When it comes to dogs, most people associate webbed feet with breeds that work in water.  In truth, all dogs start life with webbed feet, but the size of the webbing can differ according to the breed, and dog that retain “significant” into adulthood don’t have webbed feet like ducks or or geese. Others just retain a thin “membrane” or extra skin between their toes.

For the same reason that swimmers and SCUBA divers wear flippers, webbing helps a dog swim better and more efficiently. Webbed feet are also useful to dogs who run in marshes and on muddy terrain, and when we checked the Internet for the “top ten breeds with webbed feet,” not surprisingly, all were either sporting breeds, or working breeds associated with water (think Newfoundland and Portuguese Water Dog).

One breed that has webbed feet might surprise some people, and that’s if they’ve even ever heard of it, and that’s the Sloughi.  Its feet are lean and resemble a rabbit’s foot in that the middle toes are larger, but the paw is in the shape of an elongated oval and webbed overall. Webbing helps the dog get traction in soft desert sand, and sand is much of the terrain of its homeland: Morocco, portions of Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, and throughout the Sahara Desert.  Sloughis were dogs of desert tribes who used them to chase down desert game such as hare, fox, jackal, gazelle, and wild pigs on the punishing terrain of hot sand.

Image: “Sturdy and Powerful” by Ari Salmela is available as a fine art, and in home decor and lifestyle items here