Long quicks

[m-j]

Hi

I have a Greyhound that has very long quicks so that makes  her nails long. I was reading somewhere if you cut the nail on an angle the quicks will shorten. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about this or knows if it is possible to shorten a quick.

TIA

[Dogsfevr]

Yes you can shorten them but doing the nails often ,having said that incorrect feet will mean the nails aren’t worn down or dogs that never walk on surfaces that can help wear them down.

 

using a Dremell or a nail file certainly allows for a closer trim 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Dogsfevr

[The Spotted Devil]

My Dalmatian has always had long quicks. He has lovely tight cat-like feet and the nails sit high up - very typical of the breed. The best thing I did recently was switch to a Dremel. I actually brought a rather pricey attachment for it and it’s brilliant:

 

http://www.whitmansharpening.com/Diamagroove.html

 

And yes, do the angle across the white of the nail on the top side of the quick. Zig’s nails have never looked better. 

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by The Spotted Devil

[Diva]

There is a fb group called Nail Maintenance for Dogs which has detailed information files on cut lines and managing long quicks, worth a look. 

[m-j]

Thank you will check these suggestions out.

[Dogsfevr]

Also I only cut my dogs nails straight out the bath,if you don’t bath often stick them in warm water ,it makes them softer and I find easier to cut/tip

[Two Best Dogs!]

Alternative cut line really helps get it down :D 

 

and to to do it every 2-3 days until it's your desired length. The Facebook group is a super help. 

 

I use clippers and and a scratch board. big hare feet on my mix with  big thick quicks in our nails = I'm happy when standing square they're not touching the ground  

[Papillon Kisses]

My Chi x had super long quicks. I used the alternate cut line and now his nails are off the floor provided I attend to them weekly. Skip a week though and it’s business as usual... Señor Chi nails grow like they’re on steroids. 

 

I assume you’ve seen this?

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2013/08/cutting-your-dogs-nails-how-important-is-it-really/

[Loving my Oldies]

Wow!  I looked at this thread because I didn’t have a clue what “Long Quicks” meant.  I thought it must have been some sort of agility action  

 

I have dogs (toy breeds) with really long nails and so difficult to clip them without drawing blood.  Will definitely look more closely (have bookmarked the link thank you @Papillon Kisses)

 

 

[m-j]

I have cut her nails (much to her absolute disgust, she was more tolerant of me getting the corn out) on the angle but there isn't really much to cut off without the risk of nicking her but I will continue to do this when I do cut her nails hopefully it will shorten then as she does need her nails to be shorter. I did their nails about 3 weeks ago and there was no nail to cut if I had cut it the usual way. My boy I only just tipped but his nails are good. Thank you everyone for your input.

 

Papillon Kisses  that is the article I was reading which lead me to asking here.

[Maddy]

In my vast experience cutting velociraptor greyhound nails, best way to do it is this:

First, get yourself some strong, good quality nail clippers. Your fingers will thank you for that later.

Rather than worrying about the tips immediately, start by using the clippers to shave away the tough outer layer of the nail, from about halfway down the nail. Don't go too crazy with this, you want want to soften the nail overall. You do this by holding the clippers at an angle and cutting/shaving toward the tip. Once you've shaved off top and sides, you can easily nip the tip off with zero greyhound screams of death. Once that's done, use one side of the blade to scrape away the edges from underneath. If this edge is left, it joins up as the tip grows, making future trims harder. This method makes the whole nail a bit softer, which means it wears faster when walking on abrasive surfaces. 

From what I've seen, quicks recede at a glacial pace, if at all, so it's better to try to just soften everything up and keep it wearing effectively.

Oh, other thing is, I've found the vast majority of greyhounds cope much better with nail trims if they are lying down, on their side. Put a suitably long-lasting and yummy treat at the pointy end and talk to them as you handle their feet. If you can avoid hurting them, most catch on pretty quickly that nail trims are not so scary.

With black nails, the trick is to take tiny bits off the tip until you can see the beginnings of a small, blacker dot in the middle of the nail. Once you spy that, stop taking length and focus just on softening up the rest of the nail.

[m-j]

Thanks Maddy she amazingly  doesn't do the "screams of death" they are reserved for the vet at vaccination time before the needle is even touching her, she's a little bit precious. The first time the new vet was vaccinating her the vet had placed her hand on her back and before the needle point had even touched her Venus screamed, the look of surprise on the vet's face was priceless.

[The Spotted Devil]

I feed a spoon of chicken mince per nail with the Dally. He prefers to stand. The Spaniels lie down looking miserable but they are fine. They get a spoon per nail/paw depending how long they are. They wag through it all in anticipation. 

 

I bought really good nail trimmers but the dogs still were uncomfortable. Switching to the Dremel was the best idea. 

Edited February 12, 2018 by The Spotted Devil

[Maddy]

3 hours ago, m-j said:

Thanks Maddy she amazingly  doesn't do the "screams of death" they are reserved for the vet at vaccination time before the needle is even touching her, she's a little bit precious. The first time the new vet was vaccinating her the vet had placed her hand on her back and before the needle point had even touched her Venus screamed, the look of surprise on the vet's face was priceless.

One of mine donated some blood last night and he did a flinch/GSOD and now I have stained clothing and he has a haematoma. My old guy used to scream if you touched his ears. Or cut his nails. Or just tried to gently handle his feet. My neighbours probably think I murder dogs in here :| (Poddy certainly seems to think there was an attempted murder last night) 

 

[Two Best Dogs!]

12 hours ago, Maddy said:

... start by using the clippers to shave away the tough outer layer of the nail, from about halfway down the nail. Don't go too crazy with this, you want want to soften the nail overall. You do this by holding the clippers at an angle and cutting/shaving toward the tip. Once you've shaved off top and sides, you can easily nip the tip off with zero greyhound screams of death. Once that's done, use one side of the blade to scrape away the edges from underneath. If this edge is left, it joins up as the tip grows, making future trims harder. This method makes the whole nail a bit softer, which means it wears faster when walking on abrasive surfaces.

 

Can you describe more what you are doing here? I'm trying to imagine. Are you trimming all over to the chalky layer for 50% nail?

 

Which clippers are are you using? I have red handle millers forge.  They're good for shaving the tip on alternative cut line but slide off everywhere else 

 

We we have no issues nail clipping at current except that T1s quicks are THICK so can really only go as short as not touching ground when standing. If we could go further...

 

T2 just lays there. He has one nail which is black and white. I think it's adorable like a neo ice cream 

[PANDI-GIRL]

Pandi has black nails & i was  nervous about cutting the Quick , so i found a   Codos  small dremel   it's  great for  toy breeds

 

Breeder said the dremel   grinds  the Quick  & stops it bleeding,  the Quick will shorten the more often  nails are  filed 

[Maddy]

1 hour ago, Thistle the dog said:

Can you describe more what you are doing here? I'm trying to imagine. Are you trimming all over to the chalky layer for 50% nail?

 

Which clippers are are you using? I have red handle millers forge.  They're good for shaving the tip on alternative cut line but slide off everywhere else 

 

We we have no issues nail clipping at current except that T1s quicks are THICK so can really only go as short as not touching ground when standing. If we could go further...

 

T2 just lays there. He has one nail which is black and white. I think it's adorable like a neo ice cream 

My favourite nail clippers actually came from Kmart, about 10 years ago. I have a pair of Wahl nail clippers, several other pet shop brands but the Kmart ones are just better. They're still as sharp as the day I got them and they don't have any of the annoying rubberised bits that cause blisters. Only things I did, was remove the back guard (it's useless and just gets in the way) and sticky-taped the toggle that holds them closed because it was a bit loose and it was annoying me. 

 

With the shaving part.. not all the way through to the inner nail tissue, no. The very outer layer is the hardest and this is what you're aiming to thin out. The overall aim is to speed up how the nail wears and this needs to be adjusted depending on how the nail is looking. Some nails, like the outer outside toes (if that makes sense? On the left foot, the extreme left toe, on the right foot, the extreme right toe) tend to wear much slower because of how those toes sit, relative to the ground. For them, I'm pretty generous with the trimming. For the middle two toes on each foot, you can usually get away with less.

 

This isn't the best photo (was actually a thumb nail injury from rip-arsing around the house) but if you have a look at the ends of the visible nails, you can see how far back I was shaving on Bosley- basically just a few mm on him, because that was all that was needed.

He didn't mind nail trims at all so they were regular and easy to do. I'd usually just shave a bit around the tip, take the tip off and give the undersides a bit of a scrape out. If I forgot to do his nails for a few weeks (it happens), I'd just go a bit higher for the next few trims.

If Thistle's nails are really thick (as a lot of sighthound nails are), don't be afraid to shape them. I've had a couple of flat-footed greyhounds who grew toe pegs instead of nails because of lack of pressure from the ground, and shaping at least makes nail maintenance easier. Basically, same deal as above. Use the clippers to shave away outer growth, always cutting towards the tip.  (Sometimes, if I'm trimming a particularly horrendous toe peg, I just snip straight off the top of the nail to get a good chunk of it gone. This is something I'd only do on a clear or horn coloured nail because quicks can be all over the place- some follow the curve of the nail really sharply, others are higher up, especially in toe pegs. Important thing to remember is to try to keep the shape. Last thing you want to do is damage the strength of the nail.

Probably also worth mentioning that for sighthounds or sighthound crosses, you're never going to get the perfect little toe nubs that you see on most other breeds, and really, they're not ideal for the sighthound foot anyway. As long as nails aren't touching the ground when standing, just keep plugging away. Having said that.. nails on sighthounds are a bit like hooves on a horse: when things go wrong at the end of the line, it can have huge impacts further up. I had a greyhound returned to me after roughly five years of not having her nails trimmed. Because she was walking back on the pad (forced to, by the length of her nails), the impact of this abnormal gait was considerable. She had arthritis in her shoulders and was very painful- something that was disturbing to see because for most older greys, it's the lower back that causes trouble in old age. In this dog's case, even though I pared those nails back to the stumpiest of stumps (to force her toes to curl down more), the damage was done and irreversible. We got a bit of improvement over several months but she was never completely comfortable after that. "For want of a shoe, the horse was lost" and all that.