When Did You Cut Your Dogs Nails Last.

[dee lee]

Bubby once every 2-3 months, Bitty's nails are insane! Once a week almost!

After reading this & Odin-genie's comments, I wonder if its common for Goldies to have fast growing nails?

Honey & I jog on footpaths often & her nails never get worn down.

[Dame Aussie]

Bubby once every 2-3 months, Bitty's nails are insane! Once a week almost!

After reading this & Odin-genie's comments, I wonder if its common for Goldies to have fast growing nails?

Honey & I jog on footpaths often & her nails never get worn down.

Maybe dee, I know Lili is jogged every night on the footpath and it keeps hers really short. I guss it would depend on the weight of the dog too? Lili is about 23 kg.

[Poodle Mum]

Yikes....poor dog. From the look of that pic I would say the dogs dew claws have never been cut.

I have seen it plenty of times, as well as rabbits with teeth so overgrown they have grown into the face just under the orbit.....Rabbit was brought in because "it was getting thin"

Old arthritic cats that can't shed their cats & can barely...... walk

[whitka]

Poor Dog I'll admit I have been a little slack with his nails this year ( have been away a lot this year ) But the last few times he's been at the groomers she has done them and Toby just stands there for her and lets her do it. He gets walked everyday and that helps a little but I really need to invest in a dremmel. Toby would let me cut his nails but im just to scared to that I might nick him Good thing there has been a new Bunnings opened in town :D

[Diva]

Bubby once every 2-3 months, Bitty's nails are insane! Once a week almost!

After reading this & Odin-genie's comments, I wonder if its common for Goldies to have fast growing nails?

Honey & I jog on footpaths often & her nails never get worn down.

Maybe dee, I know Lili is jogged every night on the footpath and it keeps hers really short. I guss it would depend on the weight of the dog too? Lili is about 23 kg.

Depends on foot shape too. I know my dogs with hare-shaped feet (eg longer toes) don't wear them down much and need cutting. But my Belgians with really tight cat feet seldom if ever needed cutting.

[Rebanne]

For those who dremel claws; can you please link me to THE product/s that you use on your dogs? Thanks! :)

I have bought cheaper ones but they don't last, so far this has been fantastic, love the battery capacity

http://www.mytoolstore.com.au/products/Dremel-Stylus-7.2v-Cordless.html

[Starkehre]

I think a lot also depends on what an owner classifies as long nails and what they find acceptable. :D

For example, I don't wait to check to see if their nails are wearing down enough or check to see if they NEED doing, because for me personally, that is too late. I dremel them every 10-14 days without fail and keep them super super short, do not actually allow for barely any growth at all... cause then it is a case of retraining quicks back which is messy and painful for the poor dogs... but just the way I do it :)

Added, I love dremelling my dogs' nails. I take a lot of pride in the job I do and really get into it. They are well behaved and don't seem to mind it all... most of the time :D I am careful to try to ensure the nail does not get too hot and treat them throughout intermittently. I have my own nails done with a dremel so I know how it feels, so can empathise with the dogs if it gets hot or close.

From time to time I do them for my friends' dogs also.

Edited July 25, 2013 by dyzney

[mymatejack]

I've never clipped a dogs nail in my life. Don't you people excecise your dogs?

[Rebanne]

I've never clipped a dogs nail in my life. Don't you people excecise your dogs?

of course not! Why should I

[Steph M]

As previously said, not all dogs have the foot shape to wear them down themselves, I know of a dog who walks almost on his heels and consequently doesn't wear them down.

What about puppies who shouldn't be walked on concrete for long?

Older dogs who might be arthritic?

Silly thing to say, tbh. It's hardly negligence to look after dogs nails.

And I sure hope yours don't have dew claws, cause hate to break it to ya, but the concrete won't do squat for those.

ETA sorry if this is sarcasm, can't quite tell at the moment! I'm hoping so! :D

Edited July 25, 2013 by Steph M

[coogie]

I've never clipped a dogs nail in my life. Don't you people excecise your dogs?

That's a bit harsh mymatejack, I constantly exercise both my dogs - but the girl has severe HD and has had a femoral head ostectomy which means no running on the kind of surfaces that would wear her nails down naturally. She goes to hydrotherapy every week, swims down at the beach at least a couple of times a week and she walks/ runs on soft grass for at least a few miles over the course of an hours walk daily without fail. Add in some training sessions and she is hardly under exercised.There are lots of reasons for having to cut nails other than lack of exercise. What about the front dew claws as well?They don't wear down and have to be cut/filed.

[Rebanne]

I've never clipped a dogs nail in my life. Don't you people excecise your dogs?

That's a bit harsh mymatejack, I constantly exercise both my dogs - but the girl has severe HD and has had a femoral head ostectomy which means no running on the kind of surfaces that would wear her nails down naturally. She goes to hydrotherapy every week, swims down at the beach at least a couple of times a week and she walks/ runs on soft grass for at least a few miles over the course of an hours walk daily without fail. Add in some training sessions and she is hardly under exercised.There are lots of reasons for having to cut nails other than lack of exercise. What about the front dew claws as well?They don't wear down and have to be cut/filed.

Don't justify what you do Coogie to someone like mymatejack who appears to know diddleysquat

[coogie]

I've never clipped a dogs nail in my life. Don't you people excecise your dogs?

That's a bit harsh mymatejack, I constantly exercise both my dogs - but the girl has severe HD and has had a femoral head ostectomy which means no running on the kind of surfaces that would wear her nails down naturally. She goes to hydrotherapy every week, swims down at the beach at least a couple of times a week and she walks/ runs on soft grass for at least a few miles over the course of an hours walk daily without fail. Add in some training sessions and she is hardly under exercised.There are lots of reasons for having to cut nails other than lack of exercise. What about the front dew claws as well?They don't wear down and have to be cut/filed.

Don't justify what you do Coogie to someone like mymatejack who appears to know diddleysquat

You are completely right Rebanne , it is just a bit of a naked nerve for me I guess, we never had to cut/file anything other than her front dew claws until the surgery. Must have thin skin tonight - normally don't rise to that kind of comment.

[OSoSwift]

exercise????Whats that????

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

So for the novice toenail clipper/sander

what attachment device thingy do you use with the dremmel.. it seems to have gazillions of the little thingies...

And do they get hot, how long can you apply before it gets hot? Not that I'd get longer than half a second.

Is the stone or diamond file thingy better than the sand paper thingy? Ie does a dog's claw just wreck sandpaper?

[Starkehre]

So for the novice toenail clipper/sander

what attachment device thingy do you use with the dremmel.. it seems to have gazillions of the little thingies...

And do they get hot, how long can you apply before it gets hot? Not that I'd get longer than half a second.

Is the stone or diamond file thingy better than the sand paper thingy? Ie does a dog's claw just wreck sandpaper?

The sand paper works best and is not as hot as the stones.

You can gets loads of uses before it wears down and needs to be replaced.

Heat generated depends on speed (rpm), length of nail, duration of sanding contact and if sanding is being done on the one area repeatedly.

Every dremel has different speed settings that are not relative to one another, so impossible for me to suggest a speed, but better to experiment on a lower setting at first and work your way up. If it is too low to file, turn it up a little bit at a time.

I generally have sanding contact from approx. between 1 - 3 seconds depending on how short the nail is. When heat builds up it takes approx. 2 - 5 seconds to dissipate, once again depending on the nail length, dremel speed etc.

So, as you get the nail shorter and shorter you dremel in more quick pulse bursts to alleviate heat build up.

I suggest trying it on your own nail (hand and feet) to get an idea of how it feels first. Having a good understanding helps you do a better job.

I made a couple of short videos a while ago for a friend. They are a bit daggy and crappy, but would give an idea for anyone wanting to see them.

[Cala]

My dog hasn't got any dew claws at the back. Her front ones she uses like thumbs, including digging them into me when she wants attention. They're certainly nothing like that thou I did get the vet to help clip them back last vaccination time. She used a parrot beak clipper and it was over before my dog noticed. Not like the evil guillotine clippers.

Still thinking about getting a dremmel. I'd really like a dremmel that oscillates so it doesn't risk winding up fur into the mechanism.

To stop fur going into the mechanism, push the nails through a nylon stocking, keeps hair out of the way and on the plus side too you get to see more of the nail.

[fiveplusone]

I think a lot also depends on what an owner classifies as long nails and what they find acceptable. :D

For example, I don't wait to check to see if their nails are wearing down enough or check to see if they NEED doing, because for me personally, that is too late. I dremel them every 10-14 days without fail and keep them super super short, do not actually allow for barely any growth at all... cause then it is a case of retraining quicks back which is messy and painful for the poor dogs... but just the way I do it :)

Added, I love dremelling my dogs' nails. I take a lot of pride in the job I do and really get into it. They are well behaved and don't seem to mind it all... most of the time :D I am careful to try to ensure the nail does not get too hot and treat them throughout intermittently. I have my own nails done with a dremel so I know how it feels, so can empathise with the dogs if it gets hot or close.

From time to time I do them for my friends' dogs also.

Can you explain bolded. I have never needed to cut any of my GSP's nails as they have always worn down on pavers, footpath etc but we have less of that now due to reno's and I've noticed that H's nails are much longer than usual. I've just bought some clippers and did a couple of tiny snips yesterday to get him used to it but I'm really worried about the quick seeing as they've never been cut. He's incredibly sensitive and I know if I hurt him I'll never get clippers near him again. His nails are black.

[moosepup]

I check them every couple of weeks. It's a bit hard to manoeuvre the clipper into the dew claw position though so I might get the dremmel out again. My kids aren't too bad, I find if you're confident and quick it's much easier. Plus treats help. :D

Edited July 26, 2013 by moosepup

[WreckitWhippet]

exercise????Whats that????

that's what my Whippets said :laugh: