# Any suggestions how to cut his nails??



## Vincent

Hi as Vinnie goes for walks on grass or mud his nails have gotten a bit long. He never used to mind me cutting them but now he goes crazy when I go near his feet. Does anyone have any techinques they could tell me on how to keep him calm? I am worried i will hurt him cause he wriggles so much?

Thanks


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## Islander

For Ziva I use a battery operated Dremel tool, so we grind hers down. It was the recommended method by our breeder.

When we're ready to begin, I get either some chopped up apple with a bit of peanut butter or a few broken Triscuit crackers with a bit of peanut butter.
My husband gives her the treats while I work on her nails. I can work through
all four paws in just a few short minutes.

She's happy, I'm happy and her nails look great!


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## Mischa

Funny, I just bought a dremel yesterday too. It's called Pet Pedicure and I'm hoping it works when we get our puppy. 

With my chihuahua though, our vet taught us an interesting tip to help with regular grooming. He said every day for about 5-10 minutes to sit our dog on our lap (or for bigger dogs I guess you could just sit beside your dog on the ground) and play with the ears (so they get used to their ears being cleaned), run your finger over their teeth (for brushing their teeth), then rub your fingers over their front paws and nails, then the back pawns and nails. This desensitizes them from being constantly touched there, but also establishes dominance. 

Sometimes they will resist, but just make sure that you stay calm and assertive and keep doing it. If they resist and you let go, it teaches them that once they squirm a bit they can make it stop, which is obviously what you don't want. After we were done, we would praise him, pet him, and give him a treat sometimes. It really helped us a lot.

Good luck to you.


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## Tulip

Wait until he's asleep - that's what I do!


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## Crazy Kian

We take Kian to the the local Pet Smart and let there "professionals" : deal with him for that.
Either that or I let him pull me around the sidewalk.... it's like a free manicure for the guy. ;D


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## gunnr

I hold the dog, and my wife cuts the nails. 
The tailgate of my truck is the perfect height.


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## Ro-Ro

We are very lucky and our neighbor has two Old English and does Old English Rescue for this area - she has all the tools of the trade and grinds Ziva's nail down while Ziva tries to lick her. Awesome Neighbor!!!!


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## Big Rick

The best way we found (besides taking them to the vet or pet store) takes two people. The first person holds their favorite treat just tight enough that they have to work at it to get. The other person can then clip the nails with impunity. They are too busy trying to get the treat to worry about their feet. It worked for us and now they don't mind having their nails clipped.


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## Chestersmum

I wait until our puppy is asleep also!!

When he's awake we stroke and touch his feet and introduce the nail clipper but he's still too wriggly for us to cut them unless he's in the land of nod. He doesn't even notice then and we can get through them all no problem.

We do his about once a week to get him used to it. Literally taking a mm off each time.


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## LynnieB

I took my Vizsla to the pet grooming place on Saturday & while he had his front feet up at the counter saying hello to the owners labrador the bloke cut his nails. He didnt even blink !!!! Sometimes he can act so cute & well behaved to strangers!!!!!!


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## jmmec

Without a helper, what seems to work for me (for a puppy) is to wrap the "body" of the puppy in a towel, of course leaving the legs and feet exposed. The compression of the towel around the body seems to provide comfort and the puppy will just lay in your arms as you carefully trim the nails. 

If you do this weekly, when they are a puppy, then they'll soon become accustomed to it, and you can eventually stop using the towel as they age. You can also start to introduce the dremel to grind down the nails.

I don't know if this trick works on all puppies...


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## Ro-Ro

We're the pnes where the neighbor used her drummel - well Ziva has decided she now prefers not to have that done. We have since tried every trick, including all the ones listed. We are just being consistent and can ususally get one or two trimmed before she wakes up from a nap.


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## treetops1974

PetSmart ... $11 a visit


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## Gema18

I tend to do my older bitches in the back of the car on the way to a beach walk. That way she soon forgets about it!!


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## Kailua

We'll wait until they're in a deep sleep to cut them. I also will dremel their nails every night to keep them down. With the dremel, their nails don't have that "just cut" feel to them.


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## kellygh

What is dremel?


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## jld640

An actual Dremel is a brand name, power, rotary tool with a variety of attachments that let you grind, sand, polish etc. You can get one at most hardware stores. With that said, like Kleenex and tissue, the Dremel brand name is now used by some folks to describe any similar device.

For our purposes here, it can either be the actual Dremel tool (which some people get because it can be used for projects other than grinding pet nails) or any of the pet specific rotary grinders (which, according to the kind people at Petco, tend to be cheaper and are designed for less noise and vibration). The last time I was evaluating the pet-specific tools, I found some that had an actual grinding stone and some that had emory-board or sand paper glued to a rotating drum.

Savannah needed to get used to nail clipping first, so we still use nail clippers, but there is a dremel or dremel want-to-be in my near future.


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## willbill59

My V actually likes it. I have always stuck to one way of cutting them. I have huge finger nail clippers, and I lop the nails right off. If he get rowdy, I just tell him easy (which is his word for calm) and he stays calm. I think it is because he knows he will get a reward after he is finished. I have taught him this since day one.


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## mswhipple

I have a Dremel, which I tried to use on my previous dog, but she never did adjust to it. I think it was the noise that kind of scared her. Now with Willie, I get in the car and drive to Bonnie's Pet Parlor, and she trims Willie's toe nails for $10... to me, it's worth every penny! 

I've had dogs in the past with clear toe nails, and those I trimmed myself. Willie's toe nails are an opaque brown so you can't see the quick. I am just too worried I'll "quick" him. Bonnie never has.


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## texasred

I never trim my dogs nails when they are sleeping. When they are pups I make sure I mess with their ears , mouths and feet daily. Now that they are older I just sit on the floor and tell the down. They will lay next to me while I trim their nails. I always make sure they get a belly rub when I'm through.


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## veifera

I was looking for techniques to cut nails and found this thread. Just wanted to check if I'm doing everything right. 

Grinding my puppy's nails is a nightmare! She is never still enough. I can touch her ears, teeth, paws and nails, go between the toes and all that. She thinks Dremel is a toy and doesn't mind the sound, even when it's right next to her. 

However, when I start grinding, she pulls her legs away. Sometimes, when she's in my lap, I hold the bully stick in one hand (to have just the right angle for her to settle) and a paw in one hand, and the Dremel in the other. I could maybe do a millimeter. At other times, I would have her stretch out on a dog bed and secure the bully stick with my knee. Would be able to cut maybe another millimeter. When she's really sleepy, I could made trim some more if I apply the lightest of pressure with my hand to secure her leg. And I never press on the Dremel. 

But it's really driving me crazy! Her nails are opaque on the back feet and I can see the quick, but brown on the front feet. They used to be all opaque but I guess she's growing? I just cannot do the **** nails and I'm not sure I want to startle her from her sleep with grinding the nails. I think I'm not doing this right. 

Can anyone point out where I'm going wrong? Or is this normal for an 11 week old? Or what I should be doing differently? Her nails are getting looooong and I'm getting frustrated.

Thanks!

P.S. Here is the picture of my baby girl pointing a fly (I think!)


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## texasred

You can go back to the old fashion way using clippers and a nail file. Keep trying the dremel a little at a time and see if you can get her to come around. It maybe a two person job till she gets use to it.


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## Emily1970

Our local Pet Suppies Plus takes care of nails at certain times for $6 and that's for Chuck. Riley has to go to the vet. He goes crazy and has been sick. Otherwise, I'm afraid to hurt them.


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## SteelCityDozer

Two important things for us are when the dog is pulling the paw back you apply just enough pressure in response to be able to hold on. When pup relaxes you release pressure but continue clipping. And two, relax...it's ok if you can only clip one nail then reward. It's important to not get them to a point of stress that they won't come out of. Just take your time.


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## threefsh

It is a two person job until they are several months old, unless you can teach her a trick to help you dremel. When Ri was tiny, I would give her a little tiny piece of hot dog after every nail I dremeled (if I was doing it on my own). If my hubby was helping, he would give a bit of hot dog after each nail was dremeled. We slowly moved to a bit of hot dog every 2 nails was dremeled, 3, 4, etc. I had her in a down stay a few days ago and I dremeled each and every nail with no fuss. It takes a LOT of work, but is really worth it in the end. The dremel makes the nails nice and smooth so they don't scratch tender human skin!


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## veifera

> I had her in a down stay a few days ago and I dremeled each and every nail with no fuss.


If only you could see the envy on my face as I read this!!! How long did it take you to get to this level, threefsh?

I'm going to try the two-person plus reward and the pressure trick from SteelCityDozer tonight. Sounds like these could be combined into a well coordinated setup.


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## SweetCaroline

This is our method:

1. Find about $10
2. Find reputable groomer
3. Take $10 (or so) to said groomer along with dog 
4. Pet dog while groomer clips nails
5. Give $10 to groomer

In all seriousness - I was told, the dog is more tolerable to it if they are standing since it's more steady and the groomer should be bending the paw + leg the correct way back - think of someone trimming a horse's hooves. I tried to get Magnus used to me doing it but I did not succeed however he'll let the groomer do it without fussing at all.


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## threefsh

veifera said:


> I had her in a down stay a few days ago and I dremeled each and every nail with no fuss.
> 
> 
> 
> If only you could see the envy on my face as I read this!!! How long did it take you to get to this level, threefsh?
Click to expand...

Well, Riley is now a little over 8 months old...  

It took us a few weeks before she stopped fighting it & a few more weeks before we could do all the nails on one paw without giving a treat for every nail. We *never* made nail-trimming a negative experience. If you want to try this method, make sure only to give a treat when she doesn't pull away from the dremel. It takes a lot of patience!


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## Darcy1311

I wait until its really sunny...and that's a long wait in York..but if you hold up the dogs paw to the sunlight you can see where the quick is. (is that how you spell it) so just cut below the quick..some folk say the more frequently you cut the nail,the quick appears to retreat into the nail bed...
when I had my Weimaraner I used to put on a muzzle ...on the dog not me ..just in case he might nip me if I caught the quick..
hope this makes sense..


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