Refuses to have her nails cut!

[lioness87]

One of my dogs goes absolutely crazy if any attempt is made to trim her nails. We've tried:

• doing it ourselves
• groomers have tried
• using an electric file

None of the above have worked. What's the next step?! It's becoming a problem now, as she accidentally caught my mums leg and made her bleed.

I would take her to the vets as they often have nurse appointments which cost less than a normal one for things like this and they are used to handling uncooperative dogs.

One of mine is very foot shy as he is a rescue and had his dew claws taken off very badly as a pup which caused him ongoing issues. We've tried desentisation a lot and it never made a bit of difference, and even the vet hated doing it as he has black nails and the stress was even greater.
For the last couple of years we have done little and often, so we put a muzzle on him, one person pins him against the back of the sofa and the other one does a tiny amount off two paws worth. Over and done with in a couple of minutes and he is fine as soon as the muzzle is off. We do this every 2 weeks and this way its never a big thing. Though no one enjoys it, it works for us

If you’re on FB join the group Nail Maintenance for Dogs, if you’re not then check out the Positive Dog Husbandry site. Both are packed with absolutely brilliant information. Getting a dog who is unhappy with their nails being done comfortable with the process requires a proper programme of desensitisation and counter conditioning, both group and site explain how to do this, and it can take quite a while to get there. It’s totally possible though, three of my dogs have gone from legging it if I do much as looked at the clippers to racing to be the first to have their nails done with the Dremel every week

In the meantime you could work on using a scratch board to get your dog taking a bit of length off their nails themselves.

The vet nurses at my vets do it. I couldn’t do it myself I would probably need a chain saw! As long as he gets a certain amount of walking on pavements he doesn’t need them clipped anyway

Do more walking on pavements.

We're surrounded by fields and parks and open land. In theory I'd never need to walk the dogs on the pavement again, but I purposefully do and their nails never need cutting. They were vet checked a few weeks ago before an op and the vets were pleased to see no need to trim whilst they were under anaesthetic.

I do the walking as I once trimmed a dog's nail too short. The scream my poor dog made. It haunted me for years.

Thanks all, I'll try all of these tips!

Yes, the Nail Maintenance for Dogs is a great Facebook page. My dogs would never let me near their nails but now come running and lie down when they see the Dremel/clippers!

Loads of treats. Little and often (even if you only do a claw or two at a time). Desensitisation. And yes, pavement walking!

I've had success using an electric grinder and a lot of patience with our JRT who hates her nails being cut and would growl at anyone who tried.

Get the grinder and a pot of treats.
Show her the grinder, give her a treat.
Repeat, repeat repeat.
Then show her the grinder, turn it on, straight off, treat.
Repeat.
Over several sessions, several days, several weeks slowly build her up to looking the grinder, touching it anywhere with a paw, touching it at the right end with a paw, touching it while you reach towards her leg, touching it while you gently hold her leg, touching it while you gently hold her paw, while you hold a nail, while you apply a tiny bit of pressure to the nail against the grinder.

And so on.

Do it in very tiny baby steps. Never rush her. If she doesn't look thrilled to see the grinder because she knows treats are coming then you're going too fast for her and back it off a bit.

Our JRT will now wait while you grind a nail for about 10 seconds before wanting payment in the form of a treat. She'll repeat that for as long as you have treats. It took me about 2 months of a minute or so a day to get her to that stage, but worth it.

My dog hates the grinder and walks off.

By chance I did find at night when he is sleeping he tolerates me rolling him onto his back and stroking his stomach whilst I grind his nails down . In the day I have no chance of doing them.

I’ve gone from nobody can touch her feet to regular trims. The FB group is awesome. It’s taken months though!

Agree the FB group is very detailed and gives excellent advice. It is not a quick fix but is something everyone should map into puppy socialisation tbh.

Came on to say get the vet nurse to do it, but see others have got there before me.

My dog hates having her nails cut and in fact the only ones that need doing are the dew claws.

Took her to the vet nurse. It was so quick and painless that I can honestly say, the dog had no idea that her nails had been cut.

Just to add as well, that the groomer I use to take her to would always cut all her nails routinely when the dew claws needed cutting - my dog walks in the street a lot so I've always been a bit unsure about it. The vet nurse however, told me all her nails were fine, apart from the dew claws, and were being worn down naturally by her street walking.

As others have said do more walking on the pavements then they won’t need cutting. I never had to trim my staffys nails until he became elderly and wasn’t walking so much.

Definitely lots of pavement walking - if mine hasn't been on pavements for a while I notice his nails become problematic.

Luckily we have a dog walker that will do pavement walks with him so whenever I take him out he can have fun off lead at the beach or up the woods instead!