# Removing Great Globs of Phlegm from Dog Feet



## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

One of the "perks" of living in Asia (outside of Singapore) is the daily hopscotch you get to do to avoid the various chunky puke puddles and the jiggly, quivering globs of phlegm. I'm quite used to watching where I walk and very, very, very rarely step in anything (unless there is just no other way to proceed). The dogs, however, don't share my squeamishness. Walking through things that rate high on my ick scale is not something that they think twice about.

So, sometimes, when I am washing their feet after we come in (I'll bet that now everyone completely understands why I think this is necessary), I get that familiar slimy, gooey, feeling in my hand that you usually only get when you blow your nose during a bad cold and the tissue fails to hold it all and you end up with it in your hand. Except, this isn't your own snot...this is some stranger's "lung butter" as some foreigners here call it. (And it is much thicker in consistency than the average snot during a cold.) This is cold, nasty and almost spongy in texture and you don't know how sick the person was who coughed it up and spat it out. And, not only is this on your angel's foot, but you've got to use your very own hands to get it off.

First, let me tell you from experience, that using your own fingers to repeatedly try to pull it off just won't work. Somehow, it clings. Perhaps the slimy texture is what prevents you from getting a good hold on it. I still find it amazing that something so slimy can be so sticky at the same time. 

Soap will not work. You can try dog shampoo, your own soap...it is not going to break down the mucous glob. For the longest time, up until yesterday that is, I would settle in for a good 10 minutes of washing the guilty dog's foot and trying not to feel like puking when I manage to remove a long strand of phlegm and watch it swish its way to the drain. I thought there was no other way.

However, yesterday, I finally had an epiphany. Soap doesn't work...perhaps something gritty would. Since I use baking soda to wash my hair, naturally I had a container of it in the bathroom. I quickly ordered Sir N to stay and not make a bolt for freedom and poured a good amount of baking soda into my hand. Then I commenced with scrubbing his foot. It did not hurt him in the slightest...he appeared to believe he was getting a rather marvelous foot massage and closed his eyes in pleasure. The phlegm came off! This was the fastest way I've ever been able to remove a phlegm glob from a dog foot....and this foot happened to have a lot of hair in the pad as he was long overdo for a foot trim. (Phlegm tends to cling to hair and make removal even more difficult that when the foot has been freshly shaven.)

So, if your dogs ever step in phlegm, you know now a wonderful way to remove it.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

So WHY are people there so phlegmy? And WHY is phlegm and puke all over the streets?








I imagine that it would be much like tobacco products that I have to keep mine away from around here-cigarettes as well as chewed kind...but it is often on the ground at the park etc. But that phlegm is a common issue on your walks and that you have to clean others' off is just plain GROSS!


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

I don't think I would take my dogs for walks if there was all that on the ground. That walk can't be good for them.


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## KandiMaltese (Mar 27, 2007)

.


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## dolcevita (Aug 3, 2005)

That may be the grossest thing I've ever heard!!!


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

> My husband (who lived in thailand for 4 years, and NO he is not Thai he's american) actually told me that it's insulting to spit on the floor in an asian country.
> Andrea[/B]


Oh, sure, it's insulting to spit on the FLOOR....but the STREET? That seems to be free territory. We DO have a stroller. HOwever, when I take them out, it is for them to pee and poop. I prefer they do that OUTSIDE of the stroller.











As for why people have so much phlegm, I think it has to do with the pollution. I know that *I* have to cough up quite a bit every single morning. It's worse here in Seoul than when I lived on Jeju. When I lived in America, I was only coughing stuff up when I was sick (and I rarely got sick in America). 

I also think that Koreans just do not see anything wrong with spitting in the street. You can see well-dressed businessmen doing it. Fashionably dressed young women doing it. Children do it. Grandparents do it. For the most part, you rarely see a foreigner do it. Some do though...once you are here long enough, you start to adopt some of the local standards. I've done it ONCE in my nearly 10 years here. That was when I was really sick and the alternative was to swallow the huge glob. I was discreet though and spat into a trash pile where no one would step into it. I've read that in China, the government is trying to discourage public spitting. I'm hoping that Korea will decide not to be left behind.


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

..and you like it there? I've heard enough.


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## PreciousPrince (Feb 27, 2006)

I don't see how that could be good for them or you either. Have you ever tried dog booties? If they don't like the little shoe kind, they make little disposable rubber ones, kind of like a ballon material. I'm sure the shipping would be high, but it would be worth it so that neither party has to go through this!


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## KandiMaltese (Mar 27, 2007)

> ..and you like it there? I've heard enough.[/B]



better words never spoken!
















Andrea


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

Hahahahahaha~ Yeah, I like it here. There are negatives, this being one obvious one. On the bright side, there is far less broken glass, no used condoms and no used needles lying around and those are all things I had to deal with in the States. Every place has its nasties, I suppose.

As for booties, Little C would prefer to have her feet amputated and will not MOVE (will barely even blink) when wearing booties. Sir N will wear them, but they always rub his "ankles" raw within minutes. I've bought more than 15 different kinds, all with the same result. When his hair is longer, it protects his legs, but then he ends up with really bad mats within minutes. In any case, feet are washable. They aren't stepping in the phlegm on a daily basis or anything as we do not go far from home on our bathroom homes. Less area covered, fewer chances of getting slimed.

Anyway, I'm none too pleased with the area where we live, and I do intend to leave Seoul at the end of my contract. I was desperate when I signed up with this school and didn't really have a lot of choice. Remember....I had thought we were moving to America and that got cancelled two weeks before the flight, which meant a mad scramble for a new job and a new place to live.

I'm now planning on moving to Geoje Island next. Will hopefully have far better stories to tell once there.


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## dogloverx3 (Apr 14, 2006)

EWWWWWWW . Sarah


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## mee (Jul 17, 2004)

haha NC mom,








yeahh korean phlegm can be pretty nasty 

im thinking of going to korea in about 2 weeks, i should be careful while im walking


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## sassy's mommy (Aug 29, 2005)

Ugggggg..........I don't think I could allow my baby to walk in the phlegm, but I am glad you found a remedy for taking it out of the hair.


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

Sassy's mom, it's not that I allow it. It's that it happens. I can't always see everywhere that they are walking because they don't walk together. Sir N walks as far back as the leash allows and Little C walks as far forward as the leash allows. Of course if I actually SEE it, I prevent them walking in it.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

My goodness woman, what is it with you and your graphic posts???????? LOL!!!!

That just is SO unsanitary. BLECK. Yep, other countries certainly have their "customs" don't they?

I had some Chinese friends over once in college and I made them milkshakes and, when one woman was done, she belched the LOUDEST belch you can imagine. A belch for the cook is a compliment in China, lol. But we're not used to that here, lol.

But yeah, there is no reason to EVER be accepting of freaking plegm (I don't even know how to spell it) on the street. That is WAY unhealthy. Imagine the germs the pups pick up and you as well. I'd highly recommend those "rubber booties" that someone else mentioned. They look like little latex balloons. They allow the paw pads to still be able to feel the street, don't cause the foot to bend in any unnatural positions, etc. I have them for Ollie as I don't like him stepping in salt and antifreeze streets here in the winters. Not to mention the streets are darn cold and filthy in the winter.

Yeah, please don't take the doggies out without something on their feet in conditions like that.......


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## Deborah (Jan 8, 2006)

Yuck! Even I would make my dog wear some kind of foot covering. My goodness it can't be healthy for you to be touching that stuff in order to clean it off. I know that those of us in the states are sometimes over the top about germs: but I could not deal with that.


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

I've tried putting booties on them. I've literally spent hundreds of dollars on various brands of booties tryign to find some that will not rub bloody welts on their legs. I refuse to pay another dime as their feet ARE washable. So are my hands. Sure, it's nasty, but it does wash off. I'm more horrified by the spiders moving into my house than the occasional phlegm.


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## Harley & Dakotas Mum (Jun 11, 2005)

Yes, its a revolting situation to be in, no doubt about that, and I certainly don't envy you, so I just wanted to say ... what a great mum you are!









Lets face it - we ALL get the poop off our babies butt at some point ... it actually makes me gag & almost throw up, but I do it, cause I'm the mum, and that's my job. Not to mention it's hard to ignore and will get all over my furniture & my bed if I don't do something about it pronto!!








Well done N & Cs mum!!


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

Poop. Now there's a story. Or did I already tell the story about accidentally cuddling Sir N's poopy butt after he had already tried to tell me about it?

Which leads me to another story....have I already posted the story about accidentally fondling Sir N's penis IN PUBLIC for several minutes until finally realizing what I was doing???

Oh, the stories I could share......


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

> I've tried putting booties on them. I've literally spent hundreds of dollars on various brands of booties tryign to find some that will not rub bloody welts on their legs. I refuse to pay another dime as their feet ARE washable. So are my hands. Sure, it's nasty, but it does wash off. I'm more horrified by the spiders moving into my house than the occasional phlegm.[/B]


It's not the "nasty" factor that bothers me. I'm a mom to two skin kids and any mom knows "nasty" and it doesn't make them flinch. It's the GERMS that I'd be worried about. You could get really, really sick. Or the doggies too. Have you tried the latex booties. Their claim is that they don't come off and I can testify that they do NOT cause welts or anything like that on them. It's even advertized that you can use them for foot injuries to keep the doggie from picking at their feet (I saw a huge German Shepherd with one on his foot that his owner was using to keep him from chewing on his foot). 

Here in the states when you go into a pediatric doctor's office they keep "sick" kids on one side of the office and "well" kids on the other side (there are little signs) so that the well kids are not exposed to the germs that "come out" on surfaces when sick kids sneeze or vomit, etc. coming in contact with phlegm is just setting youself up for illness. Hope you can find a better solution for pheglmy feet....


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## Kara (Apr 29, 2007)

OMG gross, sorry I couldnt read all that, but I feel so sorry for you having to do that. I hate the sound of a phlegmy cough let alone touching other peoples. Ugh...gross.


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## gatiger40 (Jun 7, 2007)

Wow, no disrespect to other countries, but thank God I live in America!! Home of the brave and phlegm free streets!









Happy 4th of July!!


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## NC's Mom (Oct 23, 2004)

> Wow, no disrespect to other countries, but thank God I live in America!! Home of the brave and phlegm free streets![/B]


I dunno. I far prefer the phlegm to the used condoms and syringes that littered the streets where we lived (Sir N and I) during our year back in the States. Every country has its nasties.


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