Fear of Nail Cutting

Swimming, particularly in warm water, can help your dog relax and also drain her energy. If you have a small dog, you don’t even need a pool. You can use a small tub of water. Simply hold the dog by the sides and let her paddle. If your dog is uncertain about the water, start by holding her on an incline, just let her bottom half touch the water. Wait until your dog begins to paddle with his front legs, and then you can slowly lower her front half into the water. If the dog begins to splash around and panic, calmly return the dog to the inclined position again – with the back half of the dog touching the water. Then once the dog relaxes and begins paddling with the front legs again, send her back in! Continue this until she becomes comfortable with the water.

Once your dog has reached the lowest level of energy, begin by holding a paw and presenting the nail clipper to it without cutting anything. Then send her right back into the water to drain even more energy. At the same time, you are softening her nails, so they will actually be easier to trim. Then, after another round of swimming, you present the nail clippers again. This time cut a little bit, just to let her experience it and see her reaction. If she panics, send her right back in for more water therapy, but if the dog remains calm, do the whole foot – and then send her back into the water! This way, you’re not giving the dog time to focus on the nail clipping, instead she is focusing on the water. We are exchanging one challenge for another! Your dog can learn to associate the nail trimmings with the time in between swims that she gets to relax and collect herself.

Keep repeating this process – allow your dog to swim, trim the nails, and put her right back in – until you’ve trimmed all four paws.

I encourage you to visualize the scenario going well before attempting it. Don’t panic or feel sorry if your dog is stressed. Instead, make your dog feel safe by maintaining the calm and assertive energy of a pack leader.

This is for all my favorite dog owners!!!!

HOW TO PROPERLY TRIM YOUR DOGS NAILS

 

Unless your dog runs around on hard surfaces that help keep toenails short, you have to clip them about once a week — if you hear them clicking on a hard surface, it’s time for a trim.

Most dogs detest having their feet handled, so clipping may never be your favorite shared activity, but getting your dog used to this ritual at an early stage helps you both weather the process. Try giving your dog a yummy treat after the trimming session, along with a big hug, a boisterous “Good dog!” and a healthy scratch behind the ears.

Before attempting a trim yourself, ask your veterinarian or a groomer to show you how to trim your pup’s toenails them to the right length.

A dog’s toenail is made up of the nail itself and the quick, the pink (when it’s visible) part of your dog’s toenails that provides the blood supply to the nail. Avoid cutting into the quick because it bleeds quite a bit and it’s quite sensitive.

 

The quick is the dark part inside the nail — the blood supply to avoid!

If you can’t do all your dog’s nails at once, never fear — you can clip them one paw at a time, with other activities or a resting period in between.

To trim your dog’s nails:

1. Hold the foot steady, but hold it gently.
2. Snip off a small bit of the end of each toenail.Using either the guillotine or scissors-type clippers, place a tiny bit of the nail in the nail clipper and snip.If the nail feels spongy while you’re trying to cut it, stop immediately — you’re cutting the quick!
3. Stop any bleeding immediately.If you cut the quick (often called quicking), you’ll have an unhappy dog and a bloody mess. The quick bleeds a great deal, so if you cut it, you need either a nail cauterizer — a tool that stops the bleeding by applying heat — or styptic powder you can apply with a cotton swab. Have a damp washcloth at hand ready to clean up styptic powder and blood as necessary.Quicking hurts a lot, and most dogs remember the experience long afterward.

Don’t forget the dewclaws if your dog has them. They tend to grow long because they don’t normally touch the ground and if you fail to cut them, they will eventually grow back into your dog’s foot, which is quite painful.

If you use a nail grinder rather than clippers, use the same method — hold your dog’s foot, turn on the grinder, and grind a little off each nail.