I know I am a wimp but would you believe I have never clipped nails,  have always got a groomer to do it!  But as I am handstripping the WFT myself we aren't using a groomer.  I have just bathed Sophie and I see that her nails are really long so I am going to have to do them. I have got some clippers (or could I use nail scissors as she is a puppy?).  I am not sure how much to take off and am frightened of hurting her.

Any advice would be welcome, thanks.

What colour are her nails? White ones are easier than black ones. Can you get your vet to show you how it's done?

I would go with proper nail clippers for animals. Make sure you have a nice sharp pair with a blade on both sides. I once bought a pair of guiluteen clippers and they just squashed the nail against a blunt edge. It was quite painful for the puppy!

If you have a nice sharp pair of clippers you can litterally take of slithers of nail (less than 1mm!) as the sharpness gives you more control. You can also cut slowly rather than just snapping away. I used to always make my mum clip ours - but have started myself now :) By taking slithers it gets to a point where it just seems quite soft and that's how I know I'm about to get to the quik.

I would imagine, as it's a WFT, the nails are likely to be white, which makes it much easier to see the quick. I have to say I much prefer filing nails as you get a better finish than clippers & far less likely to cut the quick by accident. I invested in a Dremel which makes doing 128 nails a doddle!! When I did clip, I never used guillotine types & used the other type, as there is less chance for the dog to push toe forward & cut off too close to the quick.
I would expect there are vids you can see on you tube if you google clipping dogs nails :)

Is she over her season and back at class? I can show you on Tuesday if you like. :-)

My dog hated the feel of the clippers round his nails and would pull away so I was always terrified of taking too much off and cutting into the quick.

Like Lexy I now Dremel no stress at all. Well I actually bought the human ones they use for filing acrylic nails down.He just lays on his back on my knee and lets me Dremel away. Because hes not stressed and pulling away I can get them shorter. I do them once a week. He has black nails but if I dremel the surface the black comes off and its white underneath so I can see the quick. As Lexy says a much better finish.

His had got way too long and now its taking ages for the quick to recede.

This is the site I used for learning how to dremel
http://www.doberdawn.com/doberdawn/dremel.html

Just clip a little at a time- you will be able to see the quick :)
I too Love the dremel- but be careful with that too cause it gets hot & you can get the quick as well with it.

A tip I read is the guillotine ones tend to slice and cut while the scissors type compress the nail to a flat plane before they can cut and it's suspected the compression part is what a lot of dogs object to.  I do use scissors ones with no problem.

Another tip, your own attitude and how you project your expectations can make a big difference, as it can with most training.  I found Oban, black Lab, didn't mind his back feet done.  I stood over top of him and picked his feet up as I would a horse's feet.  But for some reason he had to be lying down on his back for me to do his front feet.  No big deal, so be it.  But one day I forgot I was doing Oban and started on his front feet, standing up over him as I had always done with Jet.  He got fidgety and I said to him, "What's wrong with you?  For heaven's sake, quit wiggling."  And he did and I went on to the second front foot before I realized, holy smokes, this is Oban not Jet, and I'm doing his front feet standing up.  And I have done ever since.  All it took was my belief and expectation that he would comply and he did.  :)  Of course this is much easier to accomplish when you aren't trying to convince yourself as well as the dog. 

I've had the most awful trouble with Tara this summer :( She is 12 and previously I would clip her back claws when I trimmed her paws - no problem (they stayed fairly short anyway). Her front paws I would stand over her and pick them up horse style - but I could only do one or two at a time. She injured one front paw badly when she was two and lost a toe and a lot of the pads and so two of the remaining claws do not touch the ground so don't wear down at all. She has always been funny with her front feet since her accident :( This summer, due to the hot weather, the council resurfacing one road with chippings (which she finds painful to walk on) and losing Bramble, her front claws became very long - this seems to have coincided with her not allowing me to clip them :( Even when I muzzle her it became impossible, so I asked my vet if he could have a go when I took her for her boosters. We gave up after a few minutes because she was impossible to hold and was snapping at him (she did have her muzzle on). My vet was also concerned that she may become wary of him :( As the weather has become cooler I am road walking her every day in the hope that the claws will wear down naturally ! I have been using the Dremel on her back feet for the last few months without a problem (I used to Dremel Bramble's claws) but can't get it anywhere near the front paws :( If the road walking doesn't keep them at a reasonable length we don't know what to do as the vet doesn't want to sedate her because of her age :(

>If the road walking doesn't keep them at a reasonable length we don't know what to do as the vet doesn't want to sedate her because of her age :-("

you could try a dog groomer if you can find a good one who will be patient with her. How long are her nails? do they curl round and dig into her pads? or do they grow straight. if they grow straight then there is less of a health risk although they may affect her walking

> do they curl round and dig into her pads? or do they grow straight

They grow straight fortunately. They're not horrendously bad but I'm aware that it's not good for the claw to be taking the pressure rather than the pad, if you see what I mean. I don't like really short claws,  but too long is bad :( She wouldn't tolerate a dog groomer doing it - she is too strong to be held down forcibly and it would just be a bad experience :(

Would she let you use a nail file on them? It's how I started out with Spin who had never been groomed in his life and there was no way he was going to let me clip his nails when I first had him. I can now do two of his feet at a sitting so getting there :-)

>She wouldn't tolerate a dog groomer doing it - she is too strong to be held down forcibly and it would just be a bad experience :-("

thats why you need a good dog groomer. I certainly dont hold down dogs to forcibly cut their nails. Often just being in a strange place with a different person can just cause the dog to accept their nails being cut. If the groomer is good then they will work with the dog to make the experience as stress free as possible. I have several clients who cant have their nails cut by anyone but me. In some cases their owners have tried vets and come back with stories of the dog being held down by several people. They are amazed that after a couple of visits I am cutting the dogs  nails on my own and the dog is happy to let me do it.

> Would she let you use a nail file on them

I will have a try :) She is very suspicious of anything to do with her front paws :( She knows the scissors and will let me trim them - but not for very long. She lets me dry them with a towel :) Her bad front paw is very sensitive due to the damage done to it.

I'm really not sure how she would react to a groomer touching her paws :( Although she has been to a groomer in the past, the last time was 5 years ago and she has never had her claws clipped by them. I don't know any groomers here and couldn't risk taking her to just anyone.

I'll try Harley's suggestion of a file and see if she allows that :) :)

Good luck, my little ones first experience at the vets I moved from wasn't good but as Smithy says my groomer has won her over and now it doesn't seem to be an issue.

How is she at letting you handle her feet. One of ours has very strange front legs & feet due to growth deformities & whether due to this he loathed having his nails cut. We've always ensured from a pup he's been used & accepting of us stroking, playing with his legs & feet, yes he's ended up a 'lap dog' but it's certainly helped with his nails. Could cope as a youngster but as he filled out it wasn't so easy, at one time did ask this then vet what they'd do, two to hold him down & one to cut & wasn't going to allow that. So as he allowed us to handle his feet, started with a metal rasp till I could use clippers, it took time & a lot of treats but now he's fantastic (& BH nails are heavy duty to cut), strongly agree too that being positive & not reticent is half the battle. Good Luck.

You could also try smearing her other front leg with something tasty such as peanut butter or honey so that she is busy licking her other leg whilst you deal with one foot. Doesn't have to be lots of sticky stuff just enough to keep her occupied - I used a tiny amount of peanut butter when he was stretched out relaxing on the floor and rubbed it well in. I then let him lick it off and repeated with another tiny amount but that time I held his other paw whilst he licked it off. Third time in a row I let him start licking and then clipped the first claw - only a tiny bit off to begin with and it really helped to get him used to it.

Will she let you perhaps just do one claw, perhaps if she was distracted by a tasty treat to lick at? The advantage of doing it yourself is you can just do 1 claw, then let her settle down, even do another claw another day, and gradually build it up. A groomer, no matter how gentle and calm they are, generally needs to get the whole lot of nails done in one session, unless you live round the corner from one. :-)

> Will she let you perhaps just do one claw

That is what I used to do and so got both front feet done over a week - it's only 6 claws, 4 on her good paw and the 2 that stick out at the front on her bad paw - the third claw (inside) wears down a lot as that side of the paw takes most of the wear. She sees the clippers now and just struggles and runs off.

> You could also try smearing her other front leg with something tasty

When I dremel her rear claws my OH feeds her tiny treats :) She doesn't mind this - I've only started using the dremel with her the last couple of months as I feel happier using this rather than clippers.

I'll try something sticky when I give the nail file a go :)

Thank you all for your help. I'm sure that she knows that I am stressed about this which probably makes it worse :(

>A tip I read is the guillotine ones tend to slice and cut while the scissors type compress the nail to a flat plane before they can cut and it's suspected the compression part is what a lot of dogs object to.  I do use scissors ones with no problem.

It's actually the other way round.  Because the guillotine only cut from the top down onto a flat edge it's those that compress the nail.  The double bladed scissor type are the ones that compress the least because they are cutting equally from both sides.

Make sure your blades are sharp.  I have 5 dogs I do on a regular basis.  I use the Miller's Forge brand scissor style (you can find them on Amazon or at dog shows) to cut the tips off, then use a cordless dremel to get them back as far as I can beyond this.  This way there is less chance of cutting into the quick (though I do still nip it from time to time), and the closer you get to the quick with the dremel it will start to recede and you can even get terribly long nails shorter over time.

If you do quick the nail the best thing I've found to stop it is actually super glue.  Anything else and it can open back up or takes forever to close.  I always put it on a cotton bud first.  If you put it directly on the nail then overflows can end up with sticking two toes together (OOPS), so small bit on cotton bud then touch to the toenail and 'flatten' with the dry end.  Super glue is the same thing as liquid skin, so perfectly safe.

This is the best dremel tutorial I've seen, and it's how I taught myself (though the whippet toenails aren't as short as her dobies).  http://www.doberdawn.com/doberdawn/dremel.html

I had one girl who was terrified of the dremel, so we desensitised her to it over a few months with yummy cheese treats and a clicker.  After that, that's how we trained all the pups to accept it.  None of them like toenail time, but they accept it.

I used to break out in a sweat when I had to clip the dogs nails. The electric nail file was such a good investment. I still have one dog who doesn't like the file either but he is soooo much better than with the clippers. I can actually do his nails without someone sitting on him or something!