One of my dogs frequently breaks her dew claws. She likes playing ball and the running after it and returning to me seems to cause the claws to get damaged. They dont break off cleanly but rather bend out of position which is painful for her as she keep catching them on things causing more pain. When this happens I either have to take her to the vet for sedation to remove the claw or wait for her to damage it sufficiently that it breaks off completely. ot the blood and nerve supply die so I can cut it off without hurting her.

I have been considering whether it would be  more sensible to ask the vet to remove both her dew claws surgically to prevent any more problems. However I am unsure what effect this would have. I know dogs used to have front dewclaws removed at birth and my oldest dog has not got them. It doesnt seem to have caused him too many problems apart from not being able to remove haltis and muzzles very easily :) but his were removed at birth. As Daisy is used to using hers is it likely to cause her problems learning to do things without them? Has anyone any experience of having dewclaws removed from an older dog. Do they recover well and has it solved the problems? thanks

What about using dew claw protectors for when she plays ball? I have a friend who asked the same thing a while back and one of my other friends recommended these:

http://www.kates-krafts.co.uk/

You could contact her and see if she could make something?

As far as I know, the removal of bony dew claws can be quite nasty to heal. If she's wrecking them often it might be in her best interest but I think I would go down the vet wrap/protector type route before considering removal. Rear dewclaws are regularly removed from young pups in the first few days of life, this is definitely different to removal as an adult.

What a nuisance for you both though, hope you manage to sort it whatever you do :)

If this is happening on a regular basis, personally I'd get them taken off.    My Whippet came to us minus dew claws.  On the other hand, although at the time I got into Bassets in the UK, the vogue was to remove them (it was said by many leading breeders that it made for a neater foot - visually) and I had them removed with my early litters, eventually I stopped.  It wasn't the norm out in Canada in any case and as my vet hated doing this in any case, there didn't seem to be much point putting a baby puppy through that much as at days old, they didn't really 'feel' anything.    It was just another vet trip and they did cry which upset mum.  My current Basset who I didn't breed, has his.  

thanks for the website. I have emailed to ask if she can do anything. The only problem I can se is that she would need to wear them most of the time as she has also managed to break them when playing with the other dog. I can put them on for organised play sessions so might cut down the injuries and would certainly be worth a try before resorting to surgery.

I'd get them removed if she keeps breaking them. It can be extremely painful for them when this happens, and the more it happens the weaker the nails become making another break even more likely. She'll adapt to not having them very quickly.

Oh if it's even happening when she's playing with your other dog then maybe worth chatting with your vet rather than protectors, unless you can reliably predict when she's likely to go mad and she accepts such 'hardware' happily. Thought you meant it was only when she was chasing a ball. Sure your vet can advise on the op itself. Poor pup!

You could use vet wrap to cover the dew claws.

Not all the time, though.

No not all the time - should have made it clear that I meant when playing with a ball :-)

You could also change the way you let her play with the ball. Instead of letting your dog chase the ball when it is in flight get her to sit and wait and only release to go to retrieve the ball when it has landed and stopped rolling. That way the run to collect the ball is more controlled and there is less chance of injury - it also helps to prevent the twisting movements at speed that can cause other injuries. Great for training impulse control too :-)

I do this with my dogs - they are left in a sit whilst I throw the ball and then only one of them is released to retrieve it. Much safer that way and no danger of collisions between dogs chasing the same ball and no disagreements either. My rescue WSD has a huge prey drive but very quickly learnt to wait his turn at chasing the ball and will now wait until released before speeding off to get the ball and because the ball is no longer moving the pick up and return is far more controlled.