Thank you all for the great ideas. I will try putting him up on a table, and marking him for each nail I clip, then treating him. I have caught myself trying to hold on tighter to his feet, and noticed also that he pulls away harder, so I will try to be more gentle. Hopefully this combo will work. I thought I was doing well to start trimming his nails when i got him at 7 wks old, but I guess I didn't mess w/his feet often enough! Oh, well - your ideas are all good, and I'm sure we'll get the hang of it.

Wish me luck!

 Quote: steve strom

straddle him facing towards his rear and then raise a foot up and kind of brace his leg against yours and clip them. It looks similar to shoeing a horse, the bottoms of his feet are facing up and you can get a good angle with the guilotine style clippers. Also try gripping his feat as lightly as you can to hold him still. It seems like the tighter I grip the more mine tries to pull away. None of this is any help with getting him to tolerate you clipping them but I have had one dog out of five that was no problem doing his nails so this is how I've done the other four.

This is how I trim Oscar's nails as well - but I don't face backwards, I straddle him, lean over his neck and hold out his paws in front of him (he's a big guy, so it's actually not that awkward). In this position, I can squeeze him gently with my legs and keep him in place if he starts to lean back. If I have help, my boyfriend will sit in front with extra yummy treats (I swear, the better the treat, the better Oscar behaves) and feed after each toe is done. If I'm alone, I put the treats on a chair or shelf and position us so Oscar's nose in just in front of them - this is a little more cumbersome because I will only stop to treat after all the toes on one foot are done, but it works.

My dog will never like having his nails clipped, and he'll probably always squirm, but at least what we do now is better than what it USED to be like (picture a dog literally climbing the walls of my bathroom while hypervetilating and crying...). I even took him to the vet once to get them (in their infinite wisdom and experience) to help me... ONE tech showed up in the room with me and after about 5 minutes of the wall climbing and the hyperventilating and the crying, she (in their infinite wisdom and experience) told me to give him some Benadryl, wait till he was konked out and THEN clip them all at once.... uhhhh, I don't think so.

~Natalya

i gave up trimming after too many close trims,i now go to the groomer for clip and grind ,so easy

WTH? Benadryl to clip the dogs nails? I'd be changing vets fast enough to make their heads spin....

 Quote: Carol Boche

I just had to cut my Mals nails for the first time the night before last. She is two years old now.

You are lucky to have been able to put it off. I guess you do lot's of road work with her? Mine is 15 mos now and I have been trimming probably monthly since she was 2 mos and I have never seen a dog that grows her nails so quick. When she walks on the hardwood and all you hear is click,click, click even after a clip.

I had a friend who was at the obedience club on Sunday give me hell for Tatch's nails being so long as I hadn't done them for about 3 weeks. She was saying she does her 2 Mals nails twice a week!! I knew Tatch needed them done as she nailed me (pardon the pun) in the hand on Saturday going for the recall tug. It really stung at -4c on bare cold hands!

I got her home and pulled out the clippers and treats and got her on the kitchen table and was only able to get the front paws done but not the rears.

Next day I get her to sit on the front steps and start clipping the rears she is pulling and struggling and I have to keep stopping to love her up to calm her down. So I clip one of the rears and for the first time I nick a quick. I read that it bleeds a lot but that didn't prepare me for it when it happened. She didn't yelp or anything just bled and bled I tried to throw some flour on it since I didn't have any of that septic (sp) powder on hand. But with her twisting and struggling she covered my pants and shirt with blood and flour, nice! My daughter came home from school right at that point and thought I was killing the dog, with all the blood drops on the steps and blood on me!

There has to be an easier way to clip a dog's nails at home.

The whole marker thing (doing one nail at a time) seems like the most foolproof way to go about it.

Personally I just start when my dogs are babies. I don't treat or mark. I just clip the nails and tell the dog to shut up and hold still if he starts fussing.

None of mine particularly enjoy nail clipping, but none of them resist or get stressed about it either. They just hold still and accept it cause they have no choice about it.

I do give them happy praise after every clip and fuss over them once it's done.


Having the dog lie down and chewing on something helps. My male shepherd is really cooperative though. He hands over his paws on command and holds his foot steady as I clip away.

If I ever had real trouble clipping a dog's nails, I'd go with Cindy's method.

Geoff, that's hilarious I hope your daughter wasn't too traumatized, LOL.

 Quote: Yuko Blum

Geoff, that's hilarious I hope your daughter wasn't too traumatized, LOL.

Nah .. she was more angered by it, I was lucky she didn't start pummeling me before I had a chance to explain.

 Quote: Geoff Empey

I guess you do lot's of road work with her?

Not really road like concrete or anything, but she loves to run with the four wheeler on our property and the dirt roads and fields.

I guess she has never been one to grow her nails out fast. But she did a great job for her first time.

Geoff, your comment about "having to stop and love her up to calm her down" caught my attention. What your doing there is renforcing her behaviour.
Just an FYI for all. I find using the dremel is a lot less strtessfull for most dogs then the clippers.

 Quote:

Originally Posted By: Carol Boche
I just had to cut my Mals nails for the first time the night before last. She is two years old now.

I don't have to cut my dog's nails in the summer at all, they just get worn down. In the winter he needs quite regular trimming however due to the fact that he is on snow all the time so they don't get worn at all.

I have had dogs that were a real pain with nail clipping. I resolved to never have that problem again.

I used the touch/mark and treat meathod since he was a pup. Make sure that you are not just handling the dog's paws when you want to clip. When you brush or are petting, bring out the nail clippers, touch them to the dog and mark/reward. As has been said don't do too much at once at first.

I no longer need to give my dog treats to clip his nails (but occasionally I will). If he fusses, I just tell him to stop. To me it is about trust. My dog trusts me that nail clipping is no big deal. And it isn't.

This trust has come in handy with numerous paw and lower leg injuries he has had. Multiple daily dressing changes, removing stitches, examing and cleaning wounds are all things you can easily do if you have built that positive trust with your dog.

Do whatever works for you but don't put off training it. You are wise to be starting it right away. Make sure no parts of the dog are off limits to you, like ears and examining teeth for example.