Dew Claw Injury

[gila]

Are you talking about front or rear dew claws? Or both?

My dog had his hind ones removed when he was desexed. His front ones lie close to his leg and haven't caused any problems. Except when he cut my palm while he was scrambling around on the vet's examination table once

Are rear dew claws more likely to be 'loose' than front ones?

[SkySoaringMagpie]

What breed of dogs? Are the dew claws routinely trimmed? Are they close to body? Front dews only?

How were your dogs dew claws injured?

Interested..as I have had so many debates on this subject.

Front dews on Afghans, Alyosha has diagnosed the issue I think, they do get very close to the ground when turning at speed. They are routinely trimmed, and they way they injure themselves is the claws being half ripped out and/or shredded.

Edited for verb fail.

Edited January 9, 2011 by SkySoaringMagpie

[kayla1]

Only one of my dogs has had front dew claw injuries. I did consider removal but have found that keeping them as short as possible has been effective in avoiding further injuries.

[RallyValley]

My old mongrel bitch Lilly (RIP) ripped off a front dew claw jumping out of a hyrobath, it always had problems after and if it was uo to me I would never have dewclaws on my dogs.

[dancinbcs]

Except for the breeds like Briards and Pyrenean Mountain Dogs, where the standard requires back dew claws, all other puppies that are born with them should have them removed at a couple of days.

Front ones are routinely removed in some breeds but hardly ever in others. Most Border Collie breeders leave them on the front and I do not personally know of one BC that has ever injured a front one. Cut stopper pads are common, as are sprung toes, pulled nails, torn foot ligaments but never injured front dew claws.

[Lablover]

What breed of dogs? Are the dew claws routinely trimmed? Are they close to body? Front dews only?

How were your dogs dew claws injured?

Interested..as I have had so many debates on this subject.

Front dews on Afghans, Alyosha has diagnosed the issue I think, they do get very close to the ground when turning at speed. They are routinely trimmed, and they way they injury is the claws being half ripped out and/or shredded.

Thanks. The only dew claw injury my dogs have suffered is from tin (accidently left in training paddocks). I do believe one suffered less "slicing" injury due to having dew claws.

That said Customs Australia remove all.

[NotSureWhich]

My little doggy is 11 and has never had a dew claw injury. I do know early on his life I considered having them removed as they looked like an injury waiting to happen. However he's been fine. If my doggy was injurying them I wouldn't hestitate in having them removed.

[poodlemum]

Never had a problem, as Poodles routinely have theirs removed at about 3 days (used to get it done by the vet at the same time as the tail-docking - still get the dewclaws removed). I have witnessed a dog get a very nasty dew claw injury at obedience training - ripped the claw right out & was bleeding profusely.

[raz]

I only voted for my JRT, she has injured hers a few times and I ended up getting hers surgically removed, she is horrible when it comes to trimming her nails so I figured this would solve a few problems

My Goldie has hers and has never had a problem with them

Where did you get your JRT from, Goldie? Most JRT breeders remove them when they're neonates...and for that very reason. Poor little bugger but good for you to have them whacked out.

[Cookiez]

My Cavalier who is 10 has hers and we have never had problem.

We have never had a problem with Codi's either- but his does look like it "sticks" out more?

[Diva]

No problems here with any injuries to them at all. Touch wood. Both the younger dogs have them left on and you know how they run ssm.

When I had a couple of Belgians many years ago not a single problem to any of theirs either. I'm only referring to front dew claws of course, I've never had a dog with rear ones.

[MolassesLass]

No injuries ever and never personally known any dog injure one. I remove back ones when the dog is desexed but would never remove the front ones (and I won't buy a pup that's had them removed).

[EISHUND]

Are talking, rear, front or both?

Our breed removes rear, but not front.

I have a little xbreed who is always injuring his front ones, I can see why small breeds remove them.

Edited January 9, 2011 by EISHUND

[Bundyburger]

One V has her dew claws removed, the other three dogs still have theirs. One injury to the foxie 5 years ago.. and one injury for the kelpie about a year ago.

My aunts dog injures her dew claws on a regular basis, but they won't consider removing them as they think it's too invasive (I don't know what it involves).

[Nik]

My old bc x kelpie injured hers when she was about 6, then proceeded to injure it all the time. I don't know if it was weakened after the first injury, which made it more susceptible to further injury.

The nail was weak and used to fray, which would then catch on scrub or even the couch, which would then rip the nail down the centre.

We never had it removed, but kept a close eye on the nail and kept it trimmed as short as possible.

My Aussie had hers removed by the breeder. We were happy about that when we found out.

[JackieW]

Article here on dew claws -

http://www.caninesports.com/DewClawExplanation.pdf

[Whippetsmum]

Our old Whippet ripped dew claws all the time, very badly too. She would be covered in blood, and then spend a few weeks with her claw taped tight to her leg, she'd be OK for a month or 2 then rip the other side.

Our current Whippets have not ripped theirs, one had his dew claws removed as a newborn, the other gets has her claws intact, but has her claws trimmed every week.

[~Anne~]

3 dogs, 2 with dew claws. I have had one with his dew claws, from 8 weeks of age (now 8), one with his dew claws from 2 years of age (now 9) and one with hers removed for only a year. None of my dogs has ever injured a dew claw.

[Tatelina]

In all the various breeds, sizes, mixes, energy levels that I've fostered through rescue...I've only had one injury where the nail had to be snipped (ouch!). Never even noticed if any dogs didn't have them.