Hi I find it a real struggle to keep my pup still enough to clip his claws safely. I have tried giving him something to chew on but he ends up holding it with his paws so I can't get to them anyway! Just wondered how everyone else does it?
I cut my puppies claws for the first time the other day and I basically just waited until he was fast asleep! He woke up during enough to know what I was doing but was tired enough not to care. Didn't move at all. Even if you get one paw done a say, better to do it this way then stress the puppy out and make it a bad experience!
I think there are threads about this. Never needed to clip my girls so no practical help. It seems some dogs are fine some are not. Getting tour dog used to handling is a good idea. A regular check all over including mouth ears and paws is a good idea for all.
We just get the vet to do it when the dog goes in for his injections. Only dew claws need doing once they are out and walking on hard surfaces, and I take mine to the vet for that; they just do it for free.
This is a blog post I made when my pup was a baby. I continued down this line and now she doesn’t flinch when I use either clippers or the Dremel https://thislittledoggy.com/2017/03/04/husbandry-nail-trimming/
I did all the practice handling and rewarding starting very young. But still, Oban thought it was all a big happy game and I needed four extra hands to control the happily waving feet and nibbling teeth. A blindfold did the trick. I would clip with me sitting on the floor, legs outstretched, puppy with head to my feet on his back between my legs. I simply lightly draped a tea towel over his head. He could no longer see where I was going to reach next and lay quietly. Why didn't we video that? Darn, he was so cute.
Thank you for all your ideas! The video of Luna is great, I shall have a go myself doing it in small stages.
Does anyone use the nail grinders (of any kind) or does everyone only use the clippers? Which would y'all recommend?
I use a Dremel Micro on mine, as well as Millers Forge clippers. Willow will only tolerate the Dremel and screams if the clippers even touch a nail. Shadow prefers the clippers but will put up with the Dremel now, too. Luna is fine with either. With both, you have to be careful to only take a tiny bit at a time. The Dremel can make the nail hot very quickly, so you need to use a low setting and only touch it to the nail for a second rather than holding it there. With the clippers, taking tiny slivers (less than a millimetre thick) means you won’t cut through the quick as you will see the change in the nail as you get close, and it also puts less pressure on the nail which can be upsetting to some dogs. Whichever you decide to use, you need to introduce it very slowly, over a period of weeks, in order for the dog to accept it. I have some more resources I’ll dig out tomorrow if I remember.
Wrap him up tightly in a large towel, on your lap, with your arms around him. One foot out at a time, clip and then reward.
I wouldn't recommend this technique, far too stressful for the dog! Instead, invest in good quality clippers, Millies Forge or Thunderpaws (my favourite) which clip cleanly, think guillotine vs crushing sensation. So having the right tools for the job is a very good start. Whatever clippers (or Dremel) you chose after your research, you then have to gently desensitise your puppy to having his paws clipped, as has been mentioned in previous comments. Here is a great way to start!
This is a very useful Facebook group which has lots of files about how to train your dog to clippers and/or Dremel : https://www.facebook.com/groups/nail.maintenance.for.dogs Here's an article by Susan Garrett including a video about the "alternative cut line" which many people are preferring to use these days. I do myself, and it makes a big difference: http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2013/08/cutting-your-dogs-nails-how-important-is-it-really/ If you're trimming black nails, this is what they look like as you get close to the quick. This is not the quick, but the layer of nail around it. So, when you see this darker oval in the middle, you need to stop. If you use the alternative cut line, you can trim the hard nail around this sheath and it will make the quick recede - if your dog's nails are too long, the quick will likely have also grown too long, so you have to coax it back by exposing this sheath and gradually working back over the course of a few weeks.
Honestly, I use a towel wrap on both my cat and my chihuahua. It actually is soothing to them, kind of like the Thunder Shirt. I did not have to use on my golden, Max, he was ok with it from the time he was a pup, but his last year it was difficult; it even took the vet and his adult son to clip them the last time I took him. Now that was stressful, very stressful for him. But he had developed arthritis in his joints and you had to be very careful handling his feet, legs. I finally resorted to coming up from behind him, while he was lying on the floor, and going at it that way. When you live alone, you do not have someone to help hold your dog, and the towel/blanket suggestion from a vet friend has worked well for me with my other two. So far, Moose has been trimmed at the vets, so we'll see how it goes when he and I try it. I make certain that I have handled his feet, ears, mouth, etc frequently every day, so hopefully it will be smooth.
As always, it will depend on your dog. I started off with my husband holding Willow and Shadow, distracting them with a pouch of mushed sardines while I clipped their claws. It worked well - until it didn't. In broad terms, restraining a dog will shut them down rather than soothe them - they have a "learned helplessness" response which is very easy to take as calmness. Thundershirts are a disaster for my dogs because of this. Reading The Other End of the Leash is worthwhile, as Patricia McConnell describes the differences in response between primates and canines in these respects. Anywho, back to the nails. Eventually, Willow clocked what was happening when she was being held and eating the sardine mush, and she didn't like it. She had a pretty violent response to it, thrashed her feet and tried to get away. If she had been of a different temperament, she might have growled, snapped or bitten, but she didn't because she's not like that. I was very green back then with a lot to learn (I still have a lot to learn, but have also learned a lot) and hadn't realised that this restraint was a bad idea for my dog. I had a devil of a job to start over with her, teaching her to accept the process. It took months to desensitise her, during which time I couldn't do anything with her nails at all except let them grow longer and longer. Even now, I have to be really careful not to overdo it and only take a little off at a time. Her nails grow like weeds, so I have to do them every couple of days. But, I can now do all their nails by myself, without restraint which is really important for me (as it means I don't need a helper) and for them. With Squidge, I started off from the outset to do it right, and to give her a choice as to whether she has them done or not and have never had a problem with her becoming sensitised to the process. 19 times out of 20, they let me do them and there is no drama. The other time, they're not not in the right frame of mind and that's fine; I try again the following day - it's no biggie because Luna and Shadow's have never become long enough to be a worry, so a day here or there isn't an issue.
