Hello peeps.  I saw these advertised at a stand at Southern Counties.  Has anyone used them before?  Instead of trimming the nails you can sort of sand them down.  Any info gratefully received.

Yep, I use a dremel to do all my dogs' nails. Much quicker and easier than clipping and you can't cut the quick. :)

I hate trimming the nails with clippers in case I catch them.  The sander, obviously it will make a noise - are your dogs ok with this?

I acclimatised the dogs to it by first simply pickingup their feet and touching their toes without the grinder being turned on. Then I turned it on, but didn't touch them at all. Then I simply touched one nail with the tool working, and let the dog go. I didn't rush any of the stages - one one day, progress to the next stage the next day and so on. By the time it came to doing the nails properly they were fine about it. :)

Do you think you get a better finish possibly a shorter nail with the 'grinder' - sounds awful using the term grinder!

Yes, much shorter becaue you can be so precise, taking off such tiny amounts, and much smoother. :)

Also can you not take off where the quick is?  The heat of the "grinding" stops the bleeding.  Obviously you don't want to be taking loads off at one time

Icequeen. Could you explain as your post reads that you would deliberately cut through the quick, which i'm sure that is not what you meant and i'm reading it the wrong way. Could you ellaborate.

You would deliberatly!  But where with nail clippers, if you catch the end of the quick just abit it will bleed....and a half!!!!

However if you where to catch the quick with a "grinder" the heat would stop the bleeding as it happends.  Of course this wouldn't work if you "grinded" a distance into the quick....

Hope that makes more sence.  Sorry for any confusion!!! :D

I have a dremmel lookalike. A lot cheaper than the Dremmel. You pay for the name. Mine cost £10 from Woolies a couple of years ago. Beware of some dog products. Just because they're aimed at dogs they wack the price up (dog toys for instance) My cordless tool has 4 sanding attachments. I find it's useful as you can round the nail off making it look neater and also you can be more precise than with clippers.
My two dogs were totally fine with it. They do get the blaster and hairdryer used on them so are used to different sounds. As Jeangenie says introduce it slowly to them until they're happy with the sound and feeling.

Can't remember in my head at the moment BUT I do remember researching them well when I bought mine. You must not buy the fastest dremel as it is too fast and heats the nail up too much.

Simpsons where doing a good one that was a real dremel made into a kit with the bits that a dog person would want.

Can someone tell me the best shape of grinder to use - I did look into this before, but have forgotten DOH :D

Daisy

Erm...........the cheapest way to get the dog's claws short is surely putting a lead around it's neck and road walking it for half an hour several evenings a week?    ;)   Or am I being old fashioned here & advocating exercise?   ;)  ;)  ;)  I've never had any of my dog's claws trimmed and we do lots of road walking.

I can't road walk Tara as she lost a toe and some of her pads on one foot - she limps/hops when walking on hard/rough surfaces :) One of her claws never touches the ground, hence grows very quickly. She is also very nervous of having her claws cut :(

Daisy

Some dogs' nails are soft enough for that, but others aren't. A two-hour road walk (as we learned during F&M) will hurt my dogs' pads but not wear down the nails.

My dogs walk on the pavement for at least 1/2 an hour every day. I still have to cut their nails

Don't do a lot of roadwork as the garden backs onto fields, so we head over there offlead. In the winter more pavement walks but I don't find the nails grind down effectively so still need to cut them. :)

You're lucky then Christine. Mine gets a half hour of road walking early in the day to get to the fields, then an hour in the evening that's almost all road work. He also likes to dig, and I still have to clip his nails fairly frequently.

Maybe I should stop feeding him all that jelly :-D

just joking foodies!!

All I can say ladies is you need to get yourself Munsterlanders! :D  :D  Curtis has his front dew claws too and I've never trimmed those either!!!!!!   Its bad enough having to trim the claws of my cat without 3 dogs too.    

You trim your cats claws. How on earth do you keep him still. I've got cats and never cut them, they keep them down clawing on the fence and various scratchposts round the house (including my sofa :) )

I have to trim my cats claws or else in the middle of the night I get a huge shock as i get my feet attacked. ouch.

The way i trim my cats claws is to reward the same as dogs. Tacking it slowly. Mine love butter so after each claw they get a teeny bit off butter of the end of a spoon. I started by just touching their paws and built it up from there. Oh and they are both clicker trained (ok my madness has finally come to light :D)

Well as she doesn't go out, yes, she needs them trimmed.   She is a pedigree and most pedigree breeders will not let kittens go to houses where they will be let out.  So she has a scratch post indoors and a regular manicure!

She is a British shorthair so she is quite placid and laidback, however I hold her firmly under my left arm and get her front feet in my left hand, if you push just under their toes, the claws extend and I snip the ends off.  She also has to have them trimmed when she is shown.

For the back ones I try to grab her like a baby and quickly do them, you do develop a technique!  ;)

you might find this article of use
regards
Pauline
NAIL TRIMMING - A WIN WIN METHOD
  In our puppy classes which begin at 8 weeks nail trimming is an important part of the curriculum. We find a totally non-confrontational approach works very well.

We ask the students to count out 40 treats each day. We suggest the treats be of the highest value, small cubes of cheese, meat or fish. You can also use jars of human baby meat. Either dip your finger and let the puppy lick your finger or just let the pup lick from the open jar.

You use 10 treats per foot.

At first just touch the foot-give a treat. When the pup is relaxed about touching, try just lifting the foot-give a treat, several reps of this for each foot then try holding the foot for a count of 3, then 5 then back to 3 then 6. Ping-ponging the length of time meant the puppy never reaches a "wall".

Once the puppy is comfortable with you holding any of the paws for a count of 10, try manipulating the toes. One toe-a treat-two toes -a treat, three toes-a treat, two toes-a treat, 4 toes a treat, etc,etc,

Then pick up the nail clippers. One snip-a treat, two snips-a treat, etc., etc.

This is done in small increments over several short training sessions, using 10 treats for each foot , forty treats for each training session. The food isn`t used as a bribe or a distraction but something the dog earns by good behavior.

If at anytime during this gradual method the dog pulls away, you simply wait. Back up to where you were successful and try it again. The dog has a choice. If he wants the treat he allows you to do the small step you are attempting. He always has a choice, you just make sure that choosing to go along with you is very worthwhile.

You act very ho-hum about the whole thing. It isn`t a contest of wills, just a clear choice. If you let me do this you will be rewarded.

There is no fighting using this technique. In our classes by week 3 all the puppies will sit or lay quietly as they allow a nail snip or two which is then rewarded with a treat. Nail clipping becomes an opportunity to earn treats instead of a wrestling match.

Cathi Cline
Family Friend Dog Training
Sacramento, CA 

I have a WIZARD multi tool :)  I start off snipping the ends of the nails with a clipper and then finish the main job with the Wizard :)  this cuts things down to 5 minutes per dog :D

I use the Wizard on the slowest setting (quietest too ;) ) and one of the small barrel sanders, a stone type grinder heats the nail up too much ;) ;)