Hooray my dremel arrived!

 I have 4 dogs (labs) and we use a nail grinder on all of them. We have one who doesn't like things like vacuums much, and he's the easiest once you get him to lie down. Since I do all of their nails together about once a week, they're all pretty used to it now and only try to pull away when I get close to the quick. Unfortunately, my idea of close enough and theirs are a little different, but I have found a great system for the 3 that I do standing up: Just hold their feet like you would a horse! Hold the front feet up in the back, with your hand around the inside of the leg, and you can see the quick very well. It takes me less than 5 minutes per dog to do all four feet this way, and with the dog that lays down for it, it's a real snap. The other would not be so quick to flop over on their side, this seems to be HIS favorite thing to do, so it's easiest that way. If I try to do him standing he just tries to run away, but the others stand fairly quietly while I just buzz down all their nails. I think it's great.

The first time I used it on them, I just jumped right into it (none of this slow, touch when it's not on etc buisness), and they didn't really seem to mind any more than regular nail clipping; now they stand much more quietly. I don't remember the exact model we have, but it has a cord.

Have you ever tried an equine shedding blade on your dog? I use one on all of mine every time I groom them and have yet to find anything better for removing their hair without scratching their skin. 

http://www.freewebs.com/northcountry/SingleShedBlade.jpg