maltese poodle nails

Question
I have a black maltese poodle and want to clip her nails - I am told to clip to the pink bit but she is black and I cannot tell how short to go without hurting her - can you advise please

Answer
Hello Dot, Let me try to explain this to you with a visual.  Imagine the dog's nail like you would a tree.  When you cut a tree down if you cut closer to the top of the tree (the end of the nail) the inside part of the tree looks pretty much the same color.  As you cut lower down on the tree you begin to see an outer rim and the core will be darker.  This is the same for a dog's nail.  The closer to the quick the more you will see a predominant center.  Start of by clipping just a little portion of nail, then cut just a little more, look at the nail straight on and see if you see a dark center, you may just see a dot, cut just a little more and you will notice that the dot is getting larger, this means you are getting closer to the quick and if you get to close the nail will bleed.  When the nail center is predominant ( a noticeable dark center) and the nail has not bled, then this is where I would stop.  Usually you can cut the same amount from each nail.  This method always works for me, it gives me an idea of how close I am to the quick.  Good luck and Thanks for asking, by the way always keep quick stop ( a powder that will stop the bleeding if you do cut the quick) on hand... Cindy Lou :)