Stanleys nails are looking a bit long and no way am I tackling them things! Is it better to take him to the groomers to get them done or the vets? Thanks
I would investigate local groomers who use force-free methods and are willing to spend as much time as necessary with him. Vets often don't have the time to be anything but perfunctory with it, and if you need several sessions to get the set done, that could be very expensive! You might also consider making a scratch board and training him to do his own
It probably depends on how Stanley is with getting his nails cut. If he's fine with it then a groomer should be fine but if you're worried about how he'll react, the vet might be easier.
We had force free groomers but they said they didn't feel comfortable doing Ella's nails as she wasn't happy and they didn't want her to see their place as a bad place to go.
Yes, I know there are some who will spend the time on a program of conditioning to accept having their nails clipped, but this can take a long time (many sessions) and it's not necessarily going to be easy to find one. My dogs' nails have to be done very regularly, so I couldn't afford for them to be rushed. Willow still struggles sometimes, and that's after a huge amount of time dedicted to it. If she had one bad experience, it would be disastrous. I think Stanley is a bit more robust than The Duchess, though
Nell had dreadful long nails on her back dew claws , almost full circle , our Vet made short and sweet work of clipping them for us , and now I cut off the nib myself . I understand your reticence though , black nails are the devils own to trim x
I've just had a practice at holding his paw and looking as though I'm going to cut his nails with some scissors. He was just looking at me like but didn't seem particularly phased by it. I'll have a research of some groomers and hopefully be able to get him in this week while I'm off
We have been trimming our cat's nails since they were just little kittens and it is a force free, stress free duty that they both sit through. We haven't trimmed Harley's nails yet and they seem okay in length, I will have to check tonight.
Dog nails are a bit different to cat nails, because they're so much harder which means, unless your clippers are super sharp, you have to apply more pressure to cut them. Willow is completely intolerant of that pressure, even though she has never been quicked. At first, we just used distraction with a baby pouch of pureed sardines, but that quickly stopped working and left me wishing I'd approached it properly from the offset. I would prefer to use both clippers and Dremel with all my dogs (clippers to remove length and to shape, Dremel to smooth), but the other week, I tried for the umpteenth time with the first steps of desensitisation to the clippers and she screamed as soon as I touched her nail - with the clippers closed! So I put it in the "not worth it" pile again, and went back to the Dremel. You build up a list of things you will do differently with the next puppy; Luna had Dremel and clipper lessons from the very beginning and couldn't care less about it. Although, she's not quite the drama queen that Willow is, either.
I never cut Doug's nails they were just too weird because of SLO so the vets always did them. I went once and it was the new vet. I could tell she thought nails you can't do them? So I smiled sweetly and she had a go. She just looked at me and said bloody hell and started to laugh. I just giggled. I do all the others Moo "don't like" Rorys ok, they are both really good. But I walk alot on concrete and they wear down, i need some new clippers though. Some vets do a nurse led clinic and they do things like nail clipping.
I've taken Ariel to the groomers from the beginning. They dremel her nails, and she's a perfect angel for them. And she loves that they fuss over her and have treats available.
I've found one that comes out to your house. That could be a winner as at least then he's in his own little environment
Good news Jen, just make sure the groomer comes into your home and doesn't take Stanley to the grooming van which might unsettle him. Years ago I made this mistake with Charlie, he was anxious as he has been transported lots of times in vans, I should have thought it through but now I clip them myself. xx
Maybe if you go that route you'll see what they do and feel like you could tackle it yourself. Unless Stanley has nails that are really curvy (like a dewclaw) it's pretty much a jump in and learn together kind of thing. @snowbunny had a really good de-sensitization tutorial on her Luna blog, if I remember. But I totally understand why you don't want to do it, especially with the black nails where you can't see the quick. My friend with the chihuahua takes her dog to the groomers and she has nails that are like little pins (easy to cut) plus clear so you can see precisely where to cut. I'm always telling her just to hand Fine over and let me have at it. She never takes me up on it. I think she thinks that because Brogan's nails were nearly the same size around as Fine's legs, that I might get confused and cut off her leg instead of a nail.
The trick is to approach it like shaping a rose bush and take really thin slivers off bit by bit - less than 1mm thick. You need super sharp clippers to do this. If you do it this way, taking from the two sides and the top of the nail, you can actually see when you're getting close to the quick because you get a change in texture and colour in the middle. It's pretty easy to never quick your dog using this method, whatever colour the nails. I've actually caught Shadow in the past where I thought I could see the quick through his clear nails, but it was deceptive. I learnt to just use the sliver method from then on
Here are a couple of videos of W&S in the early stages of filing training: https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/clippng-nalls.11315/page-7#post-172128 And baby Squidge (daaaaaaw) learning to have her nails clipped: https://thislittledoggy.com/2017/03/04/husbandry-nail-trimming/
-* I wouldn't bet on it. I've been getting Cassie's nails trimmed at the vet nurse's, who are all lovely and I must say, very skilled. My eyesight isn't as good as it was and Cass took a lot of getting used to being handled. Last time I rang up for an appointment they were one nurse down and I was given an apt with a vet although I did say it could wait. Well never again. This vet had no handling skills at all, and talked down to me , never good, and Cassie was sitting in the corner staring at the wall with her tail between her legs. The only time in her life that I have seen that. Then she made her bleed. I was nearly distraught, I've worked had a getting her to like the vets. I can understand that this can happen, but I did feel cross because I felt she made no attempt at coaxing Cass into it and then blamed the patient Grrr. So we left with uneven claws, but I declined to pay the bill. Sorry @JenBainbridge this has turned into a bit of a rant, I've bottled this up rather
I would have left too. The problem is they don't do it very often. The nurse's are effective because they do it all the time and know how to make it easy for the dog. I just hope poor Caddie is ok
