Jack let me Dremmel his back nails!
Whoo-hoo, celebration!
I have mentioned that Jack is awful, awful, AWFUL about having his feet handled. I have worked and worked and within the past six months or so have finally gotten to the point that I can play with his feet if he is lying down relaxed. (He's over three, and it does not help that this is the farthest thing from a cuddly dog. I know they say to play with their feet when they are in your lap, but he comes in my lap maybe once a week and there is no way I am going to ruin this infrequent cuddle time by messing with his toes!).
But approaching his nails causes him to wig out. I have mentioned that he seems to be claustrophobic. He is the friendliest thing going, but try to hold him tight, pick him up, etc and he feels trapped and panics.
Well, in agility we have been working a lot with our marker word, "Yes!". The marker word works much like a clicker, though not quite so precise.
I decided to start using the marker word with his nails. I started with a pile of kibble on the coffee table (my good boy won't dream of taking food uninvited, even if it's dog food). I tried variations of having him sit, stand, or lie down. Sitting seemed to work best for him (it took a couple attempts over a few days to sort this out).
I gave him the "Wait" command and touched his toe and said "Yes!" and gave him kibble. I then progressed to holding his toe and "Yes" and piece of kibble. In the first few nights that is all we did.
On the second night, I had him sit and gave him the "Wait" command and touched the turned-off Dremmel to his nail and told him "Yes!" and piece of kibble. We repeated this, over and over, til he stopped flinching away. As we repeated the exercise, I would not give him his "Yes!" and kibble unless he held steady.
Then we put the Dremmel on (he's already used to the sound) and just barely touched one nail and had the biggest praise party after that.
Over a couple nights, I got to the point where I could actually sand a nail a tiny bit before saying "Yes!" And last night, I did all his back nails. He was such a good boy!
However, he still won't let me do the front nails and rears up on his hind legs and jerks his paw away. So we need to go back to the beginning and take it slower. I think the front is worse because it upsets his balance, and because he can see what I'm doing better.
Still, having done the back I am hopeful that I might be able to do the front. Until now his nails always stayed short from walking on pavement and stones a lot, but this year the stones on the trails in the park are getting thin and as a result Jack's nails are getting a bit long.
I could not have done it without the marker word training. Praising him for staying still did not work because he did not stay still long enough for praise, and there was so much going on that he did not understand what he was being praised for anyway. With the marker word, the precision is there to reward him at the exact moment he holds his paw still, or the Dremmel touches his nail.
It also helps that he sees me do Maddie's and knows that Dremmel = treats.
I have mentioned that Jack is awful, awful, AWFUL about having his feet handled. I have worked and worked and within the past six months or so have finally gotten to the point that I can play with his feet if he is lying down relaxed. (He's over three, and it does not help that this is the farthest thing from a cuddly dog. I know they say to play with their feet when they are in your lap, but he comes in my lap maybe once a week and there is no way I am going to ruin this infrequent cuddle time by messing with his toes!).
But approaching his nails causes him to wig out. I have mentioned that he seems to be claustrophobic. He is the friendliest thing going, but try to hold him tight, pick him up, etc and he feels trapped and panics.
Well, in agility we have been working a lot with our marker word, "Yes!". The marker word works much like a clicker, though not quite so precise.
I decided to start using the marker word with his nails. I started with a pile of kibble on the coffee table (my good boy won't dream of taking food uninvited, even if it's dog food). I tried variations of having him sit, stand, or lie down. Sitting seemed to work best for him (it took a couple attempts over a few days to sort this out).
I gave him the "Wait" command and touched his toe and said "Yes!" and gave him kibble. I then progressed to holding his toe and "Yes" and piece of kibble. In the first few nights that is all we did.
On the second night, I had him sit and gave him the "Wait" command and touched the turned-off Dremmel to his nail and told him "Yes!" and piece of kibble. We repeated this, over and over, til he stopped flinching away. As we repeated the exercise, I would not give him his "Yes!" and kibble unless he held steady.
Then we put the Dremmel on (he's already used to the sound) and just barely touched one nail and had the biggest praise party after that.
Over a couple nights, I got to the point where I could actually sand a nail a tiny bit before saying "Yes!" And last night, I did all his back nails. He was such a good boy!
However, he still won't let me do the front nails and rears up on his hind legs and jerks his paw away. So we need to go back to the beginning and take it slower. I think the front is worse because it upsets his balance, and because he can see what I'm doing better.
Still, having done the back I am hopeful that I might be able to do the front. Until now his nails always stayed short from walking on pavement and stones a lot, but this year the stones on the trails in the park are getting thin and as a result Jack's nails are getting a bit long.
I could not have done it without the marker word training. Praising him for staying still did not work because he did not stay still long enough for praise, and there was so much going on that he did not understand what he was being praised for anyway. With the marker word, the precision is there to reward him at the exact moment he holds his paw still, or the Dremmel touches his nail.
It also helps that he sees me do Maddie's and knows that Dremmel = treats.
Comment
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Comment by Beth on October 13, 2010 at 7:10am
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Hi Wendy. Jack would need to be sedated to have his nails done at a vet or groomer. I know the normal response is, "Oh, they know how to secure a dog there!" :-) To which my response is that they had a hard time doing a blood draw when he got neutered at 6 months. He was great when we left him, great when they took him back, great for the exam, they put him on the table and as soon as they tried to gently restrain him, he flipped out on them. Finally (according to what I was told) the vet instructed the techs to let him go and just gently steady his head.
He panicks when he is bodily held. The vet says he's claustrophobic. He (the vet) offered me take-home mild tranquilizers for if I ever need to work on him at home and that would be my next step, but I'm trying the marker word thingy as my last resort before doing that.
From the time he was tiny he would do this. I can brush his teeth and do his ears just fine, because that does not require restraint. I can bathe him, but we do him in the open shower because he panicked in the tub. He is ok for grooming, but again I have him stand. Try to forcibly hold a body part and he freaks out. When he was a puppy, the advice I heard everywhere was not to let him "get away with it" because then he'd know he could "win". Worst advice ever is all I have to say. The longer he was held the more he panicked. I know the difference between a scared puppy and an annoyed one, and he was scared. He was not like that when we picked him up from the breeder and first brought him home. It was sudden onset at around the age of 12 weeks.
So we'll keep trying with the marker word. He's smart and I think he might get it. The reason I can do the back and not the front is because when he's sitting down, I barely have to hold the back paw to do them. The front requires actually holding and lifting.
I do my cat, used to do my now-gone cat, and do Maddie all with no problems. It's not my confidence level, trust me!
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Comment by Lucy & Ricky (Wendy/Jack ) on October 13, 2010 at 4:59am
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Having used clippers for all our corgis, I have no comparison. Jack does the clipping each week and brushes their teeth. Lucy is used to the routine. Rafa was a little freaked the first time or two. I believe that it's all about Jack's confidence in clipping the nails that gives our guys the message that they are in good hands. Rafa is now as relaxed as Lucy when Jack clips his nails. Perhaps if your corgis nails are too long, you might want to consider a vet or groomer to cut them back. Then, you can begin a weekly routine w/o as much worry about hitting the quick. Sorry, we have no experience with The Dremmel.
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Comment by Jane Christensen on October 12, 2010 at 10:30pm
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Beth,
I just learned in Sage's new classes about running to get the treat and being excited! She loves it. I guess we'll have to do this at home too even though they all know when I open the cheese zip-lock...they get a treat too!
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Jane, both of mine are used to the concept that they get little treats while we are working, then when they have done something sufficiently wonderful we run to the treat cupboard, singing their praises, and give them a bigger or better treat. Yes, he did get a nice big treat when we were all done, and said "A-rooo-rooo-roooo" all the way to the cupboard.
The Dremmel is not as fast as clippers, but it's reasonably quick. I usually do each nail two or three times (you can only hold it a few seconds on one nail, so I cycle through all of them). I will do back nails one night, then front nails another night. Maddie is good; she lies on her back and hardly struggles. I like it because you are less likely to quick them.
I use clippers on the cat, but her nails are clear and her quicks are easy to see.
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Good boy Jack! Do you get a better treat when you're "all done?" I'm wondering if I should try a dremmel with mine. I don't know if mine aren't getting as much running in as theirs seem longer than they ever have. Some of mine are fine to clip and others aren't as easy! Does it work fairly fast on the nails?
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