nail clipping (clipped one too short last time and now he is won't let me)

[kevinaz]

Please help!!!!!!! The last time I clipped Kaiser's nails i clipped one too short and bled a little bit. He did not even yelp or seem like it bothered him too much. He has always done fine w/ nail clipping.Yesterday when i sat him down to start, I pulled out the clippers and he got a terrified look on his face. I grabbed his paw and he pulled it back when I had the clippers at his nail.We did this for awhile.when that did not work I tried giving treats, but did not help. then I said enough of being nice and started clipping, only taking a tiny piece so i would not hurt him again. I got thought two nails and then on the third he snarled at me, I told him no, needless to say every time after that he snarled at me. I put the clippers away and he was fine giving me kisses and stuff.My interpretation is "dad i love you but don't touch my nails" What should i do????? BTW he is a nuetered male, 1yr..

[Soapie&Buddy'sMom]

Don't feel bad, you are not alone! I did the same thing with Buddy and really wanted to kick myself. And unlike your dog, Buddy REALLY reacted, practically howled and then limped around bleeding. I was cleaning up little bloody prints for a few days. The next time I tried to clip him, he would not let me touch his paws; in fact he growled and then tried to bite me. It was a very bad situation where I ended up giving him a time-out in the bathroom, probably making things worse. I think now I shouldn't have tried to force it.

I read somewhere on this forum to take it easy for awhile and rebuild trust with Buddy and his paws, which I did - started out just touching them, then playing a game with his paws ("got your paw" etc.") then finally trying a dremel. I did not trust myself with the clippers again, those black nails are a nightmare to cut!
But Buddy hates the dremel noise, so we are doing massive treats (one swipe of the dremel, a treat.) I do all the dogs at once and since the other two don't mind it at all, and get the good treats, Buddy puts it up with it but it's hard.

I really recommend going to the dremel. There is a great link about cutting nails and how much clipping hurts dogs, if I find it before someone else posts I'll add it to this note.

Good Luck!!!!

[Terrie]

Here's a post about dremel tools which one to get and how to introduce your dog to it. http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/sho...threadid=10072

I too am guilty of a one time short clip, I felt horrible about it. The dremel works great.

Good Luck!!

[DixieGrl113]

I started using a dremel as well. Its much easier than trying to wrestle with a dog while trying not to cut their nail off completely. When I started using the dremel, i just laid them down between my legs belly up on the floor with their butt towards me. I approached it as if nothing was out of the ordinary the first time. They didn't even notice, all they knew was mom didn't have those TERRIBLE clippers in her hand. I think they hate the clippers so much because when the blade gets dull they squeeze more than they cut. Anyway, the dremel was a big success. If they started to get nervous I put the dremel down and gave a tummy rub. Regardless of whether you go for the dremel or not, If you are trying to clip Kaiser's nails and he snarls at you, DO NOT put the clippers away and stop. That reinforces that he can snarl, growl or even bite to make you stop doing something he doesn't want you to do. IMO. Instead, I would give a correction, take a break for a minute while he is still laying down and talk to him calmly. If one of mine snarled at me while I was clipping their nails (or at any time in their life)I would've grabbed some snout and given a loud NO! And then kept on. I wonder if some of the others members have more experience with that. At any rate, if you are so inclined, try the dremel, you'll be pleasantly surprised. Good Luck!:)

[AngelBunny]

kevinaz:

Our 3 yo private rescue is a sorry excuse for a Rottie. She's total garbage breeding--very weedy, a bundle of nerves, just awful. We adopted her when she was 5 mo old & almost every week since we've had her, I've trimmed her nails. Every week it's a huge struggle because she has such weak nerves. Several times I've dinged a nerve because she fidgets, frets, fusses, & wiggles so. Too bad--I just forge ahead, trimming. It takes an age, but I'm the human, she's the dog, she does what I want. I trim a nail, give a treat or two, trim the same nail if it's not short enough, give a treat or two, & so it goes.

Tula bit me once when I was trimming her nails--she's never done that again. Sure, she shows her teeth, growls, & licks her lips, hating what I'm doing, but too bad. I've read about Dremmels, but haven't gotten one; my metal clippers have worked fine since 1984. Me trimming Tula's nails once/week is just the cross she must bear in her otherwise cushy life that places no other demands on her.

I don't believe in stopping something you want to do to your dog that's reasonable just because the dog snarls at you.

[k&s]

Hi,

I posted a couple of months back a similar question. I think title of post was something like 'how to restrain recalcitrant rottie for nail trimming'. I received alot of great responses on various tecniques, so you might try a search for that thread.

Despite trying several techniques, I could see that it was going to take a huge amt of time and patience to get this to work. In the meantime, his nails were growing longer and longer. I finally took him to the vet. Upon participating in the procedure at the vet, I learned a different approach, which I now use. Unfortunately, this requires 3 people! But it is easier than shlepping him to the vet every few weeks. Ideally you would be able eventually to train him with treats etc to submit willingly to nail clipping, but this could work for you in the interim, as it has for me.

First of all, I put a soft muzzle on my rottie. This is even though he would likely never bite, but just to be safe in case there is an accident with trimming too short. I have trained him to come up and get a muzzle put on as a positive thing, with treats, so wearing the muzzle is no big deal. In your case, especially because he has snarled, I would definitely put on a soft muzzle.

One person goes around behind the rottie. Rottie can be either sitting or standing. That person holds the rottie's body. Another person stands in front of the rottie, controlling his face and mainly gettting his focus on him or her. (When I go to the vet this person is me, and I am saying 'checking you, stand and stay, gooooood, goooood, checking you'..... etc, basically things that control the dog). The first and (or) second person also pat the dog's head in a distracting way, even possibly patting around the eyes or almost covering the eyes so that the dog does not focus on his feet.

The clipper person goes to work as quickly as possible (speed is of the essence, don;t worry about quality initially, as long as you do not cut too short and hurt the dog). And DON'T let the dog see the clippers during the process. With the other two people holding, speaking to, and controlling the dog, as well as distracting him by patting around the head and eyes, the nail clipping is finished before the dog knows what happened.

When it is all over, the muzzle is whipped off, the praise is doled out, and the dog gets a biscuit. I think mine did not even really know what had happened and that we had actually used the much-dreaded clippers on his nails. All he knew is that it was like an exam, and we were examining his feet.

I think you should be able to do this, while also from time to time training him to accept clippers or dremmel.

Good luck!

[rottie2mom]

We do just as K & S has said.....when our male rottie was only a pup, I too cut a nail too short. He whined, cried, carried on, and dabbled blood all through the house. From that day forward it was nothing but pure *ell to even touch his feet...before that incident he NEVER gave us a problem cutting his nails or touching his feet.

It got so bad that we would have to bring him to the vet, they would tranquilize him, muzzle him, and than cut his nails. :( It broke my heart every single time we had to do this because I took the blame for him acting this way. :( (Not to mention the nice little bill we would pay everytime we went). Over time it just came down to having to take him to the vet and just having to muzzle him to get the job done. And everyday we would play with his feet, praise him, and give him treats. (It did make me feel a little better when the vet told me that they have to do the same with one of his dogs for the same reason.....).

He is now 5 years old and I am happy to say that we can once again cut his nails at home, using the technique K & S has described....it's just like what they did at the vet. And we still use a muzzle, just in case. ;) He has gotten used to wearing a muzzle for this procedure so he really doesn't mind it.

It takes A LOT OF PATIENCE!! They need to learn to trust you again, and sometimes this can take awhile.

Good luck.....we tried the Dremel but didn't care for it. We've been using clippers on our animals for ages and that's what works best for us. But I know others swear by it.


Amy

[marianne]

I always love this post about the nail clipping! For those of you who don't know me...We have 6 rotties and now 1 bulldog in our household! and I do mean household. The outdoor kennels are only for the day. They all sleep in our home at night. Now on to nail clipping....yes in the archives the whole story about using the Dremel tool. YES,it does work!!! When I start doing the nails the dogs line up "waiting" for their turn. Could be that they were all raised with the tool .No need to be afraid of it. We still use the battery powered one,but mine is getting so old.Think I bought it in 1994. I might try the electric one(makes more noise,but faster). When each dog is done with the trimming they do get a wonderful pad treatment with pad cream!!!Now give it a try....REMEMBER who's the boss here!

[CarolineS]

I think mine associate the sound of the dremmel with the treats I feed when I do their nails. They come running and drooling...I have to confine the one not getting her nails done to a separate room!! Talk about a Pavlovian reaction. ;)

[AkirasMom]

YEAY for dremels!

marianne - question about pad cream: is there special pad cream out there? i've been wondering what i should do about akira's cracked, dry pads...especially now that it's snowing and salty outside!

[frau]

I got the dremel out and Gypsy ran. I tried everything possible. One day I decided I was the boss and I would hog tie her if I had to.

Didn't have to. I put the tie out chain (used only for emergencies and traveling) around the maple tree, leaving about 8 inches and the clip to fasten on her collar. I also brought out the tub of the most favorite treat of all--t/d.s

I pull her paws back, like shoeing a horse. Snip, t/d, snip, t/d, snip, t/d until all done. Then JACKPOT!! She gets to put her head in the tub and scarf down as many as possible in about 1 1/2 minutes.

When she sees me pick up the clippers AND the tub she runs to the tree.

Boy was I ever glad to come up with this method. It is a life-saver.

Good luck,

Frau

[rglogan]

We used a XMAS gift certificate for Home Depot to buy the glorious dremel.

We used it last weekend and it worked great. Our female is very squirmish on the nail cutting, likely due to the fact that we so stupidly let the groomer cut them. She did not even like for use to cut them. She gave us some squirming with the dremel, but settled down a little when she realized that it did not hurt.

Yeah Dremel! No more "ticky toes" on the hard wood floors. :D

[marianne]

I'm so glad you've given the Dremel the workout! The pad creams are sold in pet stores(very expensive),or save some coins and go to any of the on-line pet catalogs.The product I like the most is made by Cut & Heal, Pad Protection Plus. It comes in a new 4oz. tube. There are also special protection creams for ice and snow. One word for my favorite catalog Jefferspet.com " great service and prices"! OKAY 4 words

[AkirasMom]

Great - thanks for the pad cream info.

I'll check out jefferspet.com, too - kongs can get pretty darned expensive!