Ohhhhhhhhh joy! If your dogs nails are like mine- they are sooooooo big and thick. My other 3 are fine with it, but Hottie has to be done by a outside person- like a vet or groomer. He gets twitchy with me like " mom- ... surely you jest.." I am not sure if it is from when he was a puppy and I had to change bandages or what- but its worth the 7 dollars to let someone else do it, and he just like 'gives up..".. Thats just the way he is.. lol.
I did find that with shepherds, that after bathing them and rinsing them off totally, the last split second switch to slightly cooler water ( not cold) and that does reduce the hair fall out... Something about contracting the hair folicles or something like that.. All I know- is that it worked. You could still get out the dead hair while shampooing with a brush, but it kept the rest of the coat in tact... Not to mention made a wonderful shine as it didnt strip the final oil in the coat..
I am sure you already know this, but it worked for me all those years..