I have never really had to cut his nails before because we walked a lot on the road and gravel paths. We have been doing more running and walking on dirt and sand so his nails are getting too long. He has a serious issue with me trying to clip his nails. I searched the forum but just wanted your opinion on how to help this and what clippers or device to use. I mention toenails and he splits.
Hi Andrew, the secret is to take things very slowly building up his tolerance to the clippers and associating them with yummy treats so Gus knows there's nothing to fear. I clicker trained my rescue dog Charlie to allow me to clip his nails that grow at a rapid rate, I have to clip them every other week. I started by having a bowl of high value treats next to me, firstly let him sniff the clippers = C&T gradually, very gradually then stroking his toes with them = C&T, then I took a smidge of one nail = C&T until eventually over many weeks he let me clip them all one at a time. I took it so slowly that now I only have to produce the clippers and say "nails" and Charlie is sat infront of me tail wagging offering me his paws. I can now clip all his nails in under a minute If you rush it you will make matters worse. I use standard clippers with a guard that I bought on Amazon for £6.00 which I have had for a few years. Good luck! x
Helen describes it really well. I don't need to clip nails I'm lucky. I know others have used a dremmel device to "sand" the nails. But again, building up really slowly as Helen describes.
My vote is always for a Dremmel. So much easier and a better, smoother, longer-lasting result than guillotine clippers. But really important to get your pups used to the noise and feel of it as the others have said. Also use it on yourself first to get an idea of how it can heat up the nail bed if you leave it in the same spot too long. Anyone who has had their nails done in a salon will already know this, but if you haven't, it's really important to understand before trying out a Dremmel. Add polish as needed after trying it out.
If you do go the nail cutter route, rather than the dremel, only cut off a sliver at a time. You want to avoid causing any pain from cutting too close to the quick.
Definitely! Also in case you do get a little to close to the quick, it's a good idea to have a little pot of styptic powder on hand to quickly stop the bleeding.
We do the same as Charlie, but we don't use the clicker. Every morning Nelson sits on his bed, waiting to have his nails done. The clippers touch every nail every morning, and he gets a kibble for each. We snip a tiny bit off one or two nails each session (and my wife maps what has been cut with scribbled paws on an old envelope).
We have been trimming our cats nails since they were 3 months old and came home so luckily we are not nervous and everyone gets they nails trimmed one after the other. I find that the nervousness can be the undoing of the "cutter". Like everyone says, you need to build up to it slowly, maybe just touching the clipper to the foot in a general way or even putting it next to the pup. Harley is an easy going dog so we started off doing one nail a night until we were sure she was steady and wouldn't pull her paw away. We still have one person feeding her some treats while we trim. And yes, less rather than more is always best. Good luck.
I'm like that with normal nail files. I can't abide having my nails filed, it makes me shiver just thinking about it!
