Nail trimming question

I think it is true, but you also have to take into account the wear.  Kenya's front nails just don't wear down that much, so I trim them at least once a week.  Her back ones I do maybe once a month.  For a while I neglected to do the front ones as often, and then when I did do them I didn't even cut as far back as they were but still quicked her.  While I was on vacation I trimmed her every few days, just a little bit, and I've got her almost as short as I want her.

I think dremmeling is better for slowly pushing back the quick.  My dogs couldn't care less about being trimmed so that's way easier for me.

 Yes, it's true. Emma and Ena's nails are super short. I grind them 2-3 times a week. Ena's only took.... a month to get show short from way too long, when I got  her. Using a dremel works a little better, because you get closer to the quick.

Very true. I don't have any experience with dremmling, but I do know if you keep at it regularly you can get that quick to recede down to a respectible level (clipping 2-3 times per week, small amounts at a time). 

Thanks guys.  Last week I trimmed quite a bit off of the dewclaws, because they were so long...I just kept trimming small amounts off until I started to see the soft gray stuff...so I'm probably going to wait until next week before trimming them again (2 weeks in between trimming), at which point I'll just do a teeny bit so I can do the more frequent smaller trimmings.

He has one white nail, the rest are all black, so I kinda use that one white one as a "guide" as to where the quick should be in all the others and that has worked quite well to prevent quicking him, but I don't trust it to be a guide for the hind dewclaws since he doesn't use them.

 To push the quick back, I would trim more than once a week.  Especially with a black nail, you are nervous about trimming.

On my guys I trim about twice a week, if not more.  It's almost like shaving off a layer and then I shape and round them, all with scissor style clippers!  Morrison is much more patient than Monroe even though I have nicked his quick a couple of times he doesn't seem to mind at all!

The vet actually mentioned how short their nails were and that they usually don't see them that short but that it is really good for their paws and toes.

huskymom

 To push the quick back, I would trim more than once a week.  Especially with a black nail, you are nervous about trimming.

Thanks.  Yes, that's what I plan to do.  It's just with those two dewclaws, they were so long, I felt it would be better to do an initial bigger trim before beginning this quick-reduction process.  I felt like such a bad mommy for allowing the dewclaws to get so long when I'm usually so diligent about keeping all his nails short!  It's actually been 2 weeks today since I trimmed the dewclaws, so I will be starting small trims tonight, every 3 days is what I was thinking, until they are where I want them, then I can hopefully maintain them better going forward.

I really do want to get them removed, but don't really want to put him under for what I consider to be a more "cosmetic" procedure.  Sure, he can get them caught and rip them, but he hasn't done that yet, and he's very active and since he's still a puppy, he can be quite uncoordinated at times, lol.  Anyone have any thoughts on getting them removed completely?   Just the hind ones since it's evident from the wear that he does use his front ones.

ETA pics.  I happened to have my camera with me at work, so I snapped a couple pictures of his dewclaws.  Visuals always help me understand things better...

Hind dewclaw.  This nail was trimmed 2 weeks ago, still too long, of course, but you can see by the crisp edges that he does not wear these down:

Compared to front dewclaw-worn down and rounded (and due for a trim today as well):

And, just for grins, Harry showing me he is not amused by my taking pictures of his feet :