Dog nail clipping...

[StillMedusa]

My girl is 13m, and has only had her nails clipped once at the groomers.. tbh she doesn't need to go to the groomers for her coat as she is double coated, and loved her nightly raking, and her coat is is good order.

Obviously in lockdown no one has been cutting nails. But hers don't look terribly long, she's not catching them on anything. We have a mix of good long walks every day.. some on pavements and a good romp off lead on fields. As a first time dog owner..exactly WHEN do they need doing? They look ok to me and she isn't clacking on the wood floor.

They don't NEED to be clipped if they're not clacking, but do keep an eye on her dew claws if she has any (the 'thumbs' part way up her leg).

The more you clip them, the further back the quick will withdraw, so it's worth keeping them trimmed if you can.

I've always done my dogs' claws weekly to keep them used to having their paws handled and to keep them nice and trim - but they were always farm dogs and so weren't walking much on pavements.

There are lots of videos online of how to go about this - might be worth having a peek to see what they should look like

If they're off the ground then they shouldn't need done really.
What breed of dog do you have? What size are they? Bigger dogs tend not to need their nails done as often (if they're still active on walks etc) as they have more weight to grind them down naturally. As PP said it's usually the dew claws you need to watch as they don't touch the ground to naturally grind.

If you're concerned could you post a photo?

Most groomers will in normal times just do the option of a nail clip however many of them, like myself, aren't doing them just now. In dogs where the nails are that bad they can't wait then vets will do them.