Hi all , my large breed beautiful pups are now 14 days and i have noticed some scratches on mums teats , i don't want this to hurt her or put her off feeding them so decided i will cut them today but oh my god they are just so tiddly , how on earth do you do it? I am worried about hurting the pup or cutting too much off - any advice??
Lucy

Use baby nail scissors and just snip the 'hook' off, don't cut too much off, I made one bleed first time I did it :-(

They will need doing weekly.

I always wait until they have fed and have fallen asleep, ideally with a large breed you need two people, much easier, if they are wide awake and active do not even try.   Just take the tip off the end of the nail, our breed has black nails so you are unable to see where the vein is!!!  It is really down to experience.   It is best to have someone show you for the first time.

Thank you cocopop, will get some baby scissors and a steadier hand while i am at it lol .

I use human nail clippers, starting at about 4 or 5 days old run the hooks over the lip of the blade and cut. 

With my medium size breed I will do them once a week once they are running about, but twice a week until then, and will not need to use bigger clippers until about 12 weeks.

Thanks Brainless , thats what i was attempting to do but what with wriggly pup , shaky hands and mum staring at me like i was about to do something awful to her baby it didn't work out too well. Will try again in a bit when pups are sleepy!

I try to do it after they have fed and Mum has gone for a toilet break, then try and do it while they are still lying down or carefully cradle them to keep them drowsy.

i also use nail clippers and if you just cut where it catches on the nail you should be fine :-)

Might be an idea to have a styptic pencil or powder on hand just in case you do clip the blood vessel :-)

I found it easier (especially if they're wriggling!) to have one person hold the pup on an upturned hand with their legs dangling down, then I went along quickly with a baby nail clipper, just snipping the ends of the nails off. Don't forget the dew claws too. Be careful though because at this age the nails are really soft and as I found it's easy to cut too much off. Luckily I only did this once and with the 9 pups we had I became better at it the more times I did it.

I use a cat claw clipper for the puppies claws,it has a little notch in the blade which makes it easier  to use,I agree it is a good idea to do it when they have been fed and are sleepy.i only do front claws at first so Mum does not get sore,their back claws help them get a grip when they are crawling around to find mum,so I leave those until they are up on their feet a bit more,and the claws are begining to catch on bedding etc.Years ago we used to remove dew claws when the pups were 2 days old,and had a special notch type scissor to do it with,but for some years now I have left dew claws on, or asked the vet to do it Ii used to have cairn terriers and they were often born with double dew claws ,especially on their back feet ,which would have caused problems if not removed.

I just used people nail clippers on my toy breed (large breed eh, try doing it on a 2 day old toy - and yes I needed to, the nails were already pretty sharp! :-D ) for the first few weeks. Picked a time where they were quite quiet and then just held them gently but firmly until they stopped wriggling. I think I might have stopped for a break after each foot.

Human nail clippers here, jst hooked the "hook" over the clipper.

> but oh my god they are just so tiddly

Smiling!  :-)  You should try it on my little nippers!

Like a lot have already said, I use human nail clippers on pups.  First clip I only do the front ones.  Again, when they're sleepy is good!  For a large breed, as they grow, I would recommend the human toe nail clippers.  I have a full set of proper dog clippers, but human ones are much better for pups.  I just take the little 'hook' off and have actually had a pup go to sleep on my hand while I've been clipping!

One thing I do find handy, is a pair of 'reader' glasses. (Can't see small print anymore LOL) But they magnifiy the nails a treat and make it much easier.