trimming claws

[ZZMI]

Any suggestions on how to get my girl to be better about trimming her claws? She is very good with letting me brush her teeth and brush her coat and even clean her ears. She hates when I try to trim her claws. I have a trimmer and a sander and neither lets me get them well. I've been having the vets office do it, but I'd like to do it myself. Any tips?

[Manstrom]

Harvey took a while to warm up to the idea. I started with a ton of tiny treats and handling his paws. Once he calmed down I would take a snip at one nail then give him a treat. It's slow and methodical but worked for me.

[icvanstra]

I use a cordless dremel. Tried all kinds of things to get Cino used to it. What finally worked for me was playing fetch until he was ready to drop, whipped out the dremel and just did a little sanding. He was so tired he didn't care. Repeat... Now he doesn't care. He gets a little antsy when I do his back feet though.

[Dutchringgirl]

i also did the treat meathod. I did Thalie first, she is fine, so Sadie could watch, then with Sadie, I would clip, treat, clip, treat. Then after a bit two nails, treat, three, treat, and so on, Now I can do all of her paws and she is fine. I have a dremmel and I am tempted to use it, I have to get out the meat for that one.

[Boogies]

You didn't mention your dog's size but I found with large dogs it sometimes helps to let them stand and lift their feet like you would lift a horse's hooves. The dog seems more comfortable standing than sitting and having his leg pulled up to reach his nails. I stand over my dog, which I can barely clear and as I lift each foot I have a clear view of the underside of the nail and the quick. This reduces the chance I will cut them too short.

Another way to do this is to teach the dog to lay on its back so you can see the underside of the foot. This works well with puppies. Sit on the floor with the puppy on her back on your lap, tail toward your belly button.

Most animals fear having their feet handled because they feel trapped. In nature, losing a foot to entrapment or injury can be fatal so the instinct to protect one's feet is quite strong. You can over come this with desensitization excersizes. If your dog lets you rub her leg half way down with no problem, then do it. Praise her then rub her leg past the point where she's comfortable. Praise and pull your hand back before she can pull her paw back. This is called advance and retreat. It's how we tame wild horses, another animal that doesn't enjoy having its feet trimmed.

Keep doing this until you can hold and rub her foot. Then bring in the clippers. If she's upset, then advance and retreat with them. Then pretend to clips her nails and praise her for letting you do it. Finally pretend to clip three nails and actually clip the fourth. That's enough for one day or session. Clip one nail at a time until she's good about it, then two, then a whole paw, then two paws...

Finally pick a day each week to cut her nails, even if they don't need it. Pretend to cut them or just nip off a tiny bit. This will prevent ever having over long nails, accidentally cutting the nails too short, which will hurt and frighten her, and teach her that it's no big deal.

The trust you build will transfer to other parts of your relationship and training.

Boofies

[Christie M]

Adding to all of these great suggestions:

1 - I smear peanut butter on a wall or cabinet and let them go to town. As was previously mentioned, I prefer to do them standing.

2 - In the tub, while lathered up for a bath, they tend to be more docile and the nails are more malleable. They don't crack and splinter as much.

3 - I think it helps to create a regime of one toe nail per day, associated with something positive. Half of why dogs hate it is because they know once it begins, they are gonna be fighting for a sustained period of time until all 4 paws are done. The anticipation of the negative situation is as bad as the situation itself. One nail a day removes all of that stress.

[ZZMI]

Thank you for your responses! We are working on it! This was helpful!