Cutting Nails

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions to help me get Laika to allow me to cut her nails. For Orion I tell him to sit and I'll take each paw and cut the nails and he'll just sit there, then he gets a treat afterwards. For the first month I had him I had to like sit on top of him to do it but I guess now he knows its really not that bad. Laika, on the other hand, turns into a monster when I try to cut her nails. The first few weeks I had her the nail trimming wasn't bad (I was trying to do it often so she'd realize its not a big deal) but lately she's gotten terrible. Her nails seem to not wear down on their own as much as Orion's and they get sharp. When I try to trim her nails she does everything in her power to get away from me, she claw and bite (hard). She is a rescue pup and even though I got her as early as 9 weeks when she was little she would duck her head when you lifted a hand so I wondered if someone hit her :( and maybe that's why she's a freak about nail trimming. Also, she doesn't like to be held in general.

Anyone else have a difficult dog when it comes to nail trimming? How did you deal with it? Am I just going to have to take her somewhere to get them cut? I spend my summers at a vet clinic and before that I worked at a dog day care so I've trimmed so many dogs nails and never had this much trouble with any of them.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on December 30, 2010 at 10:38pm

With Al, I often enlist a confederate to distract/comfort him. I learned this from my dentist, who doesn't use topical anesthetic before injecting; she just pinches my cheek and wiggles it, and because I'm paying attention to that, I don't even feel the needle. With someone to hold his hand, so to speak, it's much easier. He's just afraid, not in pain.

After the first time I hurt him, it was very heard to regain his trust. He'd howl piteously; you'd think I was amputating his feet. Once Gwynnie was so moved she climbed into my lap, trying to protect him.

You could try a different tool (Dremel instead of clippers?).

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Permalink Reply by Zach and Lisa on December 30, 2010 at 10:55pm

Sorry I thought of something else as well. It sounds silly but it works for all but the truly hateful. Try having somebody else tap on the dogs forehead at varying speeds. Just never too slow. Most all dogs have a very hard time focusing on two things at once. Since the forehead tap is so annoying and close to the eyes and ears it typically wins over the dogs focus.