Trimming nails is important to your dog’s overall health. Failing to maintain the right length causes many issues including arthritis, torn nails, difficulty walking, and, in extreme cases, nails can curve back into your dog’s pads, causing terrible infection and pain. Humans walk on the soles of their feet, but dogs walk up on their toes. And although the bones of a dog’s front legs are very similar to a human arm, dogs lack a bone like the collarbone, which gives them significantly greater range of motion. It’s vital to their gait that their legs remain properly aligned. If their nails are too long, they stop walking up on their toes as they are forced back onto their heels. Once they rock back off their toes, all the bones of their legs are suddenly no longer moving correctly. Try walking around on your heels and you’ll see how quickly it becomes painful. But it’s not just an issue of pain; improper locomotion throws off concussion and joint rotation, causing the tissue and bone to wear away, ligaments to tear, and arthritic spurs to develop. Once you know how to cut dog nails, you’ll be able to keep your dog walking properly. Dogs that spend time walking on pavement have the fortunate side benefit of their nails being worn down by friction. Even so, most dogs still need a trim now and then. And dogs that are sedentary or rarely venture onto hard, abrasive surfaces will need even more frequent trims.
Ideally, you begin training your dog for nail trims when they’re puppies. It’s an important part of grooming that both you and your dog need to learn to do. All you have to do is handle their paws. Be gentle and hold them, lightly rubbing and touching their toenails, applying slight pressure to their toes and nails to get them ready for clipping. If you spend a little time each day handling their paws, your dog will be much more accepting of the process. Starting when they’re puppies makes it much easier, but if your adult dog doesn’t let you trim their nails, you use the exact same methods to get them used to it. Begin trimming nails as soon as they need it. Don’t put it off just because your puppy is young. Simply take your time, move slowly, talk them through it, and, if need be, begin by trimming nails one at a time. If it takes a few days to get through their first few nail trims, that’s fine. Better to spread it out when they’re still learning than to force them to do it all in one sitting and create panic. Once they’re panicked, it’s very hard to overcome.
There are two basic styles for trimming nails: nail clippers and dremels. Nail clippers come in three styles: scissors, pliers, and guillotines. You can buy them in the grooming section of your local pet store. Scissors have a notch in the end where you place the toenail and close the handle, just like cutting paper with regular scissors, trimming nails by squeezing from each side. These can only be used on small dogs since larger dog’s nails won’t fit. With plier-style clippers, you squeeze the handles together, bringing the notched blades together to cut the nails. The drawback is, they function by crushing the nail. Imagine how it feels trimming nails by crushing them. Even if you keep them sharp, their pruning-shear-like effect is not comfortable. Guillotine clippers are ideal because rather than crushing, the nail is placed in the stationary ring and cut with a thin, sharp blade from the underside up. The blades are replaceable, so you simply put a new blade in when you notice your blade becoming dull. Consider the method with which you would like your nails cut. If your dog is small, like a Yorkie or a Pug, scissor-style clippers will work, but if your dog is very large at all and has bulk to their nails, then you want to use guillotines. Dremels have a small grinding stone at the tip that rotates at varying speeds to grind down the nail. Although there are benefits, many dogs (and their people) do not like the noise, vibrations, or heat produced by a dremel. Some owners like to use a file to smooth down any rough edges after trimming nails. Just remember if you use a file not to drag it back and forth in a sawing motion since that weakens and frays the nail. Swipe the file across the nail in the direction it grows. Do not, however, treat filing as a replacement for trimming nails.
Before trimming nails, locate the quick of the nails. The quick is the blood vessel that feeds the toenail. “Quick” is an archaic term meaning “alive,” and in this case the quick causes the dead outer horny layer to be alive on the inside, to grow and be healthy. If you aren’t trimming nails enough, the quick will lengthen, and forcing the quick back after it overgrows is a long process. It’s easier if it never gets too long to begin with. If your dog has pale nails, the quick is easy to see; it’s the red or brownish line in the center of the nail, best viewed from the side. Black nails make it much harder to see, and in that case, you often must trim by watching the front center of the nail. Just trimming nails at the hollowed tip doesn’t always work because you’re often not cutting back far enough, and you end up with overgrown nails. If you trim a little at a time, you’ll notice the front of the nail turning a chalky white, and when a tiny gray-black dot appears in the center, stop. That’s the quick. No matter what you’ll know if you go too far, because it hurts, and it bleeds.
If you have a small dog, hold them against your chest, and reach around to grip their paw. Larger dogs simply need to lie down. You may need a second person if they’re extremely resistant to the idea, but this is where good training comes in. With your left hand (or your right if you are left-handed), hold your dog’s paw and use your thumb and fingers to push gently on the pad to bring the toenail forward slightly. Identify the quick, if possible, prior to cutting. When trimming nails, cut just ahead of the quick. If your dog’s nails are a healthy length, you can clip the narrower hooked tip and hollowed-out part of the nail. But you often need to cut more than that. Clippers must be held perpendicular to the dog’s nails, otherwise the pressure created by clipping can and will cause the nails to split and fray. Be sure to cut from below the nail, not above. This means the handles of the clippers should be pointing at the floor, not the ceiling. Whatever type you use, cut the nail right ahead of the quick so you don’t cut too short. If you’re more comfortable cutting small amounts at a time, go ahead, and stop when the center of the front of the nail begins to show a tiny grayish-black dot.
If you cut the quick, don’t panic. Although it hurts, it looks much worse than it is. If you do not cut their nails, and they catch an overgrown nail on the carpet and rip it off entirely from the base of the nail, there will be significantly more pain and blood than a slightly short nail. Better to risk quicking a nail than to have it ripped off entirely. Now is when you use your styptic powder; most have antibacterial agents to prevent infection, and many have a pain reliever. Take your Kwik Stop or other coagulant powder and tap some either into the lid of the container, or some other small, shallow object. Cutting off the bottom of a paper cup works. If you don’t have any store-bought powder, you can use cornstarch. It isn’t ideal, but it will work. Press the bleeding nail firmly but gently into the powder, pressing against the bottom of the lid. This pushes powder into the quick as well as applying pressure to help halt the flow of blood. Simply dipping a bleeding nail into a tub of powder is not as effective. If you bought a styptic pen, firmly press it into the nail. Whichever method you use, maintain pressure for a few minutes. When you let up, don’t allow your dog to jump up and run around. The longer they stay down, the better your chances of the nail’s bleeding being entirely stopped. When they get up, it’s better to have them walk where the floor can be easily cleaned just in case it starts again. If it does, simply repeat the process. As scary as it seems, don’t panic, and don’t let it convince you to stop trimming nails yourself. Trimming nails is an even more important part of grooming than brushing and cleaning ears.
If the quick will not stop bleeding, apply a bandage. Use a nonstick pad over the area where the nail is too short so nothing sticks to the raw nail. Starting at the bottom of the paw, use roll gauze to wrap around the toes, paw, and ankle. On top of the gauze, add a layer of Vet Wrap, Co-Band, or another self-sticking exterior bandage. The wrap should be snug, but not tight. You should be able to wiggle your finger under the edge; if it’s impossible, then it’s too tight. It should not be necessary to leave the paw wrapped more than a few hours, overnight at most, depending on when you wrap it.
Once you’re done trimming nails, give your dog happy verbal praise and a cookie. Make sure they know they’ve been good and this is something to be excited about, not sad. Remember, dogs pick up on your emotions, so if you treat trimming nails like a tragedy, so will they. Treat this as a regular part of your grooming routine. You can always ask your veterinarian or groomer to give you a demonstration so you see for yourself how it is done on your own dog, with your own clippers. If there is just no way to convince yourself trimming nails on your own will work, don’t just let them go undone. Take your dog to have them done routinely. Trimming nails on a regular basis is vital to your dog’s continued health. Whether you do it yourself or have a friend or a professional do it for you, don’t put it off. Your dog will thank you.
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