Clipping a Dogs Nails Without Causing Bleeding and Pain

There was no way in Aspen's lifetime that she ever was well behaved during a nail clipping. And Happy, our Pom also has had to learn to cooperate with nail clipping.  My husband would hold Aspen firmly against him as I clipped, until she finally would let me clip them in older years because she wasn't as strong as she used to be.  It is good to learn how to do this properly, or you can get very frustrated as a pet owner, and your pet could be injured if you clip the nails beyond the vein that is in the nail.  Here is an article that you might find helpful. 

Improving a Dog’s Response to Nail Clipping Using Paws-itive Conditioning

By: Sandy Tuniewicz

The purpose of this document is to teach the dog owner specific methods of conditioning a dog to enjoy clipping of the nails.

INTRODUCTION

Some pets accept nail trimming without much fuss, but others will not tolerate it at all. This document addresses some methods of modifying the anti-clipping behavior of the dog through training and conditioning.

BRIDGING BEHAVIOR AND REWARD USING A MARKER

Use a clicker or a special word as a marker to show the dog when it is doing the right thing. The marker is a bridge between the behavior and the food/treat. In this example we’ll use the word “YES” as the marker.

Important:

• Keep the dog’s interest during conditioning sessions by varying the food treats so the dog never knows what he’s getting.
• Have several different treats each session.

CONDITIONING/TRAINING

You can condition your dog as follows:

1. Touch the dog’s toe. If the dog doesn’t pull away, say “Yes,” and give him a yummy food treat. If the dog does pull away, try again only touching the floor in front of the toe first, then touching the toe. Note: Yummy food treat means steak, chicken, string cheese, ham or some other special treat that has a high value to your dog and that your dog does not every day. The treats should be in tiny pieces, about the size of a pinky nail.

2. Repeat this process for all front and back toes.

3. Once you can touch his front and back toes, put a little pressure on the nail like you would if you were clipping them. If the dog doesn’t pull away, say “Yes,” and give him a yummy food treat. If the dog does pull away, go back to just touching the dog’s toes, and progressing until you can put a little pressure on the nail.

4. Repeat this process for all toes.

5. Put the toe nail clippers in front of the toe. If the dog doesn’t pull away, say “Yes,” and give him a yummy food treat. If the dog does pull away, go back to just putting a little pressure on the nail, and progressing to putting the nail clippers in front of the toe.

6. Repeat this for all toes.

7. Once you’ve accomplished the above, try clipping one toe nail. Note: Starting with the back nails can work well.

8. Clip one nail per day, just taking off a little bit.

Important:
• Sessions should be short.
• Quit while you are ahead.
• Train no more than 5 minutes per session and several sessions per day.

Author:

Linda Caplan is/was a trainer, professional handler and Weimaraner breeder and has been in the dog fancy for 28 years. Sandy Tuniewicz is a technical writer, Pet Consultant, and the recipient of the 2005 Ulti-Mutt Sales award and the 2005 Dream Team Leader award from Shure Pets, the premier direct seller of pet products.  

(March 2013 update: Sandy's site is no longer available, or has moved...February 2017 update: I found Linda online and have linked her name to a site that shared information about her.)

It's Time for my Spring Grooming

The weather has been warm, and I've been hot with all the hair that I have that kept me warm during the winter, so it's time to be groomed...my owner does the grooming herself, and does a pretty good job....I don't like it very much, but feel a lot better when she's done.

If you want to know how to groom your dog, we recommend that you visit the banner below this post with the cute picture of the Yorkshire Terrier on it about grooming, and visit some of our other pages about grooming by clicking on the "grooming" category in the list in the right margin.

We hope you are looking forward to getting outdoors with your dogs now that the warmer weather is coming to colder parts of the country.  Don't forget to get us ready for fleas and ticks, too...we have a category about that in the list to the right too.

Happy Spring to you all!

How My Owner Groomed Me

It's been a scarey couple of days for me, but not as scarey as going to the groomer...I used to love going for rides in the car until my owner started ending some of those trips at a groomer, now every time we go anywhere, I'm afraid that's where I'll end up. So my owner decided to groom me herself. She used to do this all the time, but she doesn't as much anymore. This is what she did:

• She put a large towel on the table, and got her best scissors, a small and large pair, and my brush.


• I had so much hair, that she just took hold of it between here fingers a bit at a time and cut off a few inches almost all over my body, leaving enough to shape later. I moved constantly, so it wasn't a very pretty site when she finished.


• She went outside, and put the hair on the ground not to far from the bird feeder, because sometimes the birds like my nice, soft hair to make their nests.


• Finally, she gave me a bath...that felt good because it was a hot day.

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That was all she did on day one. I noticed she kept looking at me funny, like she was an artist looking at a sculpture, planning what she was going to chisel away next. And chisel she did, the next day! Out came a clean towel and those scissors again.

• She was more careful in shaping my hair this time...it was more of a puppy cut, and you have to remember I have curly hair, so she would a section of hair between the length of two fingers up and down, pull it out from my body, and cut, and did the same thing pretty much all over my body.


• The tummy hairs she cut very short, very close to my body. By the time she was done, I looked so much better.


• Around my face is tricky, since that's my least favorite place to be cut, she holds me gently but firmly by the scruff of my neck, like my mommy would when I was a baby, and that just did something to make me still, and she could trim around my face. It looks much better now, I used to look like I had a long beard, now my hair circles my face kind of like a lion. She uses little blunt but sharp scissors around my eyes, and I can see again!


• She was real careful cutting the hair on my legs, once she did it so short I looked like I had chicken legs, and we both hate that look.


• She also trimmed the hair under my tail pretty short so.


• Oh, and my little feet, she trimmed the hair following the line of my paw so there was just enough hair to cover my nails.

That's enough for now, I feel much better, and next she's going to learn how to clean my ears. She's getting some help from a good instructional publication, it's VERY detailed, and costs so much less than a grooming. You can Click here for more information. We were impressed.

Happy weekend to you!