Throughout my career I have met countless dogs. I find myself quickly evaluating each dog I get my hands on by giving them a quick massage to give affection as well as feel for anything out of the ordinary. I have found over the years that most dog owners overlook two major aspects of doggy hygiene. Teeth and Toes.
Today I want to talk about why it is important to trim your dog’s nails and help you teach your dog that having their nails trimmed is not as bad as they think it is.
If a dogs’ nails are allowed to grow too long, it affects how the paw contacts the ground. The long nails can cause your dogs toes to splay out or even permanently damage the tendons in the feet.
If your dog is one of the lucky ones that manage to keep their nails at a healthy length just by going on walks with you, count your blessings. For the rest of us, here’s how I have taught each of my dogs (six in all over the last 20 years) and several of my clients dogs to allow their paws to be handled and trimmed.
Please note that this process is for dogs who have not already learned to bite or behave aggressively to get out of nail trimming. If your dog can not get past stage one, please contact me and I’d be happy to discuss options.
Stage 1: Let me touch your paws and I’ll give you a treat!
Note I never hold the puppy in place. She’s always allowed to move away if she feels uncomfortable. Please do not hesitate to enlist your family members or friends to help feed and love on your pup if you can’t do it alone.
Stage 2: let me play with your nails and feet but with a little more pressure and I’ll give you a treat!
Noticing a theme here? Every time you handle your dogs’ feet you’ll be giving them a treat! We are creating a positive association with handling.
Stage 3: introducing the nail clipper
During this stage you’ll be ling out treats for each time you touching each paw or nail with the clippers. You can also begin opening and closing the clippers near the paws. This is important if your clippers make any noise when being used.
Stage 4: actually clipping the nail – if you do not know how to trim nails here’s a great diagram of where to cut. If you have no intention of trimming your dogs nails and plan on using your vet or groomer it is still important to teach your dog that having their paws handled is nothing to be scared of.
