I have bought a pair of nail clippers with a guard to do Charlie's nails myself. He has had them trimmed by a groomer before, so should I clicker train or will I be alright to just trim them? He does let me brush his teeth and clean his ears. I have also spent the last three years touching his paws and nails which he is fine with. Thank you xx
Re: Nail Trimming I obviously don't know Charlie, but my two are very different, so I would say you have to give it a go and see. Willow struggled a lot when we first did hers, but we found that letting her lick John's face while I was doing it calmed her down. We're now working on making her more comfortable with the clippers using the clicker. Shadow, on the other hand, was a piece of cake. He rolled onto his back and J rubbed his tummy while I just clipped away! It was still a two-person job, with one giving him rubs while the other clipped, but much easier because there was no struggling at all. It's also easier with him because I can see the quick in his claws, whereas Willow's black nails make that impossible.
Re: Nail Trimming If he lets you touch his paws and clean his teeth, I would have a go and see how he is. Maybe start by just touching the clippers against his nail and watch to see how he reacts
Re: Nail Trimming I would say give it a go. Charlie is used to having his nails clipped so I dont see why he should object. Try and go in confidently, like the groomer would, and just take the very end off just incase. If he's fine and not bothered you know you can take more off next time.
Re: Nail Trimming it can be hard with black dogs Helen , if you aren't confident , try using an emery board , cuts out accidentally cutting the quick x
Re: Nail Trimming Willow's are ready to be done, and tonight she had no interest in licking J. So I did ten minutes of very slow confidence building with me holding her feet, stroking her feet, putting the clippers against her nails etc. I managed to get two cut In all honesty, she didn't even flinch when I cut them, it seems to be actually having her feet held is the bit she dislikes and can only tolerate so long. We're going to really concentrate on this over the next couple of weeks and hopefully get her more comfortable with it. I may also try the emery board approach, although I think I may have the same issue with holding the feet. Worth a try though, thanks Kate
Re: Nail Trimming [quote author=kateincornwall link=topic=9564.msg138059#msg138059 date=1421695327] it can be hard with black dogs Helen , if you aren't confident , try using an emery board , cuts out accidentally cutting the quick x [/quote] Really? Just like doing your own nails? Never even crossed my mind you could do that , might have to give that a go.
Re: Nail Trimming Well I am never going to try and trim our dogs nails again...trimmed one of Caspers nails. (a teeny weeny bit...).and OMG! The blood..I felt awful....Casper was fine..after sticking his paw in a bowl of flour....
Re: Nail Trimming Ooh well I haven't ever done this before but I was only going to take a teeny tiny bit off, maybe I should leave it to the groomer :-\ x
Re: Nail Trimming My lab lets me cut away at her nails quite happily when she's sleepy or even asleep (providing your dog doesn't startle awake!) I got clippers that don't allow the nail to go too far back so that the pink part doesn't get cut and bleed everywhere. The nails themselves are quite soft and not that hard to cut. If you can't see the pink part inside the nail then just cut the tips off
Re: Nail Trimming I asked my day care lady who has a grooming business to show me how to do it but she refused saying it is surprising how many people take too much off. You can't see the pink on dark claws.
Re: Nail Trimming My vet advised I use an emery board but should not clip as there shouldn't be a need to.
Re: Nail Trimming Oooooo Heln,I'm a big scaredy ,groomer does it for us :-[....have you had a try ? X
Re: Nail Trimming I have to trim Riley's dew claw and when I notice it needs doing I take off tiny bits every other day so I don't risk cutting the quick. It's not too difficult, just impossible to tell where the quick is on his black claws :
Re: Nail Trimming I'm going to have to start trimming Scotts dew claws. They get really long and he bust one a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking of doing the same Barbara just taking the end off. For some reason Scouts don't seem to grow as long. ???
Re: Nail Trimming Apparently the quick will recede so if you just take a smidge off each time until they're the length you want you should be ok rather than trying to get it right first time. That's what I was told and it all seems to work out with minimal drama
Re: Nail Trimming [quote author=Dexter link=topic=9564.msg139169#msg139169 date=1422113930] Oooooo Heln,I'm a big scaredy ,groomer does it for us :-[....have you had a try ? X [/quote] I've realised I am a big scaredy too, I got one nail done but his nails are so hard when it clipped I jumped and so did Charlie so I stopped and rang the mobile groomer, so hopefully she can clip them next week : x
Re: Nail Trimming I'm going to try this with Simba too. His nails are getting quite long, so I'll give it a go. I bought some special clippers too, but will just take a tiny bit off one first and see how it goes. I think it's the holding of the paw rather than the clipping that will be the issue for most dogs. I'll try when he's asleep/relaxed first, too.
Re: Nail Trimming Let us know you get on Lisa. I used bits of Cheese and started off just touching his nail with the clippers a few times and then clipped, but you will be surprised how hard dogs nails are. I might give it another go and see how I get on, it's not like it's painful for dogs x
