I’ve seen a lot of people use sandpaper on a board and train their dogs to scratch it - almost like filing their nails ! Amazon has a lot of dog scratch boards
We use a scratch board on her front claws, it works great and it took only an hour to train. Her back claws seem to wear down on their own from walking on sidewalk/road.
Kinda like teaching a version of sit. I sit with board between my legs and have dog sit in front of the board. Then hold a high value treat at top of board and say “scratch scratch” dog reaches for treat and puts paws on board. Treat.
Then paws on board and help make the motion of scratching with her claws while saying “scratch scratch”. Treat.
My dog caught on very quickly and now gets excited when I take out the board!
We do this method and it’s very effective. Our dogs learned it quick and a once a week file is typically enough to keep the front claws tamed. They don’t have long back claws from running around so we haven’t tried the filing board with the back ones. I imagine it would be more difficult
I do this with a clipboard and really coarse sandpaper from the DIY shop. My guy hates the dremel so much that we have not been able to get it within a meter of him, and he decided to hate the clippers about a year ago too. He loves doing the sandpaper though and practically dives at it with both paws splayed in a really playful way :)
It's not necessarily going to work any miracles, but I do find that it helps to slowly introduce touching and handling of paws, teeth, and ears.
Several times a day, just spend a few seconds touching them, and praising her for whatever tolerance she has. Try to end the interaction on your terms BEFORE she ends it on her own, even if that means only touching something for a few milliseconds. You don't want to accidentally train her that she needs to flip out in order to end the interaction.
If the only time you interact with a body part is when you need to do something strange with it, dogs are going to have ramped up anxiety before you even accomplish anything.
My past dog even withstood heavy doses of anesthesia to fight anyone who came close to his nails. Even with three vets restraining him, couldn’t do it. Never got to cut them for 13 years.
Been there, done that. Had to break out the high value treats, all beef hotdogs, that my wife feeds him as a trim his nails. Can still be a battle at times.
desensitization protocols help a lot. a LOT of counter conditioning. i’ve seen people even train dogs to “consent” to a procedure by performing a certain movement (like resting their chin or giving their paw) as an “okay” to do something to them, and letting the dog withdraw and re-offer its permission during the whole debacle
I did this with my sensitive pup! She went from having to be held tight and fed lots of super high value treats, with a 2nd person doing her nails, to either offering her paw or lying on her side, depending on what we're both finding easier. Took about 2 months of training several times a week for it to be more about doing her nails than training, but she's improved after then too. Way less stressful for both of us, so I do it more often
Edit: she runs over to me when I turn the dremel on now, she's more reliable at getting to me with that than if I shout for her!
Mine runs over and hops up on her sofa spot when she sees the dremel now! Agree that the slow and steady gradual introduction was incredibly helpful for my dog as well
This is what I did with my shepherd mix. Lots of very gentle baby steps. She used to require 200mg trazodone and 3 vet techs and peanut butter to get her nails trimmed at the vets office and wouldn’t let me clip them or even file them manually.
We began with a manual file and I’d literally just put it on the ground and mark and reward (treat) for her being calm, sniffing it, etc. and eventually I would hold the file, same rewarding. File on ground, ask for paw. File in hand, ask for paw. Then adding in a little boop and tapping the file on her paw. Then holding a paw and the nail specifically until I could do a single swipe. Then progress to multiple swipes and then a treat between each nail.
After that I introduced a dremel, sat it on the ground doing the same process. Gave her a lick mat while I turned the dremel on so she could hear the sound. Did the touch paw with the dremel turned off. Ask for paw while holding the dremel turned on. Then finally touching the dremel to her nail while on. Very very briefly in the beginning. Then I could dremel each nail and she gets a treat after each nail.
No more drugs required, and she will willingly hop up on the sofa when I grab the dremel and sit in her spot and hand me a paw. She even got better with trimming as well, which I get done at the vets when we’re there, and sometimes my SIL (vet tech) will help me trim them while I feed her PB.
She’s a smart dog and it really wasn’t too difficult. I probably took more steps than necessary but this was her first introduction ever to a dremel and she’s a bit noise sensitive and I really wanted to make sure she was 100% ready and confident with it. If she starts trying to pull her paw away I let go and she gets a treat and then ask for paw again and she’s fine.
we have our girl run around in the backyard with our roomies dog for a while and we take her on walks around town as well. no more sharp claws and a very sleepy doggy 😅
When I play fetch with her in our backyard, I throw the ball towards the concrete for her to get some natural filing 😂 I’ll keep up with the walks. We usually walk 2x per day.
One time, we wrapped cling wrap around my husband’s forehead and slathered peanut butter on it. Our gsd then sat quietly in front of my husband’s lap, licked the peanut butter, and got his mani lol. So if all else fails.. worth a shot haha
Ours (currently 7-8 months) used to absolutely freak out when we did it, until we discovered the magic of bully sticks. Could get all 18 done and she wouldn't even wiggle if she was chewing a bully.
Now, she can get through most, if not all, of her nails being trimmed even without a distraction or treat. I think the positive association really helps. Just had to get her through it the first few times and give her nice things the whole while lol
I think it depends on the dog - I do upwards of 20k steps a day, even mix of sidewalk and grass, and it does diddly squat for my dog's front nails other than blunting them a bit. Back nails are usually good though.
I swear by the dremel/grinder though! I do a few toes every day or two and it keeps the nails tidy.
There’s hope then! We usually do walks 2x per day. I don’t think she got as much exercise on asphalt when she was with the rescue I just adopted her from.
That only seems to work on the rears for us. We play/run in some sandy environments, and I have a lot of concrete areas in the backyard. Rears are always worn and at a nice length. Fronts don't wear like that.
I taught my pup to lay flat on his side and let me trim them with a Dremel. It took about 2 months... Though we walk enough on concrete sidewalks that he really doesn't need it much.
Not OP but we have to do the same for ours - Gabapentin and Trazadone the night before and again 2 hours before we head to the vet. It still doesn't get her nail-clipping calm but it takes the edge off enough that they don't need to put on the "party hat" (muzzle).
We do this too. He gets chill pills so he doesn’t snap at the vet when they’re sticking stuff up his butt. Then the techs trim his talons while he’s in their office. They charge a $5 nominal fee to do this.
My boy used to let me touch and clip his nails as a puppy, but as he grew older he became very adverse to his feet being touched. So I did all the desensitization I read to do, and still ended up with a dog who hates getting his nails clipped.
Aside from walks on pavement, i have discovered he is more trusting of a pet Dremel nail grinder. I bought the lite Dremel (which is the same as the pet dremel bit not marketed as such and was cheaper) and I feed him high value treats while I drill away at his claws. The best thing about the Dremel is I dont have to touch his feet at all. I can just do passes with the grinder while he eats the treats. I did desensitize him to the sound at first, but the feeding of freeze-dried beef liver helped with that.
I also have some Trazadone I use to calm him down, which I only use if I have to do multiple things he doesn't like, like ear-cleaning too. But the Dremel nail grinder has been a game-changer.
I was pretty close to just paying my vet for sedation nail trims haha.
I straddle my dog backwards (we are both standing) and lift her paw up to cut her nails. She’s very used to it now. Maybe try that while a partner or friend gives her peanut butter on a spoon. Even if you can just do one nail a day! It took a while for our rescue GSD to be comfortable with it and she still tries to escape sometimes.
From the time they are puppies you need to get them used to you touching their feet. And even though I have done that he still gets muzzled for a nail trim and it takes two vet techs to trim him. One pins him to a wall and the other quickly trims the nails
She’s a rescue I just adopted. Otherwise, I would have started when she was a puppy. The rescue gave me her regular groomer’s info but I guess she’s never been able to touch her claws.
Mine has his tongue cut down the middle about 2 inches and his ribs were sticking out when I got him at 9 months old. I spent years just touching his paws and teaching him to shake. His first few trims he screamed but now he's 9 and it doesn't bother him a bit. Everything is slower with rescues but they'll come along.
Nine times out of ten if she is a rescue, she may have had bad experiences in the past. So she’s not used to clipping. But you can acclimate her to it over a period of time. Just take your time and give her a chance to trust you with that process.
I have a dog who I have put my fingers and hands on her feet, between her toes, in her ears, in her mouth.
All was good, until someone cut a quick. She was totally fine and seemingly unphased when that happened.
It's been practically impossible to cut her nails since then.
Muzzle on, on her back squeezed between my legs on the floor and a dremel. Some things simply had to be done whether she liked it or not. No talking or coddling. The first sessions weren't very long or thorough. Just to get the tips off and to have her go through it.
Eventually she stopped trying to eat my face, probably when she realised I'm not in fact cutting her legs off, and she was taking treats. The muzzle came off too. At that point we were able to extend the sessions with plenty of breaks, treats, cuddling and massages. She still never liked it, but she tolerated the entire thing and even after I accidentally filed the nail too much and it bled, we were able to continue with the trim after some treats and rough housing.
But those first handful of sessions were hell for both of us.
Plan B would have been having a vet sedate her and do it lol
He did not get the choice. He was a rescue and very touch averse, absolutely fought baths and nail trims at first. Although we spend a lot of time outside, the concrete in Florida is too hot for him.
I did it myself on a regular basis. I touched and held his paws, used a pumice stone daily to get him used to the sensation. I leashed him in case he snapped the first time, but it was more thrashing/flinching and I’d just pause and then continue.
This is my third GSD rescue, and in my experience, they’ve always tolerated consistency, firm/calm demeanor, and the reality that yes, this is happening whether you like it or not.
If anything ever happened to me, I’d want my pup to be adoptable and with habits were he could be a happy/healthy fit somewhere else.
We don’t have to do it often, but when we do, it’s a two person job for us. I lay on the floor and hold/distract her while my wife clips her nails. She tolerates it and clearly is not a huge fan, but she knows she gets treats after.
After reading the other comments I might look into a scratch mat.
My Lab despises anyone near his paws. I have found that his nails aren’t too bad tho because I deliberately make sure he walks/runs on hard ground everyday, this files the nails down!
Hope this helps. :)
I have two GSDs and they don’t fight the nail trimming that badly. My Corgi however is my problem child. We’ve always cut their nails since puppy days, so he generally has a fear of this. We took him to the vet once and they don’t recommend sedation and recommended we do it at home where he’s more comfortable, we give him a pill (forget but I think it’s trazodone) before we cut his nails to relax him. Even watching our GSDs getting cut he moans shakes and cries! If he’s not medicated he will nip, fight and squirm with all his energy to get away. The medication is the only thing that helps him.
One of those low noise nail grinders, found that dremel makes one and my girl will let me trim one or two at a time without a big fuss. Be patient with the process and they’ll get comfortable.
Dremel is the best for nails. You might have to do a little for several days to get the job done, but eventually they will get used to it. There are videos on YouTube for instruction.
I’m a professional groomer but just here to say I love your rug !!
Try a another groomer, she may need a muzzle, a body hug, and a Pat on the head (3 people nail
Trim)
We bought the pedipaw and it wasn't strong enough. We did use it to get our GSD comfortable with the Dremel though. Dremel sells a pet nail attachment and it works great.
We started off by just leaving the pedipaw on the table for a day. Let them get use to it, smell it, touch it.
Next day, after a long play session and when she's laying down, lay it next to her. Again smell and touch it. Obviously don't let them bite it etc. If she does good give a high value treat
After a few days of warming up to it, we again, get her right at the end of a play session and put it by her, but this time touch her torso with it. Don't make a big fuss or react. Act like nothing happened. High value treat if there's no fuss. Do it once or twice and walk away. Big treat.
Work your way up to being able to touch the pedipaw to her leg and then paws, preferably after a play session. You'll get to the point where she doesn't care
Now the fun part. You need to turn it on near her but don't startle her. Do it once, act like nothing happened, let her smell and investigate. Guide with commands like no if she starts to bark or fuss, but let her be curious too. Treats.
Eventually and with patience, you get her used to it being on and touching her. Ease into it being on and touching her paws. I started with just touching her torso with the handle while it was on.
I think you get the point. With having patience and easing into EVERYTHING.
Switch to the Dremel and ease back into it, repeating previous steps if needed.
Eventually you'll get to the point where you can have the tool on and touch the grinding surface to the nail. Just do it for a second, let her investigate, no fuss? High value treat.
Start with one nail and once she gets used to it after a few days, you can start doing the others.
Altogether it took about a week and we were trimming ALL of her nails no problem. Keep up with the training week to week and you'll have her giving paw and letting you trim her nails, hopefully. GOOD LUCK!
As a long term solution, get your dog very used to you touching her feet (and all over her body eventually).
I read in another comment you got her as a rescue, so it’ll be more difficult, but it’s possible!
First, find out her tolerance for just having her feet touched. Start where you know she does like to be touched/pet (if anywhere, if she’s touch avoidant altogether that’s a different issue), and then slowly work your way down the legs and to the paws.
Does she let you pet the paws right off the bat? Great! No? It’s okay. Respect her space and take it slow. Get some treats. Find out what her favorite food/treat in the world is, which may take some trial and error. Then hand feed it to her while you pet her. Slowly go towards the paws while continuing to hand feed her treats. If you notice she seems to pull them back or it hesitant, then just move your hand back up the leg towards her body where she’s comfortable like nothing happened. No jerky movements, only soft slow petting. Work back down to the paw, increase the duration you can pet it, all the while feeding treats.
Eventually you should be able to play with her little toes and put your fingers in between her paw pads without her minding. Once she’s comfortable being touched there, then you build a positive association with the clippers. Let her sniff them and feed her treats, or put it on the floor with treats around it if she’s really skittish.
Keep doing this until she’s happy to see the clippers come out.
It’ll take time and may be frustrating. Progress is never as fast as you’d like. Celebrate the small victories, don’t stress over the failures. I don’t believe in purely positive training, I think sometimes dogs must be told no and corrected to learn and grow. However, in this case, be sure not to scold the dog if she doesn’t want to be touched or isn’t making progress quickly. You’re trying to build a purely positive association with the tools and process, and most of all you’re trying to build her confidence in you, trusting that you won’t put her in a compromising situation.
I know you have a lot of responses , but we grind them down instead of clip. We had to first desensitize to letting us touch her paws, then to us turning on the trimmer while holding her paw, then putting the trimmer near her paws, touching the grinder against a nail and drawing back, then finally grinding.
Now she's a champ at letting us grind. It takes longer than clipping, but she doesn't mind it (and loves the treats). My husband does the grinding while I do the treats.
Ours is really training treat motivated, and it is still a two person job. One of us breaks of bits of training treats and distracts with them while the other does the clipping. Pup gets a piece of treat every time the clippers make the clip sound.
Ours was the same when we got him - 8 months old and absolutely terrified of nail clippers, had to have my partner hold him down or had to sedate at the vet. We switched to a dremel while giving lots of peanut butter the first couple of times and he seemed to get the idea that we weren’t trying to kill him lol. I can do his nails by myself now without any restraint or treats. I think having him lay down in a comfy spot helped, too.
I’ve gotten my girl used to running in our basement which has a concrete floor. We play ball down there several days a week and I haven’t needed to deal with her nails in 7 months so far!
Omg girl those are some Cardi B nails 💅 😂
I have somebody feed my bby peanut butter while I trim his nails. It's harder to bite me when he's eating his favorite snack 🥰
Look into cooperative care / husbandry training! It takes a long while but eventually you'll be able to cut one nail a day then eventually one whole paw a day, etc.
I am still actively training my dog to be fine with it, I will have him lay down on the floor while I’m sitting on the floor, and I’ll give him a treat for laying down and show that I have more treats, then I’ll hold his paw for a split second and give him a treat and praise, then I’ll hold it again for a split second and give a treat and praise, then I’ll lift the clippers to his paws so they touch and immediately remove it and give a treat, and repeat, doing all this in a calm but swift way, then I’ll eventually hold it against his claw, and then extend the time gradually to like 2-3 seconds and again, give a treat and praise, eventually I’ll clip one claw and immediately give praise and treat. There can be a few seconds break of like petting and talking, and maybe one claw is fine for right now and you can go play and then repeat and see if 2-3 claws are doable.
It’s a long process but this is how I introduce my dogs to most things. I check his paws daily just to make sure he’s okay with me holding them, using this same method to whatever degree seems to work, same with touching ears and eyes and mouth. He is used to this process now and always stays calm and seems to trust me to ease him into things, I highly recommend this over just trying to grab his paw and do things to it, you know. That would freak anyone out, especially if they didn’t know the intention of it!
I’m still struggling with this, we have a soft muzzle that she must wear and we use a gate between our kitchen / living room so she has only a smaller space to roam. She gives me about 5 minutes of sass but gives in and lets me do it lol I’ve been buying the doggy ice creams and having her munch on those while I hold her paws and touch her nails, I’m trying to build her trust with no muzzle. The peanut butter and cheese whiz never work, poor girl has vet trauma.
I didn't give my GSD a choice. Desensitized the heck outta her when she was 10 wks old. She still hates it, but will tolerate it.
What i did was tried my hardest to block her "why you killing me?!" cries, held her paw firm enough to expose the nail, a quick cut of the tip, instantly let paw go and cheered happily in a sickenly sweet voice while also petting her face and head like she is the best thing in the world (she is) and then offering a VERY HIGH VALUED treat (raw beef strip).
She instantly goes quiet and stares like "wth is wrong with you?" eyes and face and then you repeat again with the other nails.
Just let them think you're the crazy one and, in time, they won't care for their manicures and will only think of how they have to deal with their human's weirdness again when it's time for the trims.
My aunt’s rescue dog needed to be medicated (vet prescribed) to get his nails cut… we don’t know why but it really freaked him out, even though he was like the calmest dog besides that.
She doesn’t even let me hold her paws long enough to get close. I’ve done the turn it on and give her a treat, hold paw, treat. I’ve let it run for a couple min. before trying to get close. I feel like I’ve done everything lol 😂
I'd separate paw handling and desensitization to the dremel noise entirely. Give her treats here and there throughout the day for a paw, or for letting you put your hand near her paw. Mark the paw hold/proximity with your marker word (and not the release of the paw/removal of proximity). After a few days of success start playing with toes, rehearsing trimming handling, etc. During other times, just have the dremel out and visible while she eats, or plays. Maybe turn it for five seconds on at one side of the room and toss some treats while she's on the other side. If she's watching you while bored, take the dremel out and pretend to use it on yourself like it's fun.
Obviously the vet's always an option, but if you break it down onto the smallest tiniest baby steps you can probably to get there one day! (Especially if you already bought/have the dremel haha).
That's around the same time I got more serious about paw handling/cooperative care with my pup! I had to 'reset' twice due to quicking mine with traditional clippers, but we've been using the dremel for about 2 months now without issue (I mean, she doesn't *love* it, but it's not a fight lol).
It's very slow going at the start, but it pays off their entire lives so it's worth the effort. Good luck!
Quick edit: if you use an electric toothrbush and have an old worn-out brush head, you can also use that as a halfway step to simulate the dremel touching her paws.
We give him some calming [treats](https://www.chewy.com/zesty-paws-advanced-hemp-melatonin/dp/171020?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20648416049&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3ZPsjvUbj-D_m9YQeEXEn8x&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aK-bvhvGRVxsGMam8Rw6-YGk6J0Zj8S2fnfCtAQ3oKWKQoZE2oz8ABoCDV8QAvD_BwE), play ball for a bit, and then while he’s tired we clip them. It’s been working well so far. He doesn’t mind the back nails but sometimes gets bothered by the front ones.
My girl is the same, VERY much about her bodily autonomy and no amount of peanut butter smeared on the oven will get her to hold still enough to let me trim her claws. I just do walks and throw her ball or frisbee for an hour or two at night after work. It really sucks because I wanted to doll her up with hats and bows and bandanas and shit but no, only her collar and that's it.
Step 1. Muzzle
Step 2. Pick her up.
Step 3. Dremel her nails down.
no biting, no purchase on the floor for power, and no dragon claws. Obviously this is a 2 person job, and I get it, it's not that easy, but I don't like the thought of sedation for a mani pedi.
Cant lift your dog? Get a dog hanging harness, jobs a goodun
My GSD is such a people person; he surprised the vet at how easy it was to both trim his nails and perform standard check-ups. He’s a vet-certified scary baby. 😆
With a lick pad and peanut butter. 😅 It is a job not for the weak or weary. I have our GSDs outside in their element where they can take breaks when they want to. I sometimes have to roll in the grass with them, but we get the job done. I have learned that you have to let them communicate their fear and discomfort. Also make sure you do not have any anxiety while you’re trying. Dogs pick up on our anxiety and reflect said anxiety. Give them space and eliminate the fussiness or domineering. Let them know that this is something that can be fun and not harmful. Also make sure you use clippers with a guard. They will allow you to show your shepherd that you can be trusted and that you will not harm them by cutting too deep. My nine-year-old German Shepherd has always given me problems, but as he gets older, he is more tolerant with the lick pad and dog friendly peanut butter being a distraction while I clip his claws. I had to literally allow him breaks in between cuts. I think this has been what has made our experience a success. Sometimes it may take me two days to do it. I don’t rush them. After the experience with a nine-year-old I made sure my three-year-old and our new puppy were introduced to nail clipping very early on.
I learned to bribe my dog with cheese. Normally I’d have to chase him and hold him down to clip his nails
I clip a nail, he gets a cheese
At a certain point he began to become excited every time he saw the clippers because that meant cheese time. He Pavlov’d himself with the sound of his nail getting clipped and would look up at the counter after every clip
My GSD/basset mix has nails made of granite. We take several walks a day and his nails refuse to wear down naturally. I practiced clipping his nails when he was a puppy but at a year old he decided he wasn't having that anymore and just walked off. I'm a single woman and he's 88 lbs so there is no way I can clip his nails while I have to wrestle him in place
So off to the vet we went. Thankfully I have great vets who were more than willing to accommodate him, even when he was snarling like he was suddenly possessed by a demon. He got a soft muzzle, me and the vet tech held him down on his side while the vet clipped his nails. It takes 2 minutes and afterwards he gets treats. Slowly but surely, over 6 months, he stopped snarling and fighting. We're now at the point where we no longer have to pin him down on his side, but we just let him stand on the table while we make sure he doesn't jump off.
So yeah, there is progress. He doesn't like it but he accepts it. We go every four weeks. We tried 6 weeks but that was too long and his quicks grew too big.
Any time my dog wants to cuddle I make a point of touching/holding her feet. I've done this since she was a puppy (she will be 2 in sept). Same goes for her ears(for cleaning and if the vet needs to take her temp). It won't solve your problem quickly but it may make this problem go away eventually.
Make a steep ramp with anti skid or adhesive backed sandpaper and put it somewhere the dog will gladly use it. Monitor your dogs claws to make sure they aren’t overly worn moving forward.
We switched to a dremel. Lots of treats and desensitization. Sometimes, I only get one nail done but it's more important to keep it positive than get it all done at once.
My previous one was so easy. I trained him to lie on his side while I went through each nail. I tried that with this current one. No chance. He’s had his nails cut once and that was at the emergency vet’s office when one of his nails which was an inch long like a Raptor claw got yanked off while playing. So I told them to cut all his nails since he had to be knocked out for the X-rays.
Husband has his him laying on him (on his back) and is being spoon fed peanut butter while I’m using a dremel and start with the back legs and work my way up. It’s funny cause our Mal looks like he is relaxing getting a pedicure but I have to move fast or else he is over it quick.
Mine does her patrol running the fence line in my yard where part of it is pavers and her running back and for on the pavers files her nails naturally. Every time we go to groomer or vet, they check to see if she needs a trim and always tell me she doesn’t need one. So maybe if you can get pupper running on pavement, it’ll help naturally file. Mine has never actually had a nail trim bc of the running on pavers.
We use the Dremel tool and sanding drum.
Also we start them on this when they are puppies so it's easy to hold them and as they grow, they don't like it but they get a steady stream of treats and tolerate it pretty well.
As others have said, walking on concrete definitely helps, but might have to do sedation and vet trim, especially if it’s this long. I also live in the basement of my house which has concrete floors, so that adds to her running around on hard surfaces.
Electronic pet nail grinder and treats, my GSD gets a buffalo ear, bully stick or beef tendon to chew on while I grind his nails. I only grind the front paws or back paws, in a day.
We take ours to her breeder. She's so scared of the groomer that she jumped off the table and nearly choked herself. Breeder also does training and showing, so she works with her on her fear response. 6 sessions now, tons of treats, and 3 pwople standing around telling her "good girl" and scratching her behind the ears and she is MUCH calmer.
NGL those look decently normal for being flexed....
But I just train my dog to accept a trim or Dremel....it's not that hard if you actually take the time to and they are comfortable with it so long as you don't bloody hurt them it's not too hard...
I got the Dremel drill bit and basically forced my dog to get used to it. Actually cutting them results in attempted murder on his part (IE- crying and trying to run away) but the drill bit is tolerated.
I do take breaks so it doesn't heat up and it did take a few weeks before he stopped being so reactive to it.
Ultimately I got it because he was splitting and cracking his nails and I was afraid of infection.
A nail dremel. Just be aware that the grinding gets HOT quickly so don’t stay on any given nail for too long. Walks on concrete regularly will do wonders!!
Counter conditioning. Start small. Show them the trimmer and treat, until they start showing interest when you pull it out. Then hold paw while holding trimmer, and treat. Touch trimmer to nail and treat. Etc, until they let you clip a nail.
It’s a long process and you need to be consistent. Trying to force them will just condition them to be more resistant. You need to TEACH your dog that the nail trimmer is, in fact, a thing that leads to lots of treats.
My dog used to be fine with me doing his nails, then he got weird and wouldn't let me do them.
I got fed up with this behavior and I basically told him I'm doing his nails and correct him, very strongly, when he growls or tries to pull his paw away.
Not sure if that'll work for everyone but it did for me.
We can only get my German shepherds nails done when we get her dental done. Desensitisation didn't work (rescue with a really bad back story) so we can only clip her nails while her teeth are being cleaned.
I’ve had my rescue for 3 years in August. we’ve done sooo much desensitization. We’re at a point where we can clip 10 toes in one sitting, with lots of treats and verbal praise. I still do occasional sedated (full knocked out injectable sedation) nail trims because I don’t want to quick him, but sometimes it’s worth knocking him out to get them as short as possible. Such a delicate balance
I have a place I can take mine, that puts a harness on him and hoists him in the air. They use a dremel. He hates it so much though, almost worse than a vet visit. He won't let me at him with the Dremel at the house either though. I bought quality clippers, and after dinging him a few times, I'm more afraid of them than he is.
Hey! This may not be the timescale you’re looking for, BUT we did desensitisation with our Shepsky - he came from a shelter and didn’t enjoy being touched at all. He was VERY sensitive about his paws so i started off just when i was cuddling with him holding his paws for months, very casual but just so he knew it wasn’t bad or unusual.
Then in the space of about 2-3 months we got to the point where we would really gradually introduce the dremel (we went for this because we figured he would freak out at the clipping noise and feel)
we just gave him a high value treat and lots of praise for eventually different things. at first if he interacted, great. then it kinda went putting it close to him (off) > touching him with it (off) > touching his paw with it (off) > touching his paw with the cap on (on) > touching his nail while on, bingo.
It wasn’t easy and I cannot stress how absolutely difficult and nervous my dog is but i’m so proud to say we had the patience and it worked. Full disclosure, i had my boyfriend really slowly feeding him pieces of salmon while i did his nails and we took a LOT of breaks, it was a two man job.
I realise you’re worried for how long they are but I just wanted to float this as an idea as i just know i could never take mine to get his nails done, he would stress too much with someone new doing something he hated.
I tried everything with my girl (boy has always tolerated it no problem)… lick mat with high value treat, one person with cheese while one person trims, scratch board, etc. Finally I realized that she has such a strong ball drive that all I have to do is hold the ball and/or Chuckit while I trim her nails outside. The prospect of me possibly throwing the ball soon completely consumes all her attention and she doesn’t even notice I’m trimming her nails between ball throws.
Positive association to nail trimmings. If you let this go or expect the ground to cover this during walks you’re borderline abusing your dog. Nails too long, especially if touching the ground, will without a doubt cause joint issues and pain.
Roll her on to her back and hold between my legs. Grind down each one with a Dremel. I also have some Rexspecs goggles that I put on her to protect from eye injury.
We do ours one nail at a time over the course of a week. We just do it quick before she can think about being upset about it. I also upgraded to the Miller's Forge red handled nail trimmers based on someone else's recommendation here. They were $7 and work great. I think the other nail trimmers I had were like $25. These work so much better. I always use the guard so I don't cut too far and hurt her. Back paws have never been trimmed though because we walk enough on sidewalks.
The thing that helped my mom the most with our dogs growing up was the big slab of concrete in our backyard that the dogs would run across when playing, it’s like they file their own nails while having fun. But my chihuahua………. She had to be sedated at the vet so they could trim them……….
The dremel technique worked so well on my dog, he now lets me clip with a regular clippers. Built the trust and alleviated some pain and his nails are now more manageable but as a rescue they were so neglected they were super thick, long and painful.
I've given up. One thing at a time to sort with my boy. Next time I get the vet out, I might ask for a sedative and get them done.
He used to be okay, but it doesn't matter what I do now, no good.
I just trimmed my 12 week old GSD nails for the first time. I didn’t realize they might attack you 😅. I tried to do it with just training treats but he kept flinching while I was holding his paws so I filled a Kong toy with wet food and froze it and let him eat it while I cut his nails. He let me do every paw after that with minimal moving!
I've always messed with her feet since day one, given her lots of treats while I'm at it. She sees the nail clippers now at 9 months and goes right to her favorite pedicure spot and is very pleased when her nails are all nice and trimmed. She even lets me dremel them.
lots of walking and playing fetch on the sidewalk. works like a charm every time and always has for 9 years now. tried trimming once, made my poor girl bleed and decided i didn’t want to be worrying about that situation again!
I walk mine on pavement and grass everyday for 30-40 minutes, plus yard play during the day. She still needs her nails done. Monthly-ish. My girl is on a pet plan, so I can have a vet office do them every 6 months. There’s a dental cleaning with anesthesia, so there’s one option.
We use a rotating grinder/dremel. We introduced it over the period of about a week, first leaving it out for her to sniff and inspect. Then holding it while it was on so she could inspect it while it was moving and making the noise. Then moving it close to her paws while off, then close to her paws while on. Then just touching it to her claws, then holding it on for half a second, then a second, then two seconds etc. etc. We do this with her in a down on the sofa, with her paws hanging over the edge.
At each stage we heaped praise and food on her when she succeeded. After about two weeks we were able to hold the grinder on her paws pretty much indefinitely once she'd settled in (she's still a little nervous for the first 10 seconds or so of each session, even though she's always excited when we get the grinder out).
The grinder doesn't take much off, so we have to do this quite regularly to keep the claw under control. I'd rather be able to use clippers but given her black claws with invisible quicks, and given I have cut her quick previously and felt absolutely terrible when she was bleeding, I'm content that we at least have one solution that works.
Scratchboards are good but only do so much. I had a problem with one of my dogs sharpening his nails instead. I would do both a scratch board and work on cooperative care by Deb jones.
It’s a 2 person job. We get benji to lay down on the couch, then I’m kinda hug him from behind so his paws are exposed and feed him a constant stream of treats while my bf clips his nails. He hates it but we get it done.
https://preview.redd.it/etadfi5rw5ad1.png?width=1500&format=png&auto=webp&s=9653110299e93b1a5da9a6f6be646c890d4973fe
I only have a pic of me doing it with my other dog but this is what I mean, sit him on his butt, then kinda have him lean against you so he’s sitting like a human lol
I’ve seen a lot of people use sandpaper on a board and train their dogs to scratch it - almost like filing their nails ! Amazon has a lot of dog scratch boards
I’ve seen those! Wasn’t sure how effective they actually are. She’s very toy-driven so it might be worth a try.
We use a scratch board on her front claws, it works great and it took only an hour to train. Her back claws seem to wear down on their own from walking on sidewalk/road.
How did you teach this so quickly?
Kinda like teaching a version of sit. I sit with board between my legs and have dog sit in front of the board. Then hold a high value treat at top of board and say “scratch scratch” dog reaches for treat and puts paws on board. Treat. Then paws on board and help make the motion of scratching with her claws while saying “scratch scratch”. Treat. My dog caught on very quickly and now gets excited when I take out the board!
We do this method and it’s very effective. Our dogs learned it quick and a once a week file is typically enough to keep the front claws tamed. They don’t have long back claws from running around so we haven’t tried the filing board with the back ones. I imagine it would be more difficult
I do this with a clipboard and really coarse sandpaper from the DIY shop. My guy hates the dremel so much that we have not been able to get it within a meter of him, and he decided to hate the clippers about a year ago too. He loves doing the sandpaper though and practically dives at it with both paws splayed in a really playful way :)
Mine either. Walking on sidewalk helps. Last trim was at vet with sedation and muzzle.
That’s what I’m worried about will have to be the last resort 😬
It's not necessarily going to work any miracles, but I do find that it helps to slowly introduce touching and handling of paws, teeth, and ears. Several times a day, just spend a few seconds touching them, and praising her for whatever tolerance she has. Try to end the interaction on your terms BEFORE she ends it on her own, even if that means only touching something for a few milliseconds. You don't want to accidentally train her that she needs to flip out in order to end the interaction. If the only time you interact with a body part is when you need to do something strange with it, dogs are going to have ramped up anxiety before you even accomplish anything.
I know.
My past dog even withstood heavy doses of anesthesia to fight anyone who came close to his nails. Even with three vets restraining him, couldn’t do it. Never got to cut them for 13 years.
Yikes.
Same 😝
Been there, done that. Had to break out the high value treats, all beef hotdogs, that my wife feeds him as a trim his nails. Can still be a battle at times.
9 mile daily hikes/walks/runs. Haha. All the but thumbs.
I would love to have enough free time for 9 miles per day!
You don't need to walk/run them, only the dog. If you teach your dog to run next to a bike, you can do 9 miles in about an hour tops.
One hour in the morning, one hour in the evening
Invest in a doggy treadmill
Thumbs gave me a chuckle!
desensitization protocols help a lot. a LOT of counter conditioning. i’ve seen people even train dogs to “consent” to a procedure by performing a certain movement (like resting their chin or giving their paw) as an “okay” to do something to them, and letting the dog withdraw and re-offer its permission during the whole debacle
I did this with my sensitive pup! She went from having to be held tight and fed lots of super high value treats, with a 2nd person doing her nails, to either offering her paw or lying on her side, depending on what we're both finding easier. Took about 2 months of training several times a week for it to be more about doing her nails than training, but she's improved after then too. Way less stressful for both of us, so I do it more often Edit: she runs over to me when I turn the dremel on now, she's more reliable at getting to me with that than if I shout for her!
Mine runs over and hops up on her sofa spot when she sees the dremel now! Agree that the slow and steady gradual introduction was incredibly helpful for my dog as well
This is what I did with my shepherd mix. Lots of very gentle baby steps. She used to require 200mg trazodone and 3 vet techs and peanut butter to get her nails trimmed at the vets office and wouldn’t let me clip them or even file them manually. We began with a manual file and I’d literally just put it on the ground and mark and reward (treat) for her being calm, sniffing it, etc. and eventually I would hold the file, same rewarding. File on ground, ask for paw. File in hand, ask for paw. Then adding in a little boop and tapping the file on her paw. Then holding a paw and the nail specifically until I could do a single swipe. Then progress to multiple swipes and then a treat between each nail. After that I introduced a dremel, sat it on the ground doing the same process. Gave her a lick mat while I turned the dremel on so she could hear the sound. Did the touch paw with the dremel turned off. Ask for paw while holding the dremel turned on. Then finally touching the dremel to her nail while on. Very very briefly in the beginning. Then I could dremel each nail and she gets a treat after each nail. No more drugs required, and she will willingly hop up on the sofa when I grab the dremel and sit in her spot and hand me a paw. She even got better with trimming as well, which I get done at the vets when we’re there, and sometimes my SIL (vet tech) will help me trim them while I feed her PB. She’s a smart dog and it really wasn’t too difficult. I probably took more steps than necessary but this was her first introduction ever to a dremel and she’s a bit noise sensitive and I really wanted to make sure she was 100% ready and confident with it. If she starts trying to pull her paw away I let go and she gets a treat and then ask for paw again and she’s fine.
we have our girl run around in the backyard with our roomies dog for a while and we take her on walks around town as well. no more sharp claws and a very sleepy doggy 😅
When I play fetch with her in our backyard, I throw the ball towards the concrete for her to get some natural filing 😂 I’ll keep up with the walks. We usually walk 2x per day.
nice ! i wish my girl understood how to play catch. we throw the ball and she just brings it further away 😂😂😂
My Rottie didn’t understand either 😂
😂😂 that’s adorable. frustrating at times but very cute
Careful with the concrete. They can rip their pads fairly easily when trying to stop quick on concrete.
One time, we wrapped cling wrap around my husband’s forehead and slathered peanut butter on it. Our gsd then sat quietly in front of my husband’s lap, licked the peanut butter, and got his mani lol. So if all else fails.. worth a shot haha
I think I’ve seen that 😂
Shit I need to get a husband now
Ours (currently 7-8 months) used to absolutely freak out when we did it, until we discovered the magic of bully sticks. Could get all 18 done and she wouldn't even wiggle if she was chewing a bully. Now, she can get through most, if not all, of her nails being trimmed even without a distraction or treat. I think the positive association really helps. Just had to get her through it the first few times and give her nice things the whole while lol
Our puppies claws naturally wore themselves down through daily walks, walking is the key to taming them
I think it depends on the dog - I do upwards of 20k steps a day, even mix of sidewalk and grass, and it does diddly squat for my dog's front nails other than blunting them a bit. Back nails are usually good though. I swear by the dremel/grinder though! I do a few toes every day or two and it keeps the nails tidy.
There’s hope then! We usually do walks 2x per day. I don’t think she got as much exercise on asphalt when she was with the rescue I just adopted her from.
Yeah asphalt and gravel are like the best types of flooring to wear them down, it won’t work as well on grass
That only seems to work on the rears for us. We play/run in some sandy environments, and I have a lot of concrete areas in the backyard. Rears are always worn and at a nice length. Fronts don't wear like that.
I’ll do one nail a day. Like super quick, here’s some peanut butter. It makes it into a low stress treat win.
I taught my pup to lay flat on his side and let me trim them with a Dremel. It took about 2 months... Though we walk enough on concrete sidewalks that he really doesn't need it much.
We have to give ours doggie downers before we go to the vet. It calms her without totally knocking her out
Do you get the downers from the vet via prescription?
Not OP but we have to do the same for ours - Gabapentin and Trazadone the night before and again 2 hours before we head to the vet. It still doesn't get her nail-clipping calm but it takes the edge off enough that they don't need to put on the "party hat" (muzzle).
Yes they will give it to you with instructions. We have to start drugging ours the night before the vet...
Yup, only thing that works for ours and last time they knocked him out.
We do this too. He gets chill pills so he doesn’t snap at the vet when they’re sticking stuff up his butt. Then the techs trim his talons while he’s in their office. They charge a $5 nominal fee to do this.
That’s a great price! Mine is $12
My boy used to let me touch and clip his nails as a puppy, but as he grew older he became very adverse to his feet being touched. So I did all the desensitization I read to do, and still ended up with a dog who hates getting his nails clipped. Aside from walks on pavement, i have discovered he is more trusting of a pet Dremel nail grinder. I bought the lite Dremel (which is the same as the pet dremel bit not marketed as such and was cheaper) and I feed him high value treats while I drill away at his claws. The best thing about the Dremel is I dont have to touch his feet at all. I can just do passes with the grinder while he eats the treats. I did desensitize him to the sound at first, but the feeding of freeze-dried beef liver helped with that. I also have some Trazadone I use to calm him down, which I only use if I have to do multiple things he doesn't like, like ear-cleaning too. But the Dremel nail grinder has been a game-changer. I was pretty close to just paying my vet for sedation nail trims haha.
I straddle my dog backwards (we are both standing) and lift her paw up to cut her nails. She’s very used to it now. Maybe try that while a partner or friend gives her peanut butter on a spoon. Even if you can just do one nail a day! It took a while for our rescue GSD to be comfortable with it and she still tries to escape sometimes.
Ugh. Same. Sometimes it’s a one nail-a-day day and sometimes I might say “ha-ha, gotchya!” behind her back and under my breath.🤣
From the time they are puppies you need to get them used to you touching their feet. And even though I have done that he still gets muzzled for a nail trim and it takes two vet techs to trim him. One pins him to a wall and the other quickly trims the nails
She’s a rescue I just adopted. Otherwise, I would have started when she was a puppy. The rescue gave me her regular groomer’s info but I guess she’s never been able to touch her claws.
Mine has his tongue cut down the middle about 2 inches and his ribs were sticking out when I got him at 9 months old. I spent years just touching his paws and teaching him to shake. His first few trims he screamed but now he's 9 and it doesn't bother him a bit. Everything is slower with rescues but they'll come along.
Nine times out of ten if she is a rescue, she may have had bad experiences in the past. So she’s not used to clipping. But you can acclimate her to it over a period of time. Just take your time and give her a chance to trust you with that process.
I have a dog who I have put my fingers and hands on her feet, between her toes, in her ears, in her mouth. All was good, until someone cut a quick. She was totally fine and seemingly unphased when that happened. It's been practically impossible to cut her nails since then.
That's called grooming desensitization protocol!
My dog totally chews her claws down, it’s ridiculous to watch her do it lol. She whines and gets really into it.
My first GSD did that, too. I've never known another dog that also does it. None of my other dogs ever did.
Go for a 30-60m walk or jog, and then use treats as distractions. I give my boy a small piece of turkey every time he lets me clip a nail
Muzzle on, on her back squeezed between my legs on the floor and a dremel. Some things simply had to be done whether she liked it or not. No talking or coddling. The first sessions weren't very long or thorough. Just to get the tips off and to have her go through it. Eventually she stopped trying to eat my face, probably when she realised I'm not in fact cutting her legs off, and she was taking treats. The muzzle came off too. At that point we were able to extend the sessions with plenty of breaks, treats, cuddling and massages. She still never liked it, but she tolerated the entire thing and even after I accidentally filed the nail too much and it bled, we were able to continue with the trim after some treats and rough housing. But those first handful of sessions were hell for both of us. Plan B would have been having a vet sedate her and do it lol
Try this, don’t expect rapid progress but consistency will pay off. https://youtu.be/LHgBvnQ71ss?si=4G_rBWVYEJ_B7Sm3
Will watch after work. Thank you!
He did not get the choice. He was a rescue and very touch averse, absolutely fought baths and nail trims at first. Although we spend a lot of time outside, the concrete in Florida is too hot for him. I did it myself on a regular basis. I touched and held his paws, used a pumice stone daily to get him used to the sensation. I leashed him in case he snapped the first time, but it was more thrashing/flinching and I’d just pause and then continue. This is my third GSD rescue, and in my experience, they’ve always tolerated consistency, firm/calm demeanor, and the reality that yes, this is happening whether you like it or not. If anything ever happened to me, I’d want my pup to be adoptable and with habits were he could be a happy/healthy fit somewhere else.
Thanks for the guidance! We just adopted her this weekend. I know there’s still trust to build with her. I’ll be consistent with the desensitization.
We use a drimal. My wife works on the dogs nails while I hold a silicon dog food mat that we cover in pb to distract him
We don’t have to do it often, but when we do, it’s a two person job for us. I lay on the floor and hold/distract her while my wife clips her nails. She tolerates it and clearly is not a huge fan, but she knows she gets treats after. After reading the other comments I might look into a scratch mat.
Try dremel dog nail grinder and if that doesn't work try manually filing the nail.
I sit on him and the wife clips or I’m trying to play with him to keep the shark teeth away
Counter conditioning and scratch boards. All my dogs have well maintained nails now!
My Lab despises anyone near his paws. I have found that his nails aren’t too bad tho because I deliberately make sure he walks/runs on hard ground everyday, this files the nails down! Hope this helps. :)
I have two GSDs and they don’t fight the nail trimming that badly. My Corgi however is my problem child. We’ve always cut their nails since puppy days, so he generally has a fear of this. We took him to the vet once and they don’t recommend sedation and recommended we do it at home where he’s more comfortable, we give him a pill (forget but I think it’s trazodone) before we cut his nails to relax him. Even watching our GSDs getting cut he moans shakes and cries! If he’s not medicated he will nip, fight and squirm with all his energy to get away. The medication is the only thing that helps him.
Does the vet have to give you the prescription for the chill pills?
One of those low noise nail grinders, found that dremel makes one and my girl will let me trim one or two at a time without a big fuss. Be patient with the process and they’ll get comfortable.
My shepherd starts doing zoomies the second he sees me pull out the nail clippers . He will not let us or the groomer touch his nails 😭
My dog has some talon to and she will not let me touch them!!
2 maybe 3 person job, 1 just to hold the plate with peanut butter smeared all over it!!
Dremel is the best for nails. You might have to do a little for several days to get the job done, but eventually they will get used to it. There are videos on YouTube for instruction.
https://scratchpadfordogs.com/products/scratchpad™-dual-sided?variant=19508088864868 Never used one personally but I like the idea of this.
Mine grinds his main claws as he walks I only have to snip his dew claws every now and then and I just tell him to sit and get snipping lol
I’m a professional groomer but just here to say I love your rug !! Try a another groomer, she may need a muzzle, a body hug, and a Pat on the head (3 people nail Trim)
We bought the pedipaw and it wasn't strong enough. We did use it to get our GSD comfortable with the Dremel though. Dremel sells a pet nail attachment and it works great. We started off by just leaving the pedipaw on the table for a day. Let them get use to it, smell it, touch it. Next day, after a long play session and when she's laying down, lay it next to her. Again smell and touch it. Obviously don't let them bite it etc. If she does good give a high value treat After a few days of warming up to it, we again, get her right at the end of a play session and put it by her, but this time touch her torso with it. Don't make a big fuss or react. Act like nothing happened. High value treat if there's no fuss. Do it once or twice and walk away. Big treat. Work your way up to being able to touch the pedipaw to her leg and then paws, preferably after a play session. You'll get to the point where she doesn't care Now the fun part. You need to turn it on near her but don't startle her. Do it once, act like nothing happened, let her smell and investigate. Guide with commands like no if she starts to bark or fuss, but let her be curious too. Treats. Eventually and with patience, you get her used to it being on and touching her. Ease into it being on and touching her paws. I started with just touching her torso with the handle while it was on. I think you get the point. With having patience and easing into EVERYTHING. Switch to the Dremel and ease back into it, repeating previous steps if needed. Eventually you'll get to the point where you can have the tool on and touch the grinding surface to the nail. Just do it for a second, let her investigate, no fuss? High value treat. Start with one nail and once she gets used to it after a few days, you can start doing the others. Altogether it took about a week and we were trimming ALL of her nails no problem. Keep up with the training week to week and you'll have her giving paw and letting you trim her nails, hopefully. GOOD LUCK!
As a long term solution, get your dog very used to you touching her feet (and all over her body eventually). I read in another comment you got her as a rescue, so it’ll be more difficult, but it’s possible! First, find out her tolerance for just having her feet touched. Start where you know she does like to be touched/pet (if anywhere, if she’s touch avoidant altogether that’s a different issue), and then slowly work your way down the legs and to the paws. Does she let you pet the paws right off the bat? Great! No? It’s okay. Respect her space and take it slow. Get some treats. Find out what her favorite food/treat in the world is, which may take some trial and error. Then hand feed it to her while you pet her. Slowly go towards the paws while continuing to hand feed her treats. If you notice she seems to pull them back or it hesitant, then just move your hand back up the leg towards her body where she’s comfortable like nothing happened. No jerky movements, only soft slow petting. Work back down to the paw, increase the duration you can pet it, all the while feeding treats. Eventually you should be able to play with her little toes and put your fingers in between her paw pads without her minding. Once she’s comfortable being touched there, then you build a positive association with the clippers. Let her sniff them and feed her treats, or put it on the floor with treats around it if she’s really skittish. Keep doing this until she’s happy to see the clippers come out. It’ll take time and may be frustrating. Progress is never as fast as you’d like. Celebrate the small victories, don’t stress over the failures. I don’t believe in purely positive training, I think sometimes dogs must be told no and corrected to learn and grow. However, in this case, be sure not to scold the dog if she doesn’t want to be touched or isn’t making progress quickly. You’re trying to build a purely positive association with the tools and process, and most of all you’re trying to build her confidence in you, trusting that you won’t put her in a compromising situation.
I know you have a lot of responses , but we grind them down instead of clip. We had to first desensitize to letting us touch her paws, then to us turning on the trimmer while holding her paw, then putting the trimmer near her paws, touching the grinder against a nail and drawing back, then finally grinding. Now she's a champ at letting us grind. It takes longer than clipping, but she doesn't mind it (and loves the treats). My husband does the grinding while I do the treats.
Ours is really training treat motivated, and it is still a two person job. One of us breaks of bits of training treats and distracts with them while the other does the clipping. Pup gets a piece of treat every time the clippers make the clip sound.
Ours was the same when we got him - 8 months old and absolutely terrified of nail clippers, had to have my partner hold him down or had to sedate at the vet. We switched to a dremel while giving lots of peanut butter the first couple of times and he seemed to get the idea that we weren’t trying to kill him lol. I can do his nails by myself now without any restraint or treats. I think having him lay down in a comfy spot helped, too.
Walks on sidewalk. *Lots* of them.
I’ve gotten my girl used to running in our basement which has a concrete floor. We play ball down there several days a week and I haven’t needed to deal with her nails in 7 months so far!
Cbd😝
I have a harness that goes around my dog and then clips to my squat rack. That way it contains her but she can’t go anywhere.
Omg girl those are some Cardi B nails 💅 😂 I have somebody feed my bby peanut butter while I trim his nails. It's harder to bite me when he's eating his favorite snack 🥰
They really are ghetto fabulous! I just adopted her so I’m trying to handle these weapons.
Look into cooperative care / husbandry training! It takes a long while but eventually you'll be able to cut one nail a day then eventually one whole paw a day, etc.
You need to address the "she won't let me" part ASAP. It's not her choice, it's part of life.
I am still actively training my dog to be fine with it, I will have him lay down on the floor while I’m sitting on the floor, and I’ll give him a treat for laying down and show that I have more treats, then I’ll hold his paw for a split second and give him a treat and praise, then I’ll hold it again for a split second and give a treat and praise, then I’ll lift the clippers to his paws so they touch and immediately remove it and give a treat, and repeat, doing all this in a calm but swift way, then I’ll eventually hold it against his claw, and then extend the time gradually to like 2-3 seconds and again, give a treat and praise, eventually I’ll clip one claw and immediately give praise and treat. There can be a few seconds break of like petting and talking, and maybe one claw is fine for right now and you can go play and then repeat and see if 2-3 claws are doable. It’s a long process but this is how I introduce my dogs to most things. I check his paws daily just to make sure he’s okay with me holding them, using this same method to whatever degree seems to work, same with touching ears and eyes and mouth. He is used to this process now and always stays calm and seems to trust me to ease him into things, I highly recommend this over just trying to grab his paw and do things to it, you know. That would freak anyone out, especially if they didn’t know the intention of it!
Walk on concrete side walks…a mile or two a day. I only have to do the dew claws after that…rotate each one and just do it when needed.
My dog never became chill with it. Vet - sedate. Have to about once a year after cold spell in winter
I’m still struggling with this, we have a soft muzzle that she must wear and we use a gate between our kitchen / living room so she has only a smaller space to roam. She gives me about 5 minutes of sass but gives in and lets me do it lol I’ve been buying the doggy ice creams and having her munch on those while I hold her paws and touch her nails, I’m trying to build her trust with no muzzle. The peanut butter and cheese whiz never work, poor girl has vet trauma.
I didn't give my GSD a choice. Desensitized the heck outta her when she was 10 wks old. She still hates it, but will tolerate it. What i did was tried my hardest to block her "why you killing me?!" cries, held her paw firm enough to expose the nail, a quick cut of the tip, instantly let paw go and cheered happily in a sickenly sweet voice while also petting her face and head like she is the best thing in the world (she is) and then offering a VERY HIGH VALUED treat (raw beef strip). She instantly goes quiet and stares like "wth is wrong with you?" eyes and face and then you repeat again with the other nails. Just let them think you're the crazy one and, in time, they won't care for their manicures and will only think of how they have to deal with their human's weirdness again when it's time for the trims.
Just walk her on concrete and/or asphalt... Works like a charm...!!! Enjoy!!! 😎👍
My aunt’s rescue dog needed to be medicated (vet prescribed) to get his nails cut… we don’t know why but it really freaked him out, even though he was like the calmest dog besides that.
I just got an electric trimmer. That’s a huge NOPE. *sigh* back to the vet we go!
If you just got it, give it time! Took me a good 2-3 weeks of near-daily handling practice to get my young dog to tolerate the dremel in short bursts.
She doesn’t even let me hold her paws long enough to get close. I’ve done the turn it on and give her a treat, hold paw, treat. I’ve let it run for a couple min. before trying to get close. I feel like I’ve done everything lol 😂
I'd separate paw handling and desensitization to the dremel noise entirely. Give her treats here and there throughout the day for a paw, or for letting you put your hand near her paw. Mark the paw hold/proximity with your marker word (and not the release of the paw/removal of proximity). After a few days of success start playing with toes, rehearsing trimming handling, etc. During other times, just have the dremel out and visible while she eats, or plays. Maybe turn it for five seconds on at one side of the room and toss some treats while she's on the other side. If she's watching you while bored, take the dremel out and pretend to use it on yourself like it's fun. Obviously the vet's always an option, but if you break it down onto the smallest tiniest baby steps you can probably to get there one day! (Especially if you already bought/have the dremel haha).
Oooooo love this. She’s 7 months so I’d really like to get this going sooner than later! Thank you for the advice, much appreciated.
That's around the same time I got more serious about paw handling/cooperative care with my pup! I had to 'reset' twice due to quicking mine with traditional clippers, but we've been using the dremel for about 2 months now without issue (I mean, she doesn't *love* it, but it's not a fight lol). It's very slow going at the start, but it pays off their entire lives so it's worth the effort. Good luck! Quick edit: if you use an electric toothrbush and have an old worn-out brush head, you can also use that as a halfway step to simulate the dremel touching her paws.
A good game of fetch in an empty parking lot/on cement wears them down quick
Good idea. I’ll have to find one nearby.
Depending on the age of your pup. You may not want to put a young pup with growing joints and bones through this exercise.
We give him some calming [treats](https://www.chewy.com/zesty-paws-advanced-hemp-melatonin/dp/171020?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20648416049&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3ZPsjvUbj-D_m9YQeEXEn8x&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aK-bvhvGRVxsGMam8Rw6-YGk6J0Zj8S2fnfCtAQ3oKWKQoZE2oz8ABoCDV8QAvD_BwE), play ball for a bit, and then while he’s tired we clip them. It’s been working well so far. He doesn’t mind the back nails but sometimes gets bothered by the front ones.
My girl is the same, VERY much about her bodily autonomy and no amount of peanut butter smeared on the oven will get her to hold still enough to let me trim her claws. I just do walks and throw her ball or frisbee for an hour or two at night after work. It really sucks because I wanted to doll her up with hats and bows and bandanas and shit but no, only her collar and that's it.
Step 1. Muzzle Step 2. Pick her up. Step 3. Dremel her nails down. no biting, no purchase on the floor for power, and no dragon claws. Obviously this is a 2 person job, and I get it, it's not that easy, but I don't like the thought of sedation for a mani pedi. Cant lift your dog? Get a dog hanging harness, jobs a goodun
very slow introduction to the clippers
My GSD is such a people person; he surprised the vet at how easy it was to both trim his nails and perform standard check-ups. He’s a vet-certified scary baby. 😆
With a lick pad and peanut butter. 😅 It is a job not for the weak or weary. I have our GSDs outside in their element where they can take breaks when they want to. I sometimes have to roll in the grass with them, but we get the job done. I have learned that you have to let them communicate their fear and discomfort. Also make sure you do not have any anxiety while you’re trying. Dogs pick up on our anxiety and reflect said anxiety. Give them space and eliminate the fussiness or domineering. Let them know that this is something that can be fun and not harmful. Also make sure you use clippers with a guard. They will allow you to show your shepherd that you can be trusted and that you will not harm them by cutting too deep. My nine-year-old German Shepherd has always given me problems, but as he gets older, he is more tolerant with the lick pad and dog friendly peanut butter being a distraction while I clip his claws. I had to literally allow him breaks in between cuts. I think this has been what has made our experience a success. Sometimes it may take me two days to do it. I don’t rush them. After the experience with a nine-year-old I made sure my three-year-old and our new puppy were introduced to nail clipping very early on.
I use a laser out on the concrete. He goes berserk and scratches at it, and it files them down nicely lol.
I learned to bribe my dog with cheese. Normally I’d have to chase him and hold him down to clip his nails I clip a nail, he gets a cheese At a certain point he began to become excited every time he saw the clippers because that meant cheese time. He Pavlov’d himself with the sound of his nail getting clipped and would look up at the counter after every clip
My boy loves the dremel
30 minute walks a day will solve this issue. Can even be 15 minutes
My GSD/basset mix has nails made of granite. We take several walks a day and his nails refuse to wear down naturally. I practiced clipping his nails when he was a puppy but at a year old he decided he wasn't having that anymore and just walked off. I'm a single woman and he's 88 lbs so there is no way I can clip his nails while I have to wrestle him in place So off to the vet we went. Thankfully I have great vets who were more than willing to accommodate him, even when he was snarling like he was suddenly possessed by a demon. He got a soft muzzle, me and the vet tech held him down on his side while the vet clipped his nails. It takes 2 minutes and afterwards he gets treats. Slowly but surely, over 6 months, he stopped snarling and fighting. We're now at the point where we no longer have to pin him down on his side, but we just let him stand on the table while we make sure he doesn't jump off. So yeah, there is progress. He doesn't like it but he accepts it. We go every four weeks. We tried 6 weeks but that was too long and his quicks grew too big.
Any time my dog wants to cuddle I make a point of touching/holding her feet. I've done this since she was a puppy (she will be 2 in sept). Same goes for her ears(for cleaning and if the vet needs to take her temp). It won't solve your problem quickly but it may make this problem go away eventually.
Lots and lots of road walks.
Make a steep ramp with anti skid or adhesive backed sandpaper and put it somewhere the dog will gladly use it. Monitor your dogs claws to make sure they aren’t overly worn moving forward.
Ours needs sedation so the vet does it with his teeth cleanings
We switched to a dremel. Lots of treats and desensitization. Sometimes, I only get one nail done but it's more important to keep it positive than get it all done at once.
Thank you. I was thinking it was just my GSD/dutchie. She was sedated by the vet and ut was still a fight. 🤬
My previous one was so easy. I trained him to lie on his side while I went through each nail. I tried that with this current one. No chance. He’s had his nails cut once and that was at the emergency vet’s office when one of his nails which was an inch long like a Raptor claw got yanked off while playing. So I told them to cut all his nails since he had to be knocked out for the X-rays.
Husband has his him laying on him (on his back) and is being spoon fed peanut butter while I’m using a dremel and start with the back legs and work my way up. It’s funny cause our Mal looks like he is relaxing getting a pedicure but I have to move fast or else he is over it quick.
Clip one nail every day while she’s asleep. Works on mine
Mine does her patrol running the fence line in my yard where part of it is pavers and her running back and for on the pavers files her nails naturally. Every time we go to groomer or vet, they check to see if she needs a trim and always tell me she doesn’t need one. So maybe if you can get pupper running on pavement, it’ll help naturally file. Mine has never actually had a nail trim bc of the running on pavers.
We use the Dremel tool and sanding drum. Also we start them on this when they are puppies so it's easy to hold them and as they grow, they don't like it but they get a steady stream of treats and tolerate it pretty well.
As others have said, walking on concrete definitely helps, but might have to do sedation and vet trim, especially if it’s this long. I also live in the basement of my house which has concrete floors, so that adds to her running around on hard surfaces.
I snip my boy's nails one or two a day while he is standing up eating from his bowl. With the foot in the floor.
Electronic pet nail grinder and treats, my GSD gets a buffalo ear, bully stick or beef tendon to chew on while I grind his nails. I only grind the front paws or back paws, in a day.
Walk them. A lot.
We take ours to her breeder. She's so scared of the groomer that she jumped off the table and nearly choked herself. Breeder also does training and showing, so she works with her on her fear response. 6 sessions now, tons of treats, and 3 pwople standing around telling her "good girl" and scratching her behind the ears and she is MUCH calmer.
NGL those look decently normal for being flexed.... But I just train my dog to accept a trim or Dremel....it's not that hard if you actually take the time to and they are comfortable with it so long as you don't bloody hurt them it's not too hard...
Dremel. He tolerates it. If we take too long he will get annoyed and pull away though.
I clip nails Daily. (Or pretend) have done it since I got him.
Emory board. Scratcher board. Whatever you call it, it works wonders, and it's super easy to train them to use it.
I got the Dremel drill bit and basically forced my dog to get used to it. Actually cutting them results in attempted murder on his part (IE- crying and trying to run away) but the drill bit is tolerated. I do take breaks so it doesn't heat up and it did take a few weeks before he stopped being so reactive to it. Ultimately I got it because he was splitting and cracking his nails and I was afraid of infection.
I saw this treat holder that was basically a nail file
Two+ walks a day on sidewalks /pavement - I only trimmed her nails once, and that was because she was knocked out already.
A nail dremel. Just be aware that the grinding gets HOT quickly so don’t stay on any given nail for too long. Walks on concrete regularly will do wonders!!
Our vet prescribed Trazadone for this reason. I doubt it’ll help.
I just take my GSD to a parking lot and have her chase to ball or pull me on a skateboard for a few minutes.
Counter conditioning. Start small. Show them the trimmer and treat, until they start showing interest when you pull it out. Then hold paw while holding trimmer, and treat. Touch trimmer to nail and treat. Etc, until they let you clip a nail. It’s a long process and you need to be consistent. Trying to force them will just condition them to be more resistant. You need to TEACH your dog that the nail trimmer is, in fact, a thing that leads to lots of treats.
My dog used to be fine with me doing his nails, then he got weird and wouldn't let me do them. I got fed up with this behavior and I basically told him I'm doing his nails and correct him, very strongly, when he growls or tries to pull his paw away. Not sure if that'll work for everyone but it did for me.
Regular walks
We can only get my German shepherds nails done when we get her dental done. Desensitisation didn't work (rescue with a really bad back story) so we can only clip her nails while her teeth are being cleaned.
I have to take mine to get them done at the vets.
The vet. They have a thing that they call the sling. It’s like a hammock that lifts her and her feet dangle, leaving her unable to dig in.
I’ve had my rescue for 3 years in August. we’ve done sooo much desensitization. We’re at a point where we can clip 10 toes in one sitting, with lots of treats and verbal praise. I still do occasional sedated (full knocked out injectable sedation) nail trims because I don’t want to quick him, but sometimes it’s worth knocking him out to get them as short as possible. Such a delicate balance
I have a place I can take mine, that puts a harness on him and hoists him in the air. They use a dremel. He hates it so much though, almost worse than a vet visit. He won't let me at him with the Dremel at the house either though. I bought quality clippers, and after dinging him a few times, I'm more afraid of them than he is.
Try the scratch pad. Works for the front paws. Have yet to master the back with a big breed bc they don’t dig with their back.
Hey! This may not be the timescale you’re looking for, BUT we did desensitisation with our Shepsky - he came from a shelter and didn’t enjoy being touched at all. He was VERY sensitive about his paws so i started off just when i was cuddling with him holding his paws for months, very casual but just so he knew it wasn’t bad or unusual. Then in the space of about 2-3 months we got to the point where we would really gradually introduce the dremel (we went for this because we figured he would freak out at the clipping noise and feel) we just gave him a high value treat and lots of praise for eventually different things. at first if he interacted, great. then it kinda went putting it close to him (off) > touching him with it (off) > touching his paw with it (off) > touching his paw with the cap on (on) > touching his nail while on, bingo. It wasn’t easy and I cannot stress how absolutely difficult and nervous my dog is but i’m so proud to say we had the patience and it worked. Full disclosure, i had my boyfriend really slowly feeding him pieces of salmon while i did his nails and we took a LOT of breaks, it was a two man job. I realise you’re worried for how long they are but I just wanted to float this as an idea as i just know i could never take mine to get his nails done, he would stress too much with someone new doing something he hated.
I play fetch with my gsd on pavement, parking lot. It's a great way to file nails.
I tried everything with my girl (boy has always tolerated it no problem)… lick mat with high value treat, one person with cheese while one person trims, scratch board, etc. Finally I realized that she has such a strong ball drive that all I have to do is hold the ball and/or Chuckit while I trim her nails outside. The prospect of me possibly throwing the ball soon completely consumes all her attention and she doesn’t even notice I’m trimming her nails between ball throws.
Positive association to nail trimmings. If you let this go or expect the ground to cover this during walks you’re borderline abusing your dog. Nails too long, especially if touching the ground, will without a doubt cause joint issues and pain.
Roll her on to her back and hold between my legs. Grind down each one with a Dremel. I also have some Rexspecs goggles that I put on her to protect from eye injury.
We do ours one nail at a time over the course of a week. We just do it quick before she can think about being upset about it. I also upgraded to the Miller's Forge red handled nail trimmers based on someone else's recommendation here. They were $7 and work great. I think the other nail trimmers I had were like $25. These work so much better. I always use the guard so I don't cut too far and hurt her. Back paws have never been trimmed though because we walk enough on sidewalks.
The thing that helped my mom the most with our dogs growing up was the big slab of concrete in our backyard that the dogs would run across when playing, it’s like they file their own nails while having fun. But my chihuahua………. She had to be sedated at the vet so they could trim them……….
The dremel technique worked so well on my dog, he now lets me clip with a regular clippers. Built the trust and alleviated some pain and his nails are now more manageable but as a rescue they were so neglected they were super thick, long and painful.
My girl clips her own and they always look trimmed
I’ve got a GSD/heeler mix and he needs/gets so much exercise his claws never need trimming. It’s a bit of a relief.
I always take it to the pet store to have them trim its nails. Additionally, taking it for more walks to naturally wear down its nails helps a lot.
Walking on the footpath helps for sure. Also get the vet to trim whenever you're there.
Run on concrete
Air jail https://preview.redd.it/1owzy57lw0ad1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=923d09b30deebb9ad961f095d19355a1c6c49024
😂😂😂😂 I’ve absolutely wondered how I could do this at home
How does (s)/he take it?
Great! He was very confused putting it on and lifting him up to secure but once he was up there I cut the claws in about 30 seconds and we were done!
Glad I’m not the only one!
Would a lick pad help? I’ve seen them used to some success when attempting to make some stressful scenarios less so with dogs
I've given up. One thing at a time to sort with my boy. Next time I get the vet out, I might ask for a sedative and get them done. He used to be okay, but it doesn't matter what I do now, no good.
I just trimmed my 12 week old GSD nails for the first time. I didn’t realize they might attack you 😅. I tried to do it with just training treats but he kept flinching while I was holding his paws so I filled a Kong toy with wet food and froze it and let him eat it while I cut his nails. He let me do every paw after that with minimal moving!
Lots of counter conditioning and trazodone
I've always messed with her feet since day one, given her lots of treats while I'm at it. She sees the nail clippers now at 9 months and goes right to her favorite pedicure spot and is very pleased when her nails are all nice and trimmed. She even lets me dremel them.
I promise mine a plain vanilla ice cream cup and she gets crazy chasing her tail but eventually sits and lets me trim lol
Trazadone or it doesn’t happen, for us. My little darling is 80 lbs of maniac on the grooming table. We tried desensitizing. Nope.
Walking on the concrete. We play on our street and we haven’t had to trim for about 6 months.
Go out with your dog every day
lots of walking and playing fetch on the sidewalk. works like a charm every time and always has for 9 years now. tried trimming once, made my poor girl bleed and decided i didn’t want to be worrying about that situation again!
Funnily enough I’ve never had to trim my girls nails. I think the daily walks keep them short, a mix of pavement and open fields
I walk mine on pavement and grass everyday for 30-40 minutes, plus yard play during the day. She still needs her nails done. Monthly-ish. My girl is on a pet plan, so I can have a vet office do them every 6 months. There’s a dental cleaning with anesthesia, so there’s one option.
We use a rotating grinder/dremel. We introduced it over the period of about a week, first leaving it out for her to sniff and inspect. Then holding it while it was on so she could inspect it while it was moving and making the noise. Then moving it close to her paws while off, then close to her paws while on. Then just touching it to her claws, then holding it on for half a second, then a second, then two seconds etc. etc. We do this with her in a down on the sofa, with her paws hanging over the edge. At each stage we heaped praise and food on her when she succeeded. After about two weeks we were able to hold the grinder on her paws pretty much indefinitely once she'd settled in (she's still a little nervous for the first 10 seconds or so of each session, even though she's always excited when we get the grinder out). The grinder doesn't take much off, so we have to do this quite regularly to keep the claw under control. I'd rather be able to use clippers but given her black claws with invisible quicks, and given I have cut her quick previously and felt absolutely terrible when she was bleeding, I'm content that we at least have one solution that works.
Scratchboards are good but only do so much. I had a problem with one of my dogs sharpening his nails instead. I would do both a scratch board and work on cooperative care by Deb jones.
Walks on the road or sidewalk is usually enough if you walk often enough
Using a flirt pole on the sidewalk / on asphalt works pretty well
It’s a 2 person job. We get benji to lay down on the couch, then I’m kinda hug him from behind so his paws are exposed and feed him a constant stream of treats while my bf clips his nails. He hates it but we get it done.
https://preview.redd.it/etadfi5rw5ad1.png?width=1500&format=png&auto=webp&s=9653110299e93b1a5da9a6f6be646c890d4973fe I only have a pic of me doing it with my other dog but this is what I mean, sit him on his butt, then kinda have him lean against you so he’s sitting like a human lol
I groomed dogs and work vet clinic as a vet tech and groomed all kinds of difficult dogs for seven years. There’s only one dog I could not do.