Nail grooming

Question
I have a 2 year old male Australian Kelpie who absolutely hates having his nails cut. He becomes very aggressive towards my husband or me which is not his normal behavior. He still likes to jump when we have company over and he leaves painful scratches so he usually ends up closed up in the bedroom. Recently I have started taking him on long walks in the park and make him walk on the sidewalk to try to shave them down a bit. But with as long as his nails are at the moment it will take forever to get the results I'm looking for. I have asked other dog owners for ideas and a few have suggested "Bleeding" his nails which seems cruel to me.
My question is: Is there an over the counter medication (with dosage) I can give him to calm him down so that I can at least cut the tips of his nails back to help speed this process up. Second part is: Will his nail beds recede so that his nails will become shorter as time goes by?

Answer
Hi Jacki,

I don't know of a OTC drug that will calm him down other then Benadryl which can cause drowsiness.

The quick of the nail will recede back if clipped oftem.

Doing nails on a dog that do not like it is no fun.  Have you tried using a file or dremel?  I find this works well with dogs that don't like a nail clipper.

Susan Potts
www.spottsgrooming.com