This works well for me when I trim the nails of my 9 month-old Gsd. I put a gob of peanut butter on a tablespoon, make him lie down, and place the tablespoon of peanut butter between his front paws. While he is eating the peanut butter, I trim the front and back nails.

I would just exercise him more; let him wear them down naturally.

Having tried everything else, I am going to use the suggestion of Butch.

Everyone posted a lot of great suggestions and hopefully one of them will work for you. I have a young GSD (9 mos)that was simply horrible about nails until I decided to use the clicker. I also reserve the best treats (bits of beef, liver etc.) for nail trimming day and now he gets so excited to have his nails trimmed that he literally lifts his paw and puts it on my lap. The process is teaching your dog that it's a good thing to have his nail clipped is a long one when you use a clicker but I would be glad to email you it privately if you are interested but you also have many great suggestions to choose from. Good luck!!!

I start off with peanut butter anesthesia, but I usually wipe a big gob of it right on the roof of the their mouth.

I'm having a time trimming my 11 week old shepherd puppy. I have bred and shown dogs never had a fight like now to trim nails. This puppy shows teeth, growls and throws a fit when I try to trim his nails. He acts almost like he is having a fit. The whole time I keep holding his paw telling him it's OK. I play with his feet all the time. He squeels pretty bad I guess my neighbors think I'm killing him. My other shepherd isn't too crazy will show teeth but allows me to trim her nails. I also used the dremmel on him no luck. I hate to man handle him. I will just keep playing with his feet and hold his paws. Hopefully he will get use to me handling his paws. Any ideas.
Ray

I am also looking for some advice. I have a client that brings me their Shepherd/ Chow mix. This guy is huge ( 90 pounds, tall, thin at 10 months old). He is a very loving, well mannered dog, but HATES having his nails done. He hasn't bitten me yet, because I think he knows I would take him out if he did, but he does get mouthy and screams each time I try to clip one nail. I end up pinning him down and using a sort of Cesar Milan technique, "biting" him with my hand at his waist if he thinks about opening his mouth or struggling. I end up getting the job barely done, not nearly as short as I would like, but I don't want to ever cause him pain or he will never let me do this again. I want to work with this dog for years to come and I think his fearful youth is what's keeping him from acting very aggressive. I don't want to ever put this dog in a position to have to be sedated for a nail trim, but want to teach him that it's no big deal and mostly that no matter what, you NEVER EVER lift your lip or threaten to bite your handler, or anyone else for that matter. What can I do to teach this lesson to this dog. He does like treats, but will drop them in a second to nip at me for taking his paw. I tried to use the dremmel, which my Goldens sit still for , but this dog freaked out completely. I needto use it to get his dark black nails trimmed down properly, but I think it's not the dremmel or the nail clippers so much as the fear and lack of respect that he has.
Please help. Thank you,

I don't know if you will be able to change his attitude if you only see him when he's in for grooming. It's up to the owners to condition his response to nail trims. Seeing that he's had some bad experiences, it might be a long counter-conditioning process of rewarding for touching paws, then rewarding for touching a nail, rewarding for briefly holding a nail, rewarding for briefly squeezing a nail, and so on until he can calmly sit for a nail being trimmed.

Or you can always just use a muzzle and have another person restrain while you clip.

And if he has issues with respecting his owners then they should probably also consult a good trainer.

Like someone else said, a grooming table with a grooming arm which you can attach a loop to is the easiest place to trim nails. There are some grooming loops that go around both the dogs neck and under his body (over his back and under his stomach). This helps keep him standing in place. You can buy those at Petedge.com.

I stand behind the dog not in front of him for two reasons. I stand behind the dog and hold his leg in a backward position, the pads facing up towards the ceiling.My body is facing in the opposite direction of the dog. (My back is towards him) This allows me to see the meaty part of the quick so you don't cut too close. It also allows you to have better control and hold of your dog. If someone else can hold the dog and distract him while you are cutting would be helpful.I will usually trim first with clippers and then dremel down to the quick.

Hope that makes sense. (Some dogs never get used to having their nails cut.)