Dogs That Stress Out Over Mail Clipping

[raineth]

I found that with my guys that once they got the hang of it they were very enthusiastic and would scratch very hard, and if you hold the board up it can file down the dew claws a bit- not as much as the other claws, but a bit. It might be enough to get you by.

I have also heard that playing fetch on concrete can wear down dew claws. But i don't have any personal experience with that.

Does she use her dew claws much? My dog in the video above used them quite a bit when chewing bones or climbing up on tree stumps, that sort of thing may help keep them from growing too long and give you enough time to do the desensitisation.

[kelpiecuddles]

She doesn't really use them. We don't encourage climbing and jumping much as we go places with low fences and don't want her getting any ideas. She'll jump up on the top of the kennel, etc but she doesn't need her dew claws for that. Bones are a tough one because they cause serious arguments here so I generally only give bones that can be consumed fairly quickly like turkey necks or lamb flaps

[kelpiecuddles]

We walk on bitumen as there are no footpaths here but it's not enough

[YippeeGirl]

Our two girls are great with their nails as they were shown so are very used to being touched all over. Our male hates having his nails done, and of course his are the thickest and fastest growing nails. They are longer than they should be because he jumps and moves around as soon as you touch his feet and the more you try to restrain him, the worse he gets.

Because I couldn't stand looking at his atrocious nails any longer and because he has had a solid base of obedience lessons drilled into him, I now have a new method of doing his nails that isn't perfect, but is easier than before.

I put him in a stand, stay, and then put something high-value like his squeaky tennis ball on the floor in front of him. He gets one foot done as fast as I can (I agree speed goes a long way to keeping it low stress), and then he gets to have a play with the ball. Then it's back to a stand and stay and the pattern repeats until I manage to do all his feet and then he gets a treat at the end.

I just walk away if he starts getting too uncomfortable and then come back again. He really doesn't like the back feet being done so I have to be super fast with those.

I find if they are slightly sleepy, you can sometimes sneak in and get a few nails done before they even notice.

He is basically inside 24/7 as he hates being outside so his nails don't wear down at all. It's very difficult when they are so opposed to the whole process. We would never make the mistake about not fiddling with feet with our next puppy.

[kelpiecuddles]

Yes I agree yg. When mine were pups the issue didn't even cross mind as they never needed doing. With hindsight I now advise everyone I know who's getting a pup to fiddle withy their feet heaps as littlies

[tdierikx]

Harper was dead easy to do as a pup... her entire litter had them done regularly, and would lie on your lap soaking up the cuddle time and get their nails cut with no fuss.

What upsets her now is the "click" noise that happens when the nail is cut, as her nails are no longer the slender and soft puppy claws they used to be... she doesn't like her feet being held at all either - I can touch them, but if I put my hand around the foot, she's off like a shot!

I can't even touch Pickles' feet, as she doesn't have proper feeling in them and goes through stages of either numbness or hypersensitivity - she WILL bite if you try to hold her feet at all. Luckily her mobility issues mean that her walking style keeps them from getting dangerously long... *grin*

T.

[Flippy Dog]

Hi kc,

Don't feel bad, my cousin lives in the same area as you and I and she can handle her dogs feet and play with them and everything, except clip them, he's five now and she takes him to the vet for sedation on a regular basis, takes him home (I think) and trims his nails. I don't think she stays for the vet to do them, just gets the sedation done. Admittedly he does tend to rule the house a bit so I don't know who has trained who but there is no way she can trim his nails and the vets can't do it without sedation either.

Good luck, I hope you get a solution, just wanted you to know others do have sedation done. I'm blessed with dogs that accept it, thank goodness!

[Red Fox]

My kelpie gets incredibly distressed when we try to cut her nails. We've tried for a long time to desensitise her to it but we are getting nowhere. Cutting nails requires two or three people to hold her still( usually I hold her in my arms) and she ends up a total quivering mess, whining and shaking and desperate to get away.

Has anyone ha to deal with this before? I'm considering asking the vet if it's worth medicating her somehow before hand as it's that bad and I hate seeing her so distressed. Would the vet consider something like that or would that be unlikely? I've never given her a sedative of any sort before so it was never my first choice but I think I need to help her somehow...

I have a dog that would previously flip out over nail clipping. As an alternative I taught her to 'file' her nails on a large strip of coarse sandpaper - taught her to target with the paw, then drag the paw down scratching her nails against the paper. Only takes a few 5 minute sessions to get them down to a good length. Obviously only works for the front paws though and you still need to clip the dew claws occasionally.

If the dog is stressed it's usually easier to have a second person hold the dog from the front (by the collar and keeping focus forwards), while you lift the feet up and back like a horses hoof. You can see the quick and clip quickly without the dog being too aware of what's going on.

[kelpiecuddles]

yep that's how we were doing it with the basset red fox(like horses feet) until I got to the point where I can now do it solo. Unfortunately the kelpie totally flips out, jumps around, whines and whimpers very loudly, nips at your hands and gets very worked up no matter how we do it. The vet thought I was having her on when i warned her we needed to be quick about it the first time I took her there to be done...she was wrong. :laugh:

I'm going to try the sand paper method and see how we go with that for starters

[Stressmagnet]

What clippers/tools do you all recommend? My pup is going to need them done soon - and I cannot remember or find the clippers I used on our old dog.

[dancinbcs]

All of mine, who have generally been very good or at least tolerate it when younger, have flipped out over nails at about 9 or 10 years old. I assume they probably develop arthritis in the feet and find having their foot held tight enough to clip nails, hurts a lot. My usually totally calm 11 year old has been a nightmare for the last couple of years. He was so impossible as a baby that I did sedate him once and after that he was fine so long as I did him on the floor and only held the toe I was working on. Eventually I managed to let me do his nails on the grooming table. Now he is still ok to have the hair on his feet trimmed but hyperventilated if I try to do nails. I used to use a dremel, then switched back to the human type nail clippers and a file but he decided to be terrified of everything. So I invested in a small cordless Dremel Stylus and eventually managed to work on him if I did it on the lounge. Due to a back injury the floor is no longer an option for me so I put a large towel over the lounge, put him on a lead so he couldn't leave, let him lie on the lounge and I sat on a chair to reach him and do a little at a time on each nail. He also got treats every time he let me do a nail. He was much less stressed and I hope to eventually get him onto the grooming table but if we don't get there we don't. My little dog prefers not to lie down on the grooming table but is happy for me to do feet and nails if he stands and I lift his legs like you would with a horse. I can use nail clippers or the dremel on him and have just bought a baby grow suit and cut the toes out so I can put that on him at nail trimming time to keep all his fluffy coat out of the dremel. We haven't tried it yet so wish me luck. :D

[Pjrt]

tip to keep coat out of dremel is to get a piece of stocking and pull it over the foot so the nail poke through and everything else is under the stocking.

[skip]

I have an older kelpie x chi that i adopted that has been hopeless at nail clipping and getting needles etc at vet.

So when i had my kelpie pup i spent ages at the vet which she loved just dropping in etc. But after desexing she changed and hates the vet too.

And she hates nail clipping even thou i try to keep it short and sweet.

Such sensitive dogs,my chihuahua is easy compared to the kelpies!

They dont seem to improve so now i just grab a leg, cut one nail and let go, plus a treat if one is handy. They are such drama queens can't do more than one or two at a time.

If your dog is geting older as well not sure about changing behaviour, maybe just minimise the stress by single trims, food and as you said, act really calm and tell em to get over it.

[sas]

Locate nail trimming on here there is an info pack and video - it's a method we use on all our fosters: http://www.greatdanerescue.com.au/downloads.htm

[Leah82]

I found this video really helpful as well.

very high value treats are definitely a must

and rather than putting off the 'stressor' to spend more time on desensitising have you tried just doing 1 nail per day? That way it's over and done with very quickly and then spend 5 minutes doing something really exciting and maybe, just maybe, she'll see the nail cutting as the prequel to lots of fun

[The Spotted Devil]

I think one trick is to not bribe the nail trimming moment so the treat needs to be out of sight. Reward vs lure produces a very different result.

My Dally always hated his nails being done - typical of the breed they are big, thick nails that sit high up like a cat's and never wear. I started with one nail followed by a race inside, race down the hallway to the cupboard for a special biscuit. Then it was one paw - race. Then 2 paws - race. Now he lines up for his turn as soon as he sees the trimmers come out and is happy to stand still for all 4 paws to be done even though he still doesn't love it. He loves the race more than he hates the clippers.

[dancinbcs]

tip to keep coat out of dremel is to get a piece of stocking and pull it over the foot so the nail poke through and everything else is under the stocking.

I tried the stocking some time ago but on such tiny feet I managed to get the stocking stuck in the dremel. The baby stretch suit worked a treat. I just unpicked the toes, so he had it on backwards with just his feet and tail out. It kept all the fluff out of the way and we were done in no time.