If you own a dog and live in a region that receives a lot of snow, you understand the snowball in the dog paws problem.
The dog goes outside and gets snow stuck in their paws, the dog tries to get the snow off of their paws by licking their paws. Normal dog behavior, but the dog licking turns the snow into snowballs and then into ice balls which sticks to their paws because the dog's paw hair is frozen inside the ice ball.
To help keep the snowballs off of the dog paws, frequent trimming of the paw hair is needed. The hair under the paw and between the toes needed to be kept as short as possible during the winter months. Wipe your dogs paws as soon as you return from a walk, to remove the snow, salt, de-icers and whatever else your dog might have on his paws.
There are also products available that will help keep dog paws snowball free, products that are marketed for use on sled dogs paws. A wax product called Mushers Secret prevents snowballs from building up on dog paws and also protects the foot pad of the dog paws from salt and de-icers.