. Do the back paws too. Ruffwear notes that rear paws are often smaller, Hurtta says to measure front and rear separately, and Kurgo sells its shoes in pairs because front and back may need different sizes.

Same word, different boot

The labels mean nothing across makers. A Hurtta S is a 40mm-wide paw; a Kurgo Small is 63mm. Ruffwear does not use letters at all — its sizes are the paw width in inches, from 1.50 to 3.25. A Muttluks S fits a paw 70–83mm long, a Pawz Small one up to 64mm long. Take one 60mm-wide, 70mm-long paw: it is a Ruffwear 2.25 in, a Hurtta XL, a Muttluks XS and a Pawz Medium — and too narrow for any Kurgo Blaze Cross size.

What each maker says to do between sizes

• Ruffwear: Between sizes, size down.
• Hurtta: Take the size closest to the paw width: the smaller if the paw is under 0.5cm wider, the larger if more.
• Kurgo: No rule published; the nearest size is shown.
• Muttluks: Choose the smallest size that fits the whole paw, nails included.
• Pawz: Between two sizes, select the larger.

Each rule belongs to that maker’s own boot, so the finder above applies each one exactly as the maker states it rather than one house rule for all. If a paw sits right on a boundary, the maker’s rule decides.

Every chart

Inches converted at 25.4mm and rounded to the millimetre. Pawz prints “paws to” limits, so each size here runs from the previous size’s limit. Where a maker’s chart disagrees with this page, the maker is right. How the charts are kept: the method.