Dog Community

grooming/nail care

Posted : 7/20/2006 12:56:37 AM

Help, any groomers out there, what do I do, I have let my chocolate lab's nails, get way too long! He is seven years old and never really enjoyed any type of grooming; ok he is a HUGE baby when it comes to grooming. [

] He is my husband's hunting buddy and he tolerates baths (although he loves to go in water to retrieve), but absolutely hates to have his nails done. He will let me trim the hair in between his pads but I gave up on his nails. I have taken him to groomers to have nails done but gave up due to expense ($15.00!). One nail even split and fell off, no kidding! I found about a half inch of nail in my bed (Pal has this wierd thing of nesting in my bed when I'm gone). I just clipped a nail and caught his quick for the first time and am so afraid that he won't let me near him. Is there a way to see where the quick is on a black nail? Any easy fix for our problem? P.S. I have clipped my iguana's nails for years too, plus my past dogs, so this is not new to me, having a baby is.

Sandra TH

Posted : 7/20/2006 9:26:46 AM

All three of my dogs hate getting their nails done. Two of them will allow me to use a dremel on them, although they don't like it. Zoey freaks out even with the dremel, so I let the vet do hers (until I can desensitize her to it).

Have you ever tried a dremel (grinder)? I like it better- its easier to avoid the quick.

probe1957

Posted : 7/20/2006 9:33:07 AM

I agree with the dremel. Odie isn't crazy about it, but he will tolerate it.

Kara

Posted : 7/20/2006 11:34:24 AM

Dremel is awesome. There is a little handheld one that comes with the sanding sleeves and all set up to do nails.

We got Gracie used to it by rubbing the Dremel (while it was off) on her body, down her legs and held it to her feet and each nail. We gave her a bunch of treats while we were doing it and continued doing this for a few minutes each day until she was confortable with it. Then we turned the Dremel on 'low' and did the same thing, lots of treats! lots of praise for sitting still! we did that for a few days. Then we turned it on 'high' and did the same thing for a few days. Then we actually started doing her nails. We would grind one, give lots of treats.. repeat until a whole paw was done. The next day we'd do another paw. Now she sits well for all paws to be done at one time.

Lhasa Lvr

Posted : 7/20/2006 3:11:59 PM

I will second the dremel, Suds came dremel trained and wow is it nice! I am currently working on getting Josie the puppy use to it and is actually doing better than I had hoped. Do a search for dremel someone here posted a great link for dremel training.
Melissa

Lhasa Lvr

Posted : 7/20/2006 3:20:09 PM

Ha! found it;
[linkhttp://homepages.udayton.edu/~merenski/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html]http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merenski/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html[/link]

Kate

Posted : 7/20/2006 3:25:24 PM

My vote goes for the Demel as well. ALthough I have to say that we've never really had problems with Lana and her nails. The problem was more with me. Some of her nails are black and one day I accidentally clipped her quick. She just gave a little cry and I must say, I paniced way more than she did. She had no problems with letting me clip her nails again. I, on the other hand, couldn't stand doing it 'cuz I was scared of clipping her quick again. We purchased a Dremel and I love it! She's not entirely fond of it but again, she lets us do her nails so it's not problem.

chocolatelablover

Posted : 7/21/2006 7:01:43 AM

Thanks to everyone for answering my call for help. I will definitely go dremel! And thanks for the link too!

fancypants1

Posted : 8/2/2006 9:57:54 AM

If your dogs nails are really long they can cause him problems and actually change the structure of his feet. $15 every month or so doesn't seem out of line to keep your dog's feet healthy. A groomer can consistently work with you to help you. If you can dremel the nails, or have a groomer dremel them, the quick will recede faster.

chocolatelablover

Posted : 8/18/2006 8:42:34 AM

Hi again everyone, its been a long while since I've been on the forum. Just want to thank everyone again for helping out. Since the end of July I have purchased a dremel and have sensitized Pal to it. He seems to tolerate this much better (or is it the treats I give to him throughout). A special thank you to Lhasa Lvr, the article you suggested is great. It was a big help to a newbie like me. I have been dremeling Pal's nails for a week or so, taking the longest ones first and working slowly on grinding them down. I go through the worst twice at a session and then hit some of the others. Trying to take a little bit day by day so as to not hit the quick or make the sessions last too long. So again thanks to all, Pal is on his way to a perfect pedicure! --Like it or not![

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