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Topic Dog Boards / Behaviour / help with nails
- By vinya Date 02.12.08 19:39 UTC
My dog has started to dislike having her nails trimmed. I have been doing it ones a week since she was 12 weeks, so that I only need to take a small bit off. Up an till last week she would lay on the sofa and just let me do it. But last week she started pulling her legs away and biting at my hand. I tried leaving her till she was more settled, but she was still pulling away. I tried being firm and not letting go of her leg but she just started getting up and trying to run off. I have a grooming table so I put her on it this week after she refused again to let me do them on the sofa. but she just went crazy biting and pulling and trying to jump off the table .I only got two feet done. I don't understand why she has started doing this. I haven't hurt her or changed the clippers. The last thing I want is a dog who hates having its nails done .Any help please?
- By lilacbabe Date 03.12.08 00:42 UTC
One of my dogs hates getting her nails done and she was allways a nightmare.she is geting better now but can still get in a tizz for seemingly no reason at all.

I am a groomer and this happens to me sometimes with my doggy customers and I usually find that there is something up with them as they normally stand to get their nails done.
Try and have a good check and see if there is a wee sore nail or pad  ( have you maybe accidentally cut a bit to close and didnt realise its easy done) but dont go straight in there and do it. Try and distract her by brushing her or just stroke her and have a sneaky look at her paws so as not to get her in to the I am getting my nails done mode.
It might take a few tries but be patient with her.
I sometimes find I get a good look at the nails when the dog is in the bath as they think I am just washing their legs and feet so they dont get worried and as the feet are wet you can get a really good look at the nails.
- By Carrington Date 03.12.08 09:42 UTC
One of my mum's dogs did exactly the same, I've clipped my mum's dogs nails for the past 10 years now, from being wee pups and one of hers had always been the best one to do she always sat very still and would even offer me her paw to do her nails, she was so unphased by it, she was like that for 2 years, then she went to the groomer and had her nails done there, she'd had them done before by the groomer too, all of a sudden it was like I was going to kill her and she began to struggle, I've no idea why and the groomer said she was no problem when her nails were clipped there, but she was suddenly distressed, I tried everything to win back her confidence and in the end would wait until she was sleeping and then manage to do two at a time before she woke up, but she has never been the same, and we are talking years later, I think once it goes it goes, TT didn't work either for some reason the fear is there now.
- By Carrington Date 03.12.08 10:33 UTC
Actually just a small point which may be relevant.

I once bought those guillotine clippers to try, the spring used to make a noise and the dogs hated it, have you possibly changed the clippers?
- By vinya Date 03.12.08 10:39 UTC
thanks . all i can do is give it time and not push her in to it. no, I have not changed the clippers , I am thinking she is just being stubborn.
- By Lori Date 03.12.08 10:47 UTC
How old is she and is there any chance she is coming into season? My normall bomb-proof girl was bothered by a few things before and during her first season; things that never bothered her before. She was more easily frightened in general. She was back to normal afterwards and her second season didn't affect her as much.
- By Vanhalla [gb] Date 03.12.08 13:02 UTC
I would agree, try and distract her.  With mine, I look at their feet at other times too so that they are desensitised.  That way they don't think claws are getting clipped every time I handle their feet.  I give a treat after clipping claws, so they know that if they are good, they'll get something.  Patience and quiet insistence will work best - if that means doing a claw at a time at first, then do it that way.  Don't get in a position where it's a battle.
I stopped using my old dog claw clippers after I noticed that, as I got close to the quick, the pressure of the blade hurt the dog - I think there must have been a squeezing action.  Spooky's claws tended to shatter rather than cut through with it.  I started using sharp human toenail clippers - I have a pair with a wider aperture than normal, and the blade cuts through the claw without squeezing the quick.  I probably don't clip as close as I used to anyway following an accidental clipping of a (black-clawed) guinea pig quick a few years ago - the poor thing made upset noises for quite a while afterwards.
She must be getting close to her season??
- By vinya Date 03.12.08 17:32 UTC
I have scissors type clippers and they are great. She is 7 months tomorrow, and I think she's starting her teens. I don't know when she will come in to heat. I am hoping its after the LKA. A lot of what she is doing reminds me of a teen lol I remember my GSDs being the same at this age. I think I worry to much
- By Gunner [gb] Date 04.12.08 20:48 UTC
If your clippers are becoming blunt they may be crushing the nail rather than cutting it.  Have you considered a dremel?
- By Vanhalla [gb] Date 04.12.08 20:55 UTC
This is what I'm thinking too - my old clippers were the scissor type, and they were hurting the dog.
- By vinya Date 04.12.08 23:16 UTC
They are not very old, I used to use the normal ones but my dogs hated them , the ones I have now are very easy to use, she dose not know I have done a nail which is why its strange that she wont do it any more.
- By vinya Date 08.12.08 22:02 UTC
I managed to trim her nails today. Every time she lay down for a sleep I went over and touched her paws with the clippers, she got up and moved away  and lay down again and I did the same thing, this went on all day, till she could keep her eyes open no longer, an off she went to sleep, she was so out of it I managed to do all her nails.  I found out that its not that she dose not like it, its just that she thinks its playtime and wants to play every time I hold a paw, she's also got ticklish feet lol
Thanks for all the advice
- By LucyDogs [gb] Date 09.12.08 14:55 UTC
Well done! Yes one of mine in particular also has ticklish feet, makes it even harder doesn't it! :-)
Topic Dog Boards / Behaviour / help with nails

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