[mogrann]

Need advice from dog experts please:
Owen has stopped allowing us to cut his nails. We have been working on it but he is still pulling away and scared. I think it is from the time he ripped his nail and we did not notice right away. The vet had to cut it and cautirize it.

We now have no choice but to cut them as he has scratched himself up. Remember Owen has allergies and scratches. I do a daily check of him for sores etc.

What do we do. Do we just force it and Henry cuts his nails. Or do we take him to Petsmart and get them to do it. My thoughts are If Henry does it he may not trust Henry anymore and if we get Petsmart to do it what if the person is not patient...

[tickle]

You are between a rock and a hard spot ! Can you afford the vet putting him under and doing it?

[Catsmine]

We use the grinding tool. There are a couple of different brands. You can blunt the nails the very first time you use it. Get some special treats just for nail time and he'll be wanting them done twice a day. Once a day is plenty.

[tickle]

I tried the grinding tool, but my dog ran the other way !

[Cat1864]

Dresden, our rescue hound, hates it. Over time he has come to accept the noise and no longer hides when I am doing Chloe's nails. But I don't force it on him since he has no problem with clippers and white nails.

Chloe on the other hand/paw looks at it like a treat machine. If I leave it out, she will pick it up and try making me take it and her paw.

[mogrann]

Will show Henry this when he gets home. I am hoping with me home too it will help as I can distract him.

[Lucky098]

Do you cut them or dremel them? Sometimes the dremel is easier to use and pets will accept it.. sometimes they won't.

I make my dogs stand for their nails. They don't get away with much. He is not going to not trust you because you make him do something he doesn't like. In fact, you find what dogs do not like and you continue to do it. They may not like it, but will learn to accept and handle it. Maybe play with his toes and squeeze the nail when he doesn't need a trim. This will teach him that you will touch his feet and manipulate his toes.

I don't understand why people let their animals get by with things. The only way he is going to get over it is for you to continue to do it and not back down.

[mogrann]

Lucky I don't let Owen get away with not listening. However I don't want to have a fearful dog. He used to let us clip his nails. After the last incident where the vet had to cautrize it he is fearful and will pull away and do a little growl. We have been working with him showing him the nail clippers and rubbing it against his foot. We play with his nails too. It is getting better but still not at the stage to cutting. I am going to tomorrow follow the advice of treats and clipping. We will look into the grinder too.

What is dremel? Does standing give you more control over cutting nails? If yes we will try that as well.

[Cat1864]

Grinders are rotary tools. They use a sandpaper wheel to grind down the nail like an emery board. The ones made for pets are not as powerful as the wood working tool.

Dremel is a company that makes several different rotary tools. One of the them is a pet nails grinder.

The grinder I use is Pedi-paws. There are a couple of other manufacturers whose names I can't remember right now.

You might want to research and see what is available in your market.

[Sariss]

When I got my little dog as a rescue, he was a terror for nails. Screaming, biting, etc. We muzzled him and got it done. We would cut his nails every week, even just to shave them off. He was not allowed to get away with it. If he pulled his paw away, I pulled it back. He was not allowed up until I was finished. He was given treats and mass amounts of praise when he did good.
4 years later and he lays on his back in my lap for trims.

Our Dane we got as a puppy so we were lucky. He still doesn't like his nails being done - I wait until he is asleep on the couch. He wakes up and seems to be too groggy to care.

[mogrann]

We got his nails done over a few days. We used the him on the floor idea. When he would start to pull away I would redirect his attention to me with a treat. After the nail was cut it was a tiny treat and lots of good boys and pets. We turned it into a positive I think as his tail was wagging and he was keeping his focus on me at the end. Not saying he is over it just saying we followed some of the advice here and will continue with this when we need to do his nails.

Thank you all

[Catsmine]

Now do it again Monday.

[Alty]

Nail cutting is hard. I cut all the bunnies nails, but I refuse to do the dogs, in fact I can't even be in the room when Rod does it, due to a horrific experience with Indy where Indy moved his paw as Rod was clipping, and ended up cutting the nail almost down to the paw. It was a blood bath.

The bunnies are easy, most likely because I'm not nervous with them. I have a great clipper with a led light that you put on the nail so you can see where the qwik is. Since I got that clipper, no bleeders, well, except for Thumper a few weeks ago, but that nail was rotten, his dew claw, and he moved as I was clamping down, and the nail was pulled right out. But with the small amount of blood, and the ease with which it came out, I think it would have fallen out on its own very soon.

I did buy the dremel clipper for dogs. Hated it. The older a dog is, or the bigger the breed, the harder and thicker the nail. I found that the dremel tool would heat up, and actually make the nail smoke, without trimming it enough to make a difference. I'd have to wait between nails to let the tool cool down . The dogs hated the noise, and it took a lot longer than simply clipping the nail.

When we had the issue with Indy we started going to the vet with him to get his nails clipped. We were charged $5 a clipping, and it was totally worth it. Indy was a lot calmer with the vet than he was with us. :)