Nail trimming

It's such a pain!

Ollie wriggles around and kicks his legs like his about to be murdered! He does the same thing when I'm just touching his paws. He used to be fine when he was a tiny baby, I guess he didn't have as much strength in his wriggle or kick. I don't know what to do! The last time I even tried to cut his nails (maybe a few months ago!) I cut a quick so I've been nervous to try again. His de-claws are the major concern as the other nails can be filed down on walks.

Thanks for any help you can give!

When we adopted Sonny he too was a nightmare about getting his nails trimmed. It took a lot of perseverence to get him to where he is an now, which is reasonable.

The problem is that every time a nail trimming session gets turned into a battle of wits or a quick gets cut, the dog gets more & more negative about it.

Go back to basics. Start by handling the dog's feet with no aim at cutting nails. Make it fun, a game, with rewards. In the game touch all feet, every toe, separate them, tap the nails. Do this until he is okay with it. Then get the nail clippers and again, no aim at cutting anything. Let him sniff them, touch his feet & toes with them, reward him. Then when it is time to cut (and this could be weeks away), just do one nail & give a food reward. Next day, cut one nail again & food reward. Work up from there.

Another alternaitve is to dremel the nails down. I do this with my Boxers & Sonny is just starting to have his done too. It is much less traumatic than cutting, much less of a chance of damaging the quick or causing pain by sqeezing toes. However, in long haired breeds, you do have to be careful not to get hair tangled in the dremel too. Here is a web site that spells it out. It pretty well tells you just about everything you need to know about dremeling nails.

My Boxers lay down all relaxed, as though they are at the beauty parlour when they are having their nails dremeled. I am so glad I changed to this system.

http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.htmlhttp://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html

I think Caraline has nailed down your homework! But until you get him used to it this is how we cheat: We do Kodee's nails when she is resting beside us on the couch at night and in a very snoozy mood. We just do 1 or 2 or 3 and get the rest another night. If she is a little awake I hold a piece of cheese for her to lick while my husband clips a few.

I think that is really smart Kodee. People seem to feel that they are failing in some way if they can't cut all nails in one session, but they should not feel that way. Honestly, if folks need to keep the clippers by the lounge chair & just cut one tonenail every night, then their dog would have nice short nails with a maximun length of 20 days growth. And, if you can manage 2 nails a night, then that is only 10 days growth. That is far better than having a huge battle every month when you notice the dew claws threatening to embed themselves in the leg.

I sneak up on Beau when he is sleeping too.

Wesley and Cody get the sneak attack method as well!! Zoey's toes are ALL black so I don't want to risk cutting the quick and Stewie is just plain evil. I take those little monsters to the vet and the techs trim them for $10. Stewie takes 3 people to hold him down + a muzzle...which is my I don't do it myself!!

Same crazy kicking from Libby and we have been cutting her nails since she was a wee girl. My husband now holds her after a bath and we clip. I agree you may not get them in one sitting.

Thanks for the advice, especially Caraline! I'll keep at it and see if I can get him comfortable. If not, this may become a 3 person job! And the sleepy method doesn't work for Ollie, he can wake up and sprint off before you even realise!

moniechris said:

Zoey's toes are ALL black so I don't want to risk cutting the quick and Stewie is just plain evil.

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Oh you poor baby! My Sam the Boxer has 3 black toenails & I totally hate trimming those ones.

cavalicious said:

I'll keep at it and see if I can get him comfortable.

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The key to it all is, stay cool, stay relaxed, breathe, have little expectations & make it fun. You'll get there!

Hey, don't you all just love the new "Multi-Quote This Message" function!!!

Try sitting on the floor with your legs stretched wide and Ollie on his back, between them, head towards you. Have you clippers to hand, but not obvious and stroke him, letting him relax. Then have a go.