How To Trim Your Dog's Nails

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     I haven't met a dog yet that enjoys getting their nails clipped. Unfortunately it is a necessary responsibility to ensure your dog's nails stay at a reasonable length for many reasons. When a dogs nails grow, they can become sharp and pointed. My dogs are always scratching themselves in the face or ears when they get those feet moving in a scratching frenzy. One of my dogs manages to scratch so hard that she creates an open soar on her face, but there are other things going on with her as well. My point is, dogs will scratch themselves and just like humans, if the nails are too long, there liable to hurt themselves in the process. If you're not consistent with maintaining a natural length for your dog's nails, there is always a possibility that the nail itself could tear away from the cuticle causing a nasty infection which is extremely painful. So don't procrastinate and let's see if I can guide you through the steps for trimming your dog's nails with the least amount of discomfort as possible. If you find that you are not comfortable performing this task on your own dog, any grooming service will offer it to you for a small price.

To prepare your dog for nail clipping, the first important step is your state of mind. Be sure that you are in a calm and relaxed state of mind. Your dog will know if you're upset, nervous or scared. If he senses that you do not feel confident in your abilities, he will not be cooperative and when he squirms, mistakes and injuries happen. Your next step is to have a specific area that will be designated as the location you will be performing the task. You wouldn't want to use his dog bed or favorite napping location as it will become a source of discomfort for him. Having checked your clippers to ensure they are in good working condition go and retrieve your dog and bring him to the area you have set up. Depending on the size of your dog, you might want to consider having a helper on standby to help restrain your pet if needed. A good position to place your larger dog in is on his side, gently restraining him in a semi hug hold. Once you have successfully restricted his movement and confident that he feels safe and secure, pick up a paw and begin trimming each nail. Use quick short snips on each one and move on to the next. Try not to spend too much time on any given nail as that will generally signal a sense of insecurity on your part and cause him to become more fearful. Continue using a steady pace moving from one claw to the next and reverting back the other direction to be sure you didn't miss a sharp edge. Then, once you're done with one paw, quickly move to the next and so on and so forth.

If your dog has light colored nails, his quick will appear as a pinkish area toward the middle to the back of the nail. Never clip past this point as this will cause him discomfort and may bleed. If your dog has dark colored nails, you will not be able to see the quick and your best bet is to only snip off the top little by little and stopping as soon as you feel you're close. If your dog should bleed, apply light pressure and this should stop it. You might want to invest in a nail grinder made for dogs as this would solve that problem quite nicely. Not only will the grinder get your dog's nails to a reasonable length, but it will smooth over the sharp edges and create a beautifully manicured nail.

Once you're finished, be sure to reward your dog for a job well done with a big praise and a healthy treat. Once you do this enough times, it will become routine and your dog might actually enjoy the unpleasantness if he remembers that he will be getting a treat after it done. When you perform this task enough times, you'll realize just how easy it really is.