Trimming Your Dog’s Nails

Nail trimming and grooming are chores that are often feared by both dogs and owners. The best way to calm your fears is to ask your Vet or a professional groomer to train you in the proper techniques for nail trimming if you feel that you need help. The best way to calm your dog’s fears is to train him from a very young age to be comfortable with the process.

If you don’t feel comfortable trimming your dog’s nails, your vet or groomer will be happy to do this regularly. If you take your dog on frequent walks on concrete or paved paths, he may not need nail trimming as often. Just keep an eye on the growth of those dew claws (thumbs).

Unless your dog is very active outdoors, his nails will need to be trimmed on a regular basis, anywhere from once every several weeks to once a month.

General Info

Nail trims can be stressful for your dog, so the first thing you should do is get him used to having his paws touched and handled – this should happen long before you try to trim his nails.
Food rewards are a good way to distract a dog who is nervous or fearful about nail trims.
You can use a nail clipper or a rotary tool, depending on what your dog can tolerate and your own preference.
Nails must be trimmed very carefully to avoid cutting into the quick. And trimming one nail a day is fine – do only as much as your dog is comfortable with.
Styptic powder, baking soda, or cornstarch is a must-have and should be at your fingertips before you start the nail trim.

TYPES OF NAIL TRIMMERS      
There are many different types of nail trimmers. Buy good quality trimmers that are sharp and designed for the correct size dog. They should be concave at the cutting edge, to avoid crushing the nail. Blunt or poor quality trimmers will split the nail.  If the nails aren’t that long but are sharp, you can simply file them or use a pumice stone to take off the tips. You can also use a dremel tool to slowly sand down the nails, and this can be more gradual and safer than clipping. When clipping your dog’s nails, it is a good time to trim the fur that grows between his paw pads. Use a small pair of scissors with blunt tips so that you don’t injure the pads as you trim.

Don’t Forget the Styptic Powder 
One important thing to remember before you start trimming is to have styptic powder or Kwik Stop on hand in case you cut into the quick of the nail. Cornstarch or baking soda will also stop the bleeding.

Let’s Begin

HOW TO TRIM THE NAILS

The first step is to get some treats, make the whole experience positive and don’t feel like you need to be a hero and trim all the nails at once. Start with one, reward and come back later if you or your pet is nervous. One technique that helps is to hold the handle of the nail trimmers flat against the toe pad and cut straight across the nail, so that the nail will sit just above the ground. This technique makes it extremely unlikely you will cut the nails too short.

To get a shorter cut than the previous method, aim to cut at a 45° angle, after visualizing the quick. The quick is the pink area within the nail where the nerves and blood vessels are, much like the area underneath our nails.

WORKING WITH BLACK NAILS

If your dog has black nails, look at the underside of the nail and you will notice that towards the tip the nail separates out into a triangular shape with two outer ‘walls’. At this point, there is no quick and it is safe to cut the tip off. Otherwise use the technique of simply cutting straight across from the pad, rather than attempting to cut up at a 45° angle. Another trick of the trade is to apply gentle pressure with the nail trimmers without actually cutting where you think you need to cut. If your dog reacts to the pressure, most likely you are too close to the quick and you will need to more the clippers further down the nail.

Check out the photos below for a visual on what to look for when trimming black nails.

With your nail trimmers, shave off just the tip of the nail, we are talking 1/16 to 1/8 inch at a time.

After the first little snip, look at the end of the nail straight on. Notice that the center is WHITE.

As you get closer to the nerve, the center will start to turn darker. See the bit of gray?

Another snip, and its even darker. The center of the nail is now very BLACK.  This is where you want to stop trimming.  If you cut beyond this point, you will make the nail bleed.

This is what the correctly trimmed nail now looks like.

WHAT IF I MAKE THE NAILS BLEED?
If you accidentally cut the nails too short you can use styptic powder (like Qwik Stop), cornstarch, baking soda, or simply use a clean bar of soap and run it under the damaged nail. The soap will plug the vessel and stop the bleeding. Usually if you have made your dog bleed, he will be a bit nervous next time, so make sure you have lots of treats ready to give to him, and take it slow. If you pet is nervous about nail trimming, view this video on how to counter condition your dog and get him used to nail trims.

NAIL TRIMMING FOR SENIOR DOGS OR DOGS WITH DEFORMED NAILS

Older dogs tend to end up with long quicks, elongated nails, and often extremely hard nails. Nails can also grow back a bit deformed if there has been some sort of trauma to the nail bed, such as when the dew claw has been caught in something and torn.

Clipping after bathing can help with the hardness issue, as the nails will be softer.  If you can just take the tips off the nails or cut them so they sit just above the floor when your dog is standing, this can help to ensure you don’t cut deformed nails too short.

Alternatively, if you gradually take the tips off, you can often make the quick recede a little over time, but you will need to be patient. So long as your dog’s nails are not touching the ground, getting caught in anything and causing the toes to splay out or bend, there is no need to worry too much about keeping them extremely short.

Whenever you trim your dog’s nails remember to make the whole experience rewarding by having treats ready, and always take a little bit at a time if you can’t clearly see the quick beneath the nail. And if you have a very patient dog, why not paint those beautiful nails!