I know there is probably some groomers on this board. I have a little westy that a family member couldn't keep due to a move, the dog isn't in the best shape ( 1 yr old) but we're going to fix her up and give her away. I'm going to spay her, teach her some ob and of course housebreak her. She's really sweet and will make a family really happy.

The problem is doing her nails, they're long as hell, i got about a half inch off and they're still super long, she goes into the alligator roll and fights for all she's worth. I teach my dogs from when they're little so i never had to deal with such a spaz, how do you do nails with a strange dog? Some tricks? I tried food and everything. I don't want to just over power her and scare her,
Thanks in advance,
AL

Since they are so long, she gets so stressed having them clipped, and you are having her spayed, I would recommend letting the vet do it while she is out. Then they be clipped back to a normal length without pain and stress for her.

After they are normal length you can start working with her on allowing her feet to be handled and eventually allowing her nails to be trimmed. Some dogs never allow it easily. It may always be a job for a vet or competent groomer.

You could try using a dremel to smooth/sand the nails down. I use my husbands dremel but they do make one specifically for a dogs nails. This way you can take the nail right down to the quick. Some dogs are more tolerant of the dremel than they are nail clippers.

Excellent idea having the vet trim the nails while she is sedated.

I have dogs that also fight for their life when they see the clippers come out. These same dogs SLEEP when I dremel their claws.

Dremeling takes longer, but there is no fight. (So I guess with the struggle involved, it actually takes about the same amount of time.)

Have her claws done while she is under and then train the dog on the Dremel. Her new owners will appreciate this.

I got the cordless Dremel at WalMart for 49.95. Also get some sandpaper drums (DO NOT use the stones!! They will burn the dog).

Here is a great how to website. (with pics). http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merensjp/doberdawn/index.html

Westies and other terriers are known for being butts about their nails. I usually clip nails for about 30-40 dogs a week at work and it's always the scotties, westies, and pugs that give me the biggest fits. So, dont take it personally.

If she is not groomed up do not use a dremel on her feet for the first time. It will catch hair and it will hurt her if she starts bouncing around. That and you don't know if she's going to go alligator on you or not which can make the hair pulling worse. My advice for the first time is take her into a petco, petsmart, or any place else you can watch them do her nails. It'll cost you $10. Watch and see what it takes for them to do it.

The basic rule I use is hook up the dog to a grooming arm if the dog isn't known to be good for it's nails. Stretch that sucker tight so the dog has no slack to reach back and bite me. Pick up a back foot. If the dog starts flailing mildly (kicking and trying to reach back) I hold the foot, tell the dog to knock it off and clip the first nail. If the dog is to the point of flailing wildly and snapping at air, I drop the foot, muzzle the dog, and pick up the foot again, clip a nail. Always start with the back feet on a dog who is bad for nails. It's the safest point to go by.

If the muzzled dog is flailing wilding, not caring which way it falls off the table to get away I get help from another groomer to hold the dog's front end still or pick up the opposite leg at the other end of the dog the same time I'm cutting. A dog tends to bounce around less on 2 feet.

Lastly if the dog bites to be muzzled, bites on taking off the muzzle, or throws itself around so hard and madly that I just can't restrain him that dog must be done by a vet. The trim stops there and the owner can have the little snot back.

This has only happened once in the past 4 months.

For doing dogs with long coats just slip an old piece of pantyhose over the foot and push the nails through it. The panty hose will contain the hair and keep it from tangling in the dremel.
Terriers are butts for the same reason other breeds are. Their owners allow them to be butts!
I also don't use the stone but the sanding drum. Even the drum can burn if you hold it to long in one spot. With the stones I've not found them a problem of burning but they clog much faster then the sanding drums.

Advice to let the vet cut them after the operation is an excellent suggestion. But the owner needs to do the rest of the work. I don´t know why the dog is acting like that. Is she afraid? Or just oh-WAY-to-cool-to-get-my-nails-done type.

I would start maker training to get to touch her with the clippers, then touch her paws with them. Then hold the paw and touch it with the clippers and so on. If the dog is really afraid then it might take some time to get to trust you enough to let you clip her. My doberman was this way when I got her. Really long nails and would seriously panic when I tried to clip her nails and I didn´t want to make her more afraid and force her (and the thought of wrestling a dobermann to the ground is not all that appealing). With some clicker training and time she is fine now. She still shivers like I am going to cut her foot off but trusts me to do that if I have to.

Our dachshund on the other hand... Well, she decided to be a butt when about 4-5 months old. Before that all clipping was fine but suddenly she decided that we had no place cutting her nails and started to struggle and scream like we were cutting her in half with a butter knife. Maybe we should have done it differently but we were advised to just put her on her side and do the job so we did. After a couple sessions she calmed down and still is a breeze to clip today.

About all that being butt thing- I agree that a dog is just as butt as you let him but it seems that some sorts of dogs are just more butt-prone. Like terriers and dachshunds