I bought these for my aging large-breed tripod. His remaining back foot, in particular, needed some protection. He has some arthritis in his hip and when he gets tired, he might drag his foot, which causes abrasions on his toes, etc.. Plus, while out on a walk back in November, he lacerated his back foot pad and some toes and it took months of daily dressing changes at the vet to get it cleared up and fully healed. I do not want to go through that again. To date, he has demonstrated no discomfort in wearing the boots and we have not experienced any skin abrasions, blisters, etc., after wearing the boots (with the socks). I have piece of mind that his feet are protected from anything on our short walks. He does seem to not fatigue as quickly when wearing the boots, so it may be that his feet are just more comfortable now.