Some of the pups in my new litter have dew claws on their hind legs. I have been advised to have them removed. Is this the best thing to do and what is involved.
THank you

I'd certainly have them removed. The vet will do it quickly with a pair of clippers at 3 days of age.

ditto exactly what JJ has said, unless of course its a breed where they are MEANT to have them!!

I agree with Sam and JG! :-)

And agree again. Also think about having the front dew claws off too. They can eaily get torn if a dog is exercised over rough ground. I had two badly torn dew claws in adults that required GAs to fix and took ages to heal. Ever since I've had the front dew claws off at 2 - 3 days.

Me too

The front dew claws are harder to remove than the rear ones.  I have never had front dew claws removed from my pups, but did once have a litter which had 2 pups with rear dew claws, the vet just snipped them off. My dogs use their dew claws to grip on to bones and have never damaged their dew claws (famous last words!!)  A RR I took on as an adolescent had had his removed by a vet as a new pup and it caused damage to his front leg - I can only think that his tiny paw was gripped too hard by the vet, and the result was damaged bones. 

I have one with front dew claws and one without, although the one with has never damaged himself he had scarred me with it when I forgot to clip the sharp end off

sharonb, the breed standard for your breed states in the section on hindquarters, that ''dew claws if any, should be removed''.

Dawn R.

I don't think that the breed standard or Kennel Club regulations are a priority in breeding these pups nursey.:rolleyes:

I think it might be too late in any case, I think this litter is gone 3 days old now anyway.

Dawn R.

As nursey says, it has to be done by 3 days of age at the latest, or left till they're several months old. How old are the pups?

Rjj had his back dewclaws off when he was 7 months old(my vets don't like giving young puppies GA's unless they have to)His breeder had never had a puppy with them before & noticed them when he was too old to have them done. They were not attached to anything so it was a simple op fortunately.

The pups have had them removed. They were three days old at the time. Although they felt a bit of pain it was over with very quickly and were very soon fast asleep as though nothing had happened.

That's good news :D

Why do dogs have dew claws did they served a purpose at some time ? does anyone know ? :)

My collies have always used them when chewing things & Rjj is adept at holding toys/food with his front feet

The back ones I haven't a clue about

One thought is that they were used to climb for prey.  :)  It's said that all dogs had 5 toes (4 on the foot plus a dew claw) and they were used as 'thumbs'.  Evolution has naturally taken them away in most breeds and in the breeds where they still appear, they aren't as strong as they once were and the back dew claws are not as firmly attached as the front.