How to Keep Your Dog Calm for a Nail Trimming

Nail trimming. Ugh. Such a trivial task that should be so simple, but can be very much nightmare-ish. For us, we are trying to stay frugal while still providing excellent care for our dog. Like many, we cannot afford grandiose trips to the doggie salon for intense grooming. While the vet trips and dog food are not skimped out on, we do opt for at-home spa treatments for our pooch. And she doesn't seem to mind too much at all. She just wants to be where we are!

Before we dug right in and started trimming her nails, we made sure to get her good and tired with a delightful game of tug-o-war. Once she started getting a good 'panting' going on and had hit the water bowl for a drink, we thought we would dive in and give it a shot. We had never trimmed her nails before this night, and we'd not done much at all with showing her that having her paws touched was a good or a bad thing, so she was full of uncertainty. We made sure that there were treats-a-plenty available when she was giving us the results we wanted.

While Bae is not a very apprehensive dog, but being quite the curious one, we made sure she was well-acquainted with her clippers in a good way. We rubbed her back with them, let her sniff them, lick them, and see that they weren't out to get her. Once she was comfortable with the clippers, we decided to get her into our lap and let the fun begin.

She was nipping and gnawing at our fingers at first when we had grabbed hold of her paws. I suppose I can relate...I hate having my 'back paws' touched! We gave her treats to distract her from the yummy fingers and made our first "clip!". When you're doing this (especially for the first time), you'll want to make sure that you're far from the 'quick' of the dog's nail. You can see the division between where the nail can be cut and the 'quick'. Inside the dog's nail you will see a pink or reddish colored line or shade, and then it will fade into a white or gray towards the end of the nail. Try to keep far from the quick on your first few trimmings, and as you clip more often, you will notice that the 'quick' begins to recede back closer towards the paw itself. Please note: Do NOT do this at home if you're uncomfortable. You can seriously harm your dog if you clip too far and sever into the 'quick', causing a lot of bleeding and pain for your dog, and it's highly likely that you'll end up at the vet office.

Bae was reacting very well to the clips we were making, and she wasn't fighting to be released, but was very comfortable, no nervous panting or anything. She was watching what we were doing very closely, and every time we made a clip, we praised her and would give her a piece of a treat. It worked great!

I would suggest trying this with a second set of hands available as the 'clipper' person will have their hands full of paw and clippers. I was the 'treat giver', as the dog responds well to the praise and comfort I lend.

After you've completed all four paws, make sure your dog sees how good she was so that next time, it will be even more of a breeze! Check over the paws to make sure there is no splintering, peeling, or sharp edges. I would suggest using an emery board to finish things up so the claws are smooth and un-jagged. We also let the dog sniff the clippers again as she was more curious about them afterwards.

Bae was desperately in need of a nail trimming (her claws were REALLY long!), so she was intriguing to watch walk across the linoleum and not 'click click click'. She knew it was funny too. She licked her paws a little, seemingly admiring them, and was comfortable with their new length in seconds.

And then, four days later, it was time for another trimming, and it was as if she'd been getting her nails trimmed her whole life, laying there being an excellent home-salon goer!