Tough nails - any advice?

Your choices are a dremel, which will take time but you *can* eventually push the quick back and go really short, or just hacking them off with a regular trimmer which will create quite a mess unless you have something to cauterize with, or have a vet do it if the dog is already out or sedated for something else.  I use a trimmer but I trim quite often to prevent the quick from creeping forward.

If I'm trying to get long nails pushed back, I dremel a little bit every 2-3 days until they are down to a nice length.

I let Schatzi's get too long over the holidays, & I've been working them back slowly.  (Her nails grow twice as fast as everyone else's.)

Here is what they look like now.

They are really short now, but I like them that way, & I didn't quick her at all to get them to that legnth.  I dremeled for a month to get them to this length.  When I started, they were long enough that they made clicking noises on the floor.

I agree with Amanda. Dremel, every 2 or 3 days.

I do Baileys nails at least once a week, sometimes twice. His nails are all black (except for one thats half clear) so I was always worried about cutting them too short. No matter how often I trimmed them, they always clicked on the floor, and I could never cut any shorter because I was worried I would hit the quick. Then I learned about using a dremel. And honestly, after seeing how much easier and safer it is, I couldnt imagin going back to cutting Baileys nails.

Thanks ladies.

This has pretty much been a problem since we got Sammy, almost a year ago.  When we adopted him, his nails were atrocious, so it's literally been a problem since Day One.

I have a regular scissor-type trimmer, which have always worked well for Harry, but for Sammy, a couple times he's yelped when I haven't quicked him (I only quicked him once, accidentally of course), and I think it's from the pressure it takes to get through his rock-like nails.  The trimmers are sharp, it's just his nails are so stinking hard.

Guess I'll be buying a dremel!

 Dremel is definitely the way forward although I will say that Bugsy's nails are super hard and they are still longer than I would like even though I feel like I dremel constantly.  At least Sammy's should be smaller LOL

I do B's every 2-3 days and at one point did them every day and honest they are still just barely correct.  If I take more off than I am doing it clearly hurts which i don't want to do.

He is very comfortable with the dremel so it isn't because he doesn't want it doing, it just gets to a sensitive point

Anyway you'll find the dremel easy once he gets used to it and they will be easier to maintain and shorter than they are now

dremel, easy peasy.  There's a well-known link on how to use it, if you need reference, from DoberDawn. http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html

I also will use the nail clippers to "shave" off corners of the nails, rather than inserting the entire nail and pressing.  That's the reason I don't like guillotine-style clippers.  I like more range with the clippers.  I'll just keep shaving corners to get closer and closer to the quick.  (Reminds me I need to trim G's nails again.)

miranadobe

There's a well-known link on how to use it, if you need reference, from DoberDawn. http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html

I was going to go searching for that link, but now I don't have to!  Thanks Paige!

Just an update on the Dremel training...

Its been a couple weeks since I got the Dremel, and I've been following the Doberdawn training method.

Harry's training's been a bit slow, because he had a small cut on the pad of one foot, so I didn't want to push anything with actually touching his nails with the Dremel, because I didn't want to cause him any discomfort at all (keeping it a 100% positive experience).  So we've just been doing desensitization stuff with it being around him, etc.  His cut is healed now, so I've moved onto touching his paws while the Dremel sits on the floor in the On position, and that's going well.

But, Sammy, WOW!  Tonight I was able to dremel a little bit of Every. Single. Nail.  All 22 of them!!  What impressed me the most was how relaxed he was.  He just laid down very casually and let me trim a teeny bit of each nail (I didn't want to push it by doing too much).  Man, this method is spot on and I couldn't be happier with the results.

Happy Nail Dance, lol!!

aerial1313

Happy Nail Dance, lol!!