Nail Cutting?
What is an effective way to cut Ferris' nails? It's a horrible pain whenever I try and I rarely succeed. He hates it and will thrash around until I give up.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Linda Masters on
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Good luck! Corgis hate to have their feet touched. I have tried with mine and it was such an ordeal one of us would end up bleeding. I gave up and take mine to the vet for a nail trim.
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Permalink Reply by Laura and Tommy Jefferson on
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I don't know if this is "effective" per se but we use two people, one of them holding tommy with one hand and a plate smeared with peanut butter in the other. Keeps him distracted while the second person cuts paw hair and nails. It was actually our vet's idea :) it is still fairly painful but usually goes ok!
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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I use a dremel and treats and Franklin will sit perfectly still for it. How I got him that way, start SLOW, turn on the dremel near his foot without touching his foot, praise and lots of treats, do this over and over until he associates the dremel with positive things. Then do one nail, treats, and let him go do whatever. Next day do the next nail, etc. Pretty soon he will sit politely for you to do 2 or 3 nails at a time, then slowly work up to doing all his nails. It shouldn't be a fight or stressful or awful. If you go slowly and include lots of treats and praise, you can make this a fun thing. If he is AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL no matter what, I agree with Linda and just have a vet or groomer do it.
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Permalink Reply by Diane on
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I did what Melissa suggested... just started out really slow and with LOTS of treats/praise. I spent several weeks just letting him hear it. Chewey is definitely not fond of it but he'll do anything for a treat so once I get him past the initial "fuss" he usually does fine (and in fact I often catch him dozing off when I'm doing it now). I used to give him a treat him after every nail but now I can get away with a treat per paw and maybe some belly rubs.
Not sure if it makes a difference but I do his when he is lying on his back between my legs... (vs. standing). He's definitely less tolerant of his feet being touched when he's standing for some reason but that may just be him.
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Permalink Reply by Ray Cronin on
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Agree. I use a Dremel and it took a couple of slow and careful months to get Torri to be calm about it. She still isn't thrilled with the process, but tolerates it knowing there will be a treat at the end. We do it every week to ten days, depending on how much "sidewalk" time she has had.
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Permalink Reply by Ivy on
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Good advice here! I work on Ein letting me play with her feet. However, I go to the groomer for nail trims. It takes them about 1 minute to do all her nails, where I agonize over each nail for ages. Then she starts squirming and I take longer and a vicious cycle. The groomer by me takes walk-ins and it costs $6. So. Worth. It!
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Permalink Reply by Juno on
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as others have said...one feet/nail at a time slowly. If one or two is all you get that day, great....continue the next day. Juno doesn't like his nails cut in one go/cut he will yelp. I now do small bits of cutting at a time each nail. Like slicing cheese. it takes longer but he seems more comfortable
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Permalink Reply by Chloe's parent Liz on
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Have you tried a dremmel? Just like nail salons use. Just do a little at a time, reward with food. You may need more than one person. Both breeders that I used strongly recommended this over clipping
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Permalink Reply by Gromit, Sparkle, and Doug on
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Gromit & Sparkle were a real pain when it came to doing claws, essentially impossible to do by myself, so I started taking them to Pet Smart for nail trimming. Two things happened after a half a dozen visits spaced two weeks apart. G&S got used to the groomer's more skilled hands working with them, they went from being a two groomer job to a one groomer job, and I watched the techniques the groomers used.
I have a clamp on grooming post I put on the patio table and now do nails with the dremel using the same paw holding techniques the groomers used. G&S are still not crazy about it but we get it done with a few biscuits and a minimum of fuss.
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Permalink Reply by Tomahawk and Fences on
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I may have been a little more forceful getting my two dogs to stay still for nail trimming lol. When Tom was a puppy, I would lay him down and hold him by the scruff, not to the point where I was hurting him, but enough pressure to make him lay still. I would then do one or two nails before stopping. I then bumped it up to three, and finally to four.
Over time, he realized the better he is at staying still, the faster the nail trimming would go. Now, all I have to do is bring out the nail clippers and Tom will lay down for me. I did the same thing for my female and she also will just lay down when she sees me cutting Tom's nails.
They'll do the same for teeth cleaning, though with that one, I think the taste of the tooth paste was enough for them to relax and behave.
Honestly though, I would go with everyone else's route, start slow and treat accordingly. You can also try touching and massaging his paws throughout the day to get him used to you messing with his feet. I think that may have been the reason that both my dogs never really thrashed about when I would cut their nails in the beginning. All Tom would do is pull back his paw but that was about it. Of course if your puppy is adamant about not getting his nails trimmed, you can always take him to a groomer.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I agree with starting slow and treating. If he absolutely won't let you do anything, then reward the best he gives in a session and stop there. So if the most you can do is touch his paw, then reward that and stop. Next time touch his paw, reward, and try picking up his paw and immediately letting it go and then rewarding. And so on.
It took me 6 months to get Jack to let me do his nails, working 2 to 3 times a week, once I got serious about it. Honestly most of his first few years he kept his nails low enough by walking, but then they started getting longer and I started to realize I needed to get a handle on this.
If one paw is tough, try a different one; Jack is better with his back than his front. One front I can still only shave a tiny bit at a time and that's the best he'll probably ever do.
Maddie is wonderful, because her breeder had her til she was 4 (show dog) and she trained her. :-)
Maddie will go on her back and that is easier, but Jack won't even roll over for belly rubs so I do his with him sitting.
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