there is no chance i would run my dog on the ground where i am its not snow its fields full of ice and where there isnt ice its plough fields and the ground is just solid clumps of muck but there as hard as rock, so realy it hasent just got to do with how hard there pads are, theres knocked toes an broken legs to wory about to, so in the long run its not worth the hastle of having a laied up dog, or even a dead dog as there is a chance of that too