Caring for your dogs nails

There's a huge variation in the amount of care a dog's toenails may need.

Active dogs with normal or slow-growing nails may need no attention at all, or perhaps an occasional filing to take off the sharp edges.

Dogs with fast growing nails, and inactive dogs, or those that live on carpet and soft grass will need frequent manicures for good nail health.

And of course, those in between will need only occasional trimming.

Many dogs, or perhaps most dogs hate to have their nails trimmed. There's a reason for that. It frequently hurts. That isn't necessary, but it's a fact.

People think of a dog's claw as being the same as a person's nail. It isn't. It's the same as a person's fingertip. Look at your dog's nail from below. Compare it carefully with the tip of your finger. It's very similar, isn't it. Your nail sits on the top of your fingertip, only curving around the side a little. The dog's nail curves around the side, and the edges meet at the bottom side. But the fingertip is still there, inside. The very end of the dog's fingertip is dead tissue, but just a little bit back is the tender living end of the finger.

There are two sources of pain in dognail trimmimg. Both are avoidable. One is quicking, the other is crushing. Using a dog nail trimmer can cause both problems.

Imagine that someone took some clippers and cut off the end of your fingertip. If the nail was long enough they'd only cut the nail, not the end of your finger. But while they were clipping they'd probably squeeze your fingertip painfully. Ouch. Now suppose they cut just a little bit shorter. They'd get the end of your fingertip, and you'd yelp and bleed, and pull back. Next time they wanted to trim your nails you'd object. Wouldn't you? I would.

Look at your dog's nail from underneath. If the nail is very long it will obviously extend out beyond the living part. If it's shorter you can see the nail curving around the dog's "fingertip." In white toes it's fairly easy to see that some of the inner part is pink and living. You can't see that in a black toenail.

Dog nail trimmers come in three main types. Grinders, Guillotine style clippers, and Scissors style clippers.

My preferred way of dog nail trimming is with a grinder. Dremel makes nice little battery operated grinders that work very well. Of course the dog will be suspicious at first. He's already afraid you'll hurt him when you mess with his nails, and this has the added problem of scary grinding and vibrating. If you prefer to use a cutting tool, try not to cut or crush the delicate inner part.

Once they learn you won't hurt them when you grind their nails they can relax and let you work. Of course that means you have to be careful not to ever hurt them, or they won't trust you.

Once you've studied the underside of the dog's nails you can easily see which part is nail and which part is finger (or toe) and work accordingly. You do have to remember that the grinding can cause heat, so don't work on any spot long enough to make it uncomfortably warm.

First you grind off all the parts of the dog's nail that extend past the end of the fingertip. For dogs that do a good job of trimming their own nails by running around, that's all you have to do. Just make sure the edges are smooth so they won't snag on anything and scratch things.

Most dogs require more trimming than that. The trick is to get the part of the nail that is around the fingertip without actually trimming the tip. You can grind off the outer part, getting very close to the live "quick" but never actually touching it. Where the nail is thick you can thin it down so there's just a little around the quick. It will wear down by itself much faster, and next time you trim the nails it will probably be gone and the dead end of the fingertip will be worn away too.

You can thin down the nail for a significant distance up the finger so that it will wear down faster by itself. You should go at that gradually, though, so you can watch the results of each trimming before you go further.

If you want to shorten the dog's claw it can be done gradually. Each time you trim it make it just a bit shorter, and the inner live part will pull back on its own. If you try to do that all in one session you will definitely cause your dog pain and he'll learn not to trust you.

Sister sites:
Auntie Donna's Dog care and training tips

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