trimming nails

I trim my dogs nails every week or two. They are kept short. I have worked with Gracie since she was 9 weeks old. She loves to have her nails trimmed and any sort of grooming. I've worked with Charlie since he was 6 weeks old. He's always hated having his feet touched. And when it comes to nail trimming I either have to have a helper to hold him down or have the vet do it. He will literally try to bite my hand off! Are any of your dogs like this even though you have done thier nails their whole lives?

Do you use a clipper or a Dremel? IMO, you can't go wrong with a Dremel. It's the most gentle procedure for trimming nails, and, if properly introduced, can be 100% stress free for both dog and human. Giselle falls asleep when I do her nails :)

One note, if your dog always associates nail clipping with two humans pinning him down and grabbing his legs and feet, he'll naturally learn to hate nail trims. ;)

I use a dremel only on Gracie. When I showed it to Charlie he sniffed it and when I turned it on for him to get use to the noise he freaked. A lot of noises scare him. I just let it run while I was brushing Gracie and had Charlie runnin around the room. For 25 mins he cried and hid in his crate. I tried a couple other times hoping he's get use to it, to no avail.

I only started needing a helper with Charlie when he reached 5-6 months old. He got too big for me to handle on my own. He hasn't always been held down.

Gull was horrible as a puppy with the whole grooming experience. I never used force though and eventually grooming became very easy. I'd have one goal everyday for our grooming sessions. It started with just touching his nose and ears and feet. I'd put peanut butter on my fingers and as he licked it, I'd touch him all over. Once he was cool with that, I moved onto the next goal.

Just clipping one nail. I stayed determined, that I'd get one nail clipped and although I was firm in my resolve, I never forced or held him down. The key I think is in knowing that you only have to succeed in getting one nail done, helps reduce your stress.

I'd hold his foot and calmly talk to him, telling him... he just had to let me do one toe... that's it and we'd be done. I'd keep moving around the room with him, talking and holding his foot, until he finally calmed down and I'd quickly snip the one nail... Then major celebrating... He circled me, while I did some big woohoos and then I gave him a treat... Soon a routine began to form. Clip a nail... Circle me... Get a treat... We still do that now. Routine really helps.

After going to a groomer, when he was a couple of years old, we had to start back at square one. I'm not exactly sure what they did to him, but he was nutty again about it. It didn't take long to get him back to where he was though. Once the routine kicked in, he was okay with it.

I've never had success with the dremel with the Collies. They're just too sensitive to noise. Using the clippers with mega rewards has always worked best for me.

Par...

I have been trimming Lacy's nails since she was eight weeks. She used to run and hide everytime I brought out the nail clipper. I don't need help to hold her down though since she is small (she's a rat terrier) but it is hard since she shakes violently and I'm always afraid I'm going to cut the quick. Most of my other dogs are fine with it. But I do have a few that won't move their body but they'll jerk their paws away from me. :rolleyes:

Jada and Diamond dont mind their nails clipped at all. Ebony, thats another story. I was watching The Dog Whisperer once, him and his wife were doing a dog that hated his nails done. They waited until the dog was calm amd relaxed then they put a towel over the dogs eyes. Cesar's wife clipped all his nails in in no time. The woman was fast. ;)

My husband tried that with Ebony. It worked like a charm, he did do it when she was sleeping.

:) Well my outside dogs do so much digging that they keep their nails trimmed.. Now for my indoor cats :rolleyes: Well there is two babies thats like OMG.. But with a wittle talking & whisker kisses we get it all done.. I do theirs tips every two weeks..

Sugar was trained well, she tolerates nail clipping.

My cats are mixed. Some hold out the paw, and ask "manicure,please." Others, well, it is a struggle. And I have done all of them since the day they arrived. Different strokes for different . . . pets, I guess. :rolleyes:

We went through the same thing with one of our German Shorthaired Pointers at 7 months of age. Beau had been used to having his nails clipped from the time he was still in the whelping box.

Out of the blue one day he refused to let me do his nails after I'd barely tipped the first one. Hubby and I both couldn't restrain him. I took him into work with me thinking with a vet and 3 techs we'd manage to get the job done. He began screaming the instant he saw the clippers and we had to give up. GSPs are extremly tough dogs and screaming isn't part of their nature. I completely overlooked the first clue!

Foolishly since he was a hunting dog and his nails weren't out of control, I let it slide for three months before trying again. When I got the nail clippers out he was calm and quiet until I did the first nail and the battle was on again.

A few days later while having lunch with my friend (who was also my regular vet), I casually mentioned Beaus apparent phobia to her. She suggested that I bring him in so she could lightly sedate him and take a closer look at his nails.

Closer examination revealed that even though his nails on one foot looked normal, they were hollow shells and some were filled wiith pus! Apparently he'd slightly ripped a nail in the field and even though there were no physical symptoms, it was enough to allow infection to set in. When toenails become severely infected there is a danger of the infection getting into the bone.

While Beau was still sedated, she cut the nails back cleaned them thoroughly with a solution of Betadyne and peroxide. She also put him on antibiotics and I soaked his feet in a Betadyne solution twice a day for the next 3 weeks.

Once the infection was cleared up he was back to his normal cooperative self while getting his nails done.

I'm not suggesting that Gracie has a toenail infection like Beau did; but there might be some unknown physical reason for her actions.

Thanks for the advice! I'll keep it fun and calm and not hold him down next time. See how this goes.

When I first brought Mister home I did the same thing got him used to his feet being touched and used to be able to trim his nails without an apperance from kujo. But recently all that went out the window. Now feel free to laugh at the next part as it is quite funny :D I bought a pair of doogles for him for car rides and such as where he is a chihuahua his eyes are twice as sensitve as other breeds. ANYWAY I discovered that when I put them on him he goes completely limp and doesnt move a muscle. So now when its time to trim his nails I put the doogles on him and trim them then I take them off and hes fine agian. :rolleyes: Strange I know but it beats paying the vet to do it and the vet even has a diffcult time with him. Best of luck to ya :D

What are doogles ? Smokey hates his nail trimming. Took him to the vet
today & he was a complete dream of a pup. :) Never flinched once. It was
over in minutes. He got plenty of treats for that. :)

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Originally Posted by lizbud

What are doogles ? Smokey hates his nail trimming. Took him to the vet
today & he was a complete dream of a pup. :) Never flinched once. It was
over in minutes. He got plenty of treats for that. :)

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dogles are like sunglasses for dogs. You can buy them at PetCo, PetSmart, PetEdge, or most other pet stores.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lute

dogles are like sunglasses for dogs. You can buy them at PetCo, PetSmart, PetEdge, or most other pet stores.

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Oh thanks. I remember seeing those before. :)

Now try picturing them on a chihuahua cause there smallest size is STILL 2 sizes too big for his little head I dont have any pics of him i will take some tomarrow then youll see why its soo funny :p

yup, my moms dogs are nutty about getting their nails clipped. Ripley needs 2 people, one to slio and one to hold a spoon full of PB lol its the only way your getting near his nails. Perky is actually fine, she requires PB to get her nails clipped because she knows Ripley gets it, so even though she knows darn well how to behave with the clippers, she will throw a fit and act up just so we will give her PB while clipping lol. Blair in another story all together. he HATES having his feet touched, he completly freaks out and gets extremly aggressive, we have requred 3 people and a muzzle to keep him from seriously injuring someone while clipping his nails..and that was when he was sedated. we are normally positive all the way for these things, but he wont touch food or toys whatsoever if you are anywhere near his paws. after years of work with him I have managed to be able to clip his FRONT paws without getting attacked, but he needs to be leashed, in a small room, alone with me, and I need to be extremly firm with him, cutting him off at the pass if he tries to attack. I still cant get near his back paws though, and his double dew claws back there make it even worse, I have the odd time manged to distract him long enough to snip a single back paw nail without getting attacked, but afyter the one he is on total gaurd and it aint happening again lol

I definitely have to see that picture of Mister too. He must be adorable.

My dogs were okay with trimming until they got older. Same with brushing. As soon as they hit about 8 or 9 years old, things changed. They started getting wierd about things like that (bathing too). I found dogs develop phobias as they get older and it doesn't matter if you've done it all their lives. Cats are another story all together. Kudos to anyone who can trim a cat's nails. I got bit and scratched so many times, I just took them to the vet. Too painful. :eek: