Oh my, Willow's claws have become SO sharp in the last couple of days! Obviously, we're working on her not jumping up and not pawing, but that's a work in progress and in the meantime, ouchies! I tried to clip them last night, and managed to get two in the space of about an hour. There's no way of doing it when she's awake and the problem is, since we gave her the run of the apartment, she sleeps really lightly so that she doesn't miss following me if I go to the kitchen! I saw someone on here say they trained their dog to scratch on a plank with some sandpaper on, so I'll give that a go later on. Not long now before we can go walkies (shhhhh! Don't say the word!!) and hopefully they'll sort themselves out then. I am going to work on desensitising her to the clippers because I think that's important, but it isn't going to solve my immediate problem.
Re: Nails - ARGH!!!! Gosh you are brave to tackle that Fiona! I'd never go near Bob with a pair of clippers.. I remember my son's hair once after I'd hacked at it with a pair of scissors... I can't be trusted not to maim or injure! Liking the scratch pad idea... will remember that if Bob's become too scratchy... I think on our Pet Plan it includes nail clipping though - I'll have to check.
Re: Nails - ARGH!!!! Oh gosh....I agree you are brave ,terrifies me a bit.we do a lot of soft surface walking ....understandable really when we live in a Desert ???so I have to get Dexters clipped ,probably every 4/5 months but the dog groomer does it for me...the sandpaper post is a great idea !
Re: Nails - ARGH!!!! Haha, yeah not much hard ground in the desert We're going to be the same when we get out and about because we really don't need to walk on any tarmac, ever. Except to the pub and back. Hmmm, maybe I'm on to something here. For Willow's wellbeing, we need to go to the pub. I just ran this past John, who said that the problem is, once she's in the pub, she's not walking on tarmac. So we'd then have to go to another pub. And then another. Problem solved!!
Re: Nails - ARGH!!!! Just had a good look at Lady's nails and they are fine so our walking seems to wear them down ok. It's mainly field walks with some lanes and tracks. Must be sufficiently abrasive to wear them down even though most of the walking is on clay soil. As far as I recall they have only been clipped a couple of times since she was a puppy and she's now 5 years old. Get down to Oman, Helen! Plenty of gravel desert there that should wear down the Yellow Fellow's claws. When we lived there the border was pretty porous around Al Ain.
Re: Nails - ARGH!!!! Jacqui posted this link the other day and I found it really interesting. I'd naively never considered that keeping claws short was anything but aesthetic and to prevent scratches! http://www.dogheirs.com/dogheirs/posts/3923-how-to-trim-your-dog-s-nails-and-why-long-toe-nails-are-harmful-to-your-dogs-health-video
