I wonder if you could give me some advice...

Molly is now 11 months & I noticed the other day her front dew claw is growing outwards/to the side instead of straight like her other one & I'm unsure about what to do?  She gets regular walks on concrete so I have been informed that she does not need her claws clipping regularly (I have checked them & they aren't very sharp!)

I don't think it's causing her pain but I'm wondering about any long term impact?  Should I take her to the vets for it clipping back?  Will it be okay to leave it until she is washed & groomed in a few weeks time & ask them to do it?  Or shall I just leave it?

Pls help!

Hi,

Some dogs claws grow quicker than others, if she's doing road walks then that should keep them trim, but I'm guessing at 11 months she probably isn't doing a huge amount of road work - so may need trimming every now and then.  An easy way to judge if they are about the right length is to stand her on level ground and if her claws are just nearly touching the ground then that is about right.  Do get someone who knows what they are doing to show you first - it's easy to do, but best to be shown first as you need to be careful about not clipping them too far back which can cause bleeeding and will put your girl off having her claws clipped.

As for her dew claw, I would think the only worry about it growing sticking out would be that it may catch on things more easily so may need to be kept as trim as possible, obviously road work doesn't affect the dew claws so they will probably need to be trimmed more regularly than the other claws.  If your at all worried about it then speak to your vet next time your there.  I'm sure unless her claws are excessivley long they will be fine to wait until you take her to the groomers.

Karen

You've got me a bit confused because you say it's a dew claw. If that's so, it won't & shouldn't touch the ground & so will never be worn down.
Whichever, trimming regularly will help keep them trim.
As Karen says, get someone to show ou how to do it - it's easy when you know how.

Thanks, I never thought when I was writing that her dew claw wouldn't touch the floor when walking! (D'oh!), I'm gonna take her to the groomers in the next few weeks so I'll get them to clip her claws then & ask them to show me how to do it myself!  My grandparents gave me some dog claw clippers when their dog passed away but I didn't wanna use them cos I know if you go too far they will bleed.

Thanks for the advice though, I'm not overly conerned now!

I've found that with the dew claws, I'm able to keep them very short with a dremmel tool rather than a clipper.  I started off dremmeling about 2x a week...as the quick drew back I was able to file them shorter and shorter...I have 2 with dew claws and they're practically non-existant.