Nail Trims

Who avoids trimming their dog’s nails because it is so frustrating? I used to as well, so I can totally relate. My 15 pound Lhasa Apso, is TERRIBLE! He does not like his feet touched, he gets very aggressive and tries to bite me, I get frustrated, then I take him to the groomer, lol. When I adopted my German Shepherd, I decided to approach the situation differently. This is the same dog that used to need sedation to visit the vet, so you can only imagine how much he loved getting his nails trimmed. I went slow and steady with him. I really worked on his DOWN command, then I worked on desensitizing him to having his paws touched, then I would turn on the Dremel and just hold it next to him, not touching his nails, just letting him get used to the noise and when he would try to get up and move away, I enforced that DOWN. It is not mean to push your dogs limits at times, that is how they move past things. If I had never pushed him past some of his fears, he would still be stuck in a boarding facility, all alone and grumpy. He has a great life now and yes he had to be pushed past his comfort zone on some things, but it was for his own good and it worked out very well for him. Back to the nails, I worked on this a little every night and he went from growling at me and giving me that “I don’t want to have to bite you, but if you touch me again with those trimmers, we will have issues”, look, to him laying down and he may reposition himself, so I can’t easily reach his paw, but there is no drama. The more often we do it, the faster it goes. I highly suggest the Dremel to avoid cutting the nails too short or the dog jerking his paw and causing a nail to tear, etc. I didn’t realize how painful it can be for a dog to have nails that touch the floor, but it actually pushes the nail back with every step and to avoid that pain, a dog will compensate and shift their weight which ends up putting stress on the other joints. A dog should walk up on the paw pads, not shifted back due to the nails hitting the floor and not allowing the dogs weight to be in the correct position. Think about toothpicks under your toenails, I will leave you with that thought…



source https://wwwkcdogtraining.com/nail-trims/

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