A continuation of the previous story on dremeling

 In chapter 2, we introduce the neutral object. The neutral object is something that has no significance to the dog. It might have significance to you, but to the dog, it means nothing. I chose a pen, because it was a clip that you can insert the nail into. I would suggest you also choose something that you can actually insert the nail into.

 
Step 1, you must go back to the very beginning, like you did with your hand. Object in one hand, clicker in the other, give the paw a quick tap, click at the same time, give the treat. Continue till the dog is ok with this idea. If you can't get near the dog, you know what to do, click successive attempts at getting closer to the foot, then actually touch the foot. After being able to touch the foot, the continuation of this is touching the nails. Quick touch, click  at the same time, and give the treat.

The next steps can be done interchangeably in my opinion. You can either go for duration of touching a single nail, or for touching multiple nails in succession before giving the click and treat.

For duration, remain with one nail. The dog already accepts a quick touch, so then go for 2 seconds before you click and treat, and 3 seconds for the click and treat. When you are able to do this on one nail, move to the next, and so on, and so forth, but you are only working on one nail at a time.

If you choose to go for more nails, your next step would be to quickly tap two nails, click and treat.  When you can do two nails, you then do 3, then 4, and all 5, if your dog has a dew claw.

Work each of these separately, then in the next part, they are combined.

 The next thing is to work towards is being able to touch each nail for 3 seconds. First, begin by touching the first nail for 3 seconds, then giving the next nail a quick tap for the click and treat. Then, touch the first nail for 3 seconds, and a quick tap to the next two nails, then three, and four, if your dog has a dew claw. Next, touch the first nail for 3 seconds, and the second nail for 3 seconds if your dog will allow. If not, do 3 seconds on the first nail, and 2 on the second until the dog is comfortable, then go back to 3 and 3. If you couldn't guess, after you can do 3 and 3 on the first two nails, you give a quick tap to the third nail, and the fourth, and dew claw if this applies. Quite surprisingly, the next thing to do is to touch the first three nails for 3 seconds, if the dog allows this. If not, the first two for 3 seconds, and the third for 2 seconds until everything is going smoothly, then you go back to 3. After you are able to sustain the touch of the first three nails each for 3 seconds in succession, give a tap to the fourth, and  then the fourth and fifth if this applies. Then you work on touching four nails for 3 seconds each, tapping the dew claw if your dog has one, then, touching all nails on the paw you are working on for 3 seconds.

This next part is major. You are going to work on both touching the paw with your hand, and touching with the object. Max was very leery of this bit, so it required another giant leap BACKWARDS.

We began by my touching his paw lightly with my hand, while holding the pen in the other hand. Allowing me to touch his paw with the pen in his sight in the other hand was it here. I then moved successively closer to touching his paw with each trial, until I could  give it a quick tap. Note that I did not actually touch the nail at first. That was the next step. One hand on the paw, and give the nail a tap. Then move up to two nails, three, four, and the dew claw if needed.

You may then choose to attempt to hold the individual toes in a manner that you were doing previously. If this does not work with your dog, then slowly work from the touch to holding the paw as was done previously. If you are able to do this, hold the toe as you would to use the dremel, and touch it quickly with the pen. Then you hold the first two and touch them, three, four, and the dew claw. Then hold the first for two seconds if your dog allows while touching it, and give the others a touch while holding them. Next 3 seconds on the first one, and quick touch to the others. Then 3 on the first, 2 on the second, touch the others. After that 3 on the first and second, and touch the others. I think the next few steps are fairly predictable, but if someone wants me to detail them, I certainly can do that.

After you can touch all the nails in succession for 3 seconds, If you are doing this with a pen or other object with a clip or place to insert the nail, try holding the each nail and inserting it into the clip for the 3 seconds. If your dog freaks, you know what to do, just begin to insert the nail quickly, but don't do it to start out, and work towards inserting each nail while holding the toe for 3 seconds.

And that's the end of this episode...

On the next episode, we take out the dremel... 

to be continued 

First, I chose to work with a dremel because Max has at this point established an extremely bad history with all things nail clipper. We had a dremel once before, which was ok, so I decided to replace it. This was made necessary because his nails were very long, and something had to be done.  

Part 1- Before the Dremel arrived

tools required- clicker

This can be done before you even get your dremel, which is what I did, so that I would be able to get to work right away when the dremel arrived because I ordered mine online.

I began with basic foot handling, since in the process of ruining nail clippers for Max, I also ruined foot handling. Actually, to clarify, he would give his paws, but I could not actually hold on to them or wrap my hand around them. The paw touching was pretty much controlled by him. He would give them, but he took them back just as fast if he thought I was up to no good.

Max was pretty suspicious right from the get go, so I started with just tapping his paw with one finger. That was it tap+click --> treat, repeat for many cycles. Ok, maybe 10.  If your dog is even worse, start with just approaching the paw, but not touching it, getting closer and closer until he lets you touch it.  Next step, touch paw with 1 finger for a few seconds. 3 is plenty, because that is how long you will be able to go with the dremel. You can go 2 seconds, then to 3 seconds, if need be. Lather, rinse, repeat.

My next step was to go back to a quick touch, but now whole hand. Just as above, touch+click, give the treat, repeat about 10 times. Then go to 2 seconds, and 3 seconds.

Again, Max was very untrustworthy about my handling his paws, so I went pretty slow here. The next step was being able to hold his entire paw in my hand. I began first by just partially wrapping my hand around his paw. I did not go right to fully and tightly grasping his paw, as I would have been bitten. Go about 10 times loosely wrapping your hand around the paw with lots of space between your hand and the paw. Then wrap it, still loosely, but without space for 10 reps.  At each step you are working from doing it just long enough so that you can get a click in, and working up to 3 seconds. Next step, hold the paw tightly enough that you could actually lift it, but don't lift it yet, that's following step. After you are able to hold the paw, the work begins in manipulating individual toes.

I prefer working all the nails, rotating between them, rather than going through all the steps on one then moving to the next, but you could choose to do it differently. If the dog has a dew claw, I prefer to do that one last. Not meaning, work through everything on all other nails, then do that one, but just last in the rotation.

Touch each toe with one finger just long enough to allow yourself time to click. Then touch each toe for 2 seconds, then three. Repeat until the dog is relaxed at each stage. Then, begin using two fingers to grasp each toe. If the dog is nervous, do not actually hold the toe at first, just begin closing your fingers in on it as far as he will allow. Again, just long enough to allow yourself time to click at first, and work towards 3 seconds.

Finally, while holding the paw, grasp each toe with the same hand. You know the deal, start with just long enough to click, and work to 3 seconds. If the dog gets scared here, start with holding the paw and beginning to grasp the toe, but not actually closing your fingers on it. Close the fingers on it more and more each time until you can grasp and manipulate each toe for 3 seconds.

Once you can handle each toe separately for three seconds, you're ready to move on to using a  neutral object to touch the dog's toes. The neutral object (s) may not be necessary for those dogs who have not developed an issue with actual nail grooming devices, but probably shouldn't be skipped for those who have.

*Throughout the process, it is always important to remember that if at any point you are unsuccessful, the dog looks nervous, makes a face like he is going to bite, you should return to the previous step for at least the next three clicks. If the dog shows signs that he is going to bite multiple times, find a point at which he is not nervous, do it, and end the session there. Always, always, always try to end on a good note. Also, pay very close attention to your dog's body language so that you are aware of when he is displaying signs of an impending bite. If you aren't watching this, you will not see when you need to take a step back, and you will only find out when it is too late. If you get to this point, you should then go all the way back to the beginning, and you may even have to go back further.