I didn't see your video!! Yes, that's the one I saw a few years ago. Erm, Canadian, not US - apologies both!
The white bit is a kind of dry "husk" around the quick. If you look at the underneath of the claws, you'll see it better. It's sort of flaky. It's dead, so no problem cutting it, but it is close to the quick. Excuse the awful Paint skills, but this might make it clearer: Left is side view. Right is top view. Black is outline of the nail, and pink is the quick. So, what I do* is to a traditional cut, the dark blue, until I see the dot that tells me I'm near the quick (on dark nails - on Shadow's nails, you can see it). I do this in tiny slivers, because you can't tell how far the quick extends into the nail. On some dogs, it will be very long, on others it will be shorter. Once I have that blunt cut, I then do the alternative cut (green) which takes off that extra bit on the top of the nail. That makes the nail sort of chisel-shaped. Looking from the side, it has a bit of a point on it, but from the top, it's flat. So, what I do then is angle the sides in (light blue). This means that the entire nail finishes in a point now, which means the quick is petty much as close as it can be to being exposed in all planes. This will force it to recede, so on the next go, you can get the nail shorter. With Shadow, I do all this with very sharp clippers. With Willow, I use the Dremel. That's because they both intensely dislike the other tool - I'd actually prefer (and am working towards) being able to make the dark blue and green cuts with the clippers and then use the Dremel to do the light blue - because the clippers don't heat the nail so you can take more off in one session, but the Dremel leaves the nail smoother so less likely to snag. * In reality, I do a bit of a "whittling" technique of all the lines because it's more practical for taking off the very thin slivers, but what I'm aiming for is what's written above. Now, don't be fooled into thinking my dogs' nails are perfect, because Willow has gone hugely backwards in her tolerance to it, so I've not been able to do hers properly in ages, and so they're far too long
Thanks this is really helpful. I will pluck up the courage to replicate it Luckily for me Charlie only has to see the clippers, my foot stool and his bum is firmly planted and he is giving me his paw, because he knows there's CHEESE involved x
They sit on the sofa and I sit on the floor in front of them. I don't mind if they're in a sit or a down, just whatever's most comfortable for them.
I find it very difficult to sit in front of Charlie to clip, I've tried. I sit on a foot stool and have him sitting to my left, he gives me his paw, so I can't see what's going on underneath the nail. I guess it stems from cutting childrens toe nails. That's why I'm nervous about the angled slithers. I'll have to get round it, somehow.
A tip I learned when Oban was a puppy who thought nail clipping was a great game is to put a towel over their head so they can't see. With his eyes covered he lay quietly on his back between my legs as I sat on the floor and I only needed two hands. Without the towel I needed another three hands, one for each other wildly waving, pawing, kicking puppy foot. WE did graduate to horsey style nail clipping but due to his sore elbow he's back on the floor these days for his front feet. I still put the towel over his head, to prevent nail clippings from dropping or flying into his eyes. I have to add, there is a drawback to horsey style nail clipping on the back feet. Waggy gets in the way.
I'm glad this thread was started. Axel's nails looked a lot like Stanley's. So now been twice for a trim and will keep it up weekly until they are nice and short. Im still too chicken to try myself, even though Axel doesn't bat an eye when he gets them clipped.
I did it as per @snowbunny drawing, I felt a little nervous but one paw is done. I don't think I took enough off but I did only do them a couple of weeks ago so didn't want to push it A groomer once told me that Charlie had very long nail beds. I tried with him laying on the floor, I asked him to 'roll over' which he did so I was at his head end so I could see the back of his nails, I snipped but I did find that position very awkward so I might just try it the way I have always done it. Not a peep out of Charlie as sausage and cheese was heading his way. 1 down 3 to go x
I think you'll find this works better with you straddling him, kneeling, almost sitting on his tummy, and facing his head. Then you can see the bottom of his nails, where the quick is, and you can take off angles if you want. I do the angled cuts too, the odd time I miss a few clips and they get longer than I want.
Tilly is difficult to trim, but Cooper is impossible. Fortunately she runs enough to keep them worn down right now, but it is going to be a problem in the future. The kennel we use has 5x20 ft runs for each dog (ours go in one run) and with the concrete floor Cooper will wear her nails down quite a bit in a week. At $40 a day it is a pretty expensive pedicure. I used to throw a Frisbee in the street for Tilly when she was younger. Running on pavement was enough to keep her nails in good shape. She is too old to run hard now, so we have to do more trimming. Does anyone here use a Dremel type tool for grinding nails instead of clipping. One of our friends has that equipment for his Sammy, but I think Cooper would dislike the grinder even more than the Clipper. (She is the dog that doesn't even like being brushed)
I do with Willow. It took a long tome to desensitise her to it, but I got to the point where I could do all her nails no problem. She's regressed recently, though
