Can't trim Olive's nails!

[sgtfrog]

Milli doesnt care if we touch her paws but she doesnt like it when we take out the scissors...

Does your dog know how to "leave it"? Easy trick to teach to a sheltie..

What I do with milli is take out a treat or even just her dog food. I put the food on the ground and say "leave it". Milli's attention is on the food, I trim/cut the nail and then say "good girl" and she eats the food. I repeat 10 times or however many times i need to. Its quick and painless and she doesnt struggle.

 

[biowicks]

Milli doesnt care if we touch her paws but she doesnt like it when we take out the scissors...

Does your dog know how to "leave it"? Easy trick to teach to a sheltie..

What I do with milli is take out a treat or even just her dog food. I put the food on the ground and say "leave it". Milli's attention is on the food, I trim/cut the nail and then say "good girl" and she eats the food. I repeat 10 times or however many times i need to. Its quick and painless and she doesnt struggle.

We are working on 'leave it'. She does know what it means, but if she isn't 'in the mood', she translates 'leave it' to run away with it as fast as she can and hide in the bathroom...

 

[BarbV]

The clipper is sharp, it has a lever that can be set to limit how much nail is taken off so you can't accidentally cut off a long piece, and I am adept at using it. Olive, however, still isn't having any of it, even though she's never been hurt during nail clipping. We finally gave up and had the vet do it. It took two people, but finally she just gave up and let them do it. We couldn't get her to give up and were afraid we might hurt her trying to restrain her. It's just the strangest thing; this behavior came out of nowhere. Well, it did start after her spay, but I can't imagine that had anything to do with it as her nails weren't clipped during that visit to the vet. I really don't want to have to take her to the vet every time she needs her nails clipped...

My suggestion would be to consider moving to grinding the nails.

At one point both my dogs got really skittish about having their nails clipped and I can only assume it was because either myself or a groomer hit the quick. Once that happens, its game over and you have to start all over again to get your dogs not to struggle.

So you can start over with clippers or start new with dremmel. Both will take work, but at least with the dremmel you are less likely to cut the quick going forward.

Either way, its takes patience, lots of treats and sometimes brute stregnth. But if you ever think about giving up, you have to know that it MUST be done

This is not optional grooming.

 

[Calliesmom]

My suggestion would be to consider moving to grinding the nails.

At one point both my dogs got really skittish about having their nails clipped and I can only assume it was because either myself or a groomer hit the quick. Once that happens, its game over and you have to start all over again to get your dogs not to struggle.

So you can start over with clippers or start new with dremmel. Both will take work, but at least with the dremmel you are less likely to cut the quick going forward.

Either way, its takes patience, lots of treats and sometimes brute stregnth. But if you ever think about giving up, you have to know that it MUST be done

This is not optional grooming.

quicking the dog does not necessarily mean that they will automatically hate clippers. I just cut Dixie's last night after quicking her when I did her nails a couple weeks ago. no issues. of course, she is the dog who didn't move while I pried the styptic powder out of the clipper handles and patiently waited until I got it onto her nail- probably not the reaction of most dogs but they all react differently.

 

[sgtfrog]

We are working on 'leave it'. She does know what it means, but if she isn't 'in the mood', she translates 'leave it' to run away with it as fast as she can and hide in the bathroom...

It shouldn't take a sheltie very long to pick up "leave it" in a controlled environment with treats... you should be able to teach leave it within a day using the video below..

I recommend you watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asVQYYSWPJc

I taught milli how to "leave it" when she was maybe 5 months old. ( shes now 11 months old). Only took her one small session to pick up the concept and then a couple more to solidify it.

 

[celloyogi]

My suggestion would be to consider moving to grinding the nails.

At one point both my dogs got really skittish about having their nails clipped and I can only assume it was because either myself or a groomer hit the quick. Once that happens, its game over and you have to start all over again to get your dogs not to struggle.

So you can start over with clippers or start new with dremmel. Both will take work, but at least with the dremmel you are less likely to cut the quick going forward.

Either way, its takes patience, lots of treats and sometimes brute stregnth. But if you ever think about giving up, you have to know that it MUST be done

This is not optional grooming.

We (again I'm with the same Olive) will get her nails trimmed somehow, some way; we definitely agree that it is not optional!

I bought a Dremel for her nails when we first got her (she was 8 weeks old). I have used Dremels in the past for rescue dogs and after getting the dogs used to the tool, found it to be the best way to keep nails short and neat. We started getting Olive used to the sight of the Dremel, used to the feel of it touching her nails when it was turned off, the sound of it turned on when not touching her nails. She hates it.

I am still trying to get her used to it - we may end up working with her on the Dremel at home and getting the actual trimming done at the vet, until we have success at home. The Nails Will Be Trimmed.

 

[biowicks]

My suggestion would be to consider moving to grinding the nails.

At one point both my dogs got really skittish about having their nails clipped and I can only assume it was because either myself or a groomer hit the quick. Once that happens, its game over and you have to start all over again to get your dogs not to struggle.

So you can start over with clippers or start new with dremmel. Both will take work, but at least with the dremmel you are less likely to cut the quick going forward.

Either way, its takes patience, lots of treats and sometimes brute stregnth. But if you ever think about giving up, you have to know that it MUST be done

This is not optional grooming.

Actually, I tried the grinder first. I watched several youtube videos about desensitizing the dog to the Dremel before actually trying to use it on the nails. I could never get to the point that I could use it to actually grind the nail. In the beginning, she thought it was a game when I touched the not turned on Dremel to her nails, but once she discovered it made a noise I couldn't get near her with it whether it was turned on or off. I am hoping that when she gets older, I can try again and perhaps be successful. I really think the Dremel does the best job, but not when it turns the dog into a whirling dervish!

 

[mellie]

What kind of resistance does she put up ? Squirmming or pulling her foot away ? Does she show teeth ? Have you tried putting her on her back and cradling her between your legs ? Or if you are doing that maybe on her side ? Or maybe while she standing ? I know you want to be able to do it so just do it. That's what happens when you take her to the vet/groomer...they just do it even if it's a struggle. I believe you can handle /treat her feet for a week or 2 then just trim 1 nail at a time each night after treating/handling and after 20 days she will be more acustomed to it...just throwing some ideas out there. Keep it short and sweet but you must win !!

 

[Calliesmom]

Callie- I could do anything to her while she was puppertonic (belly up between my legs). dremel/clippers/brush/trim.....

the pups get a nail or a whole paw clipped while they are laying next to me on the couch. just depends on how much playing has already occurred if they will stay still for more than one paw.......

 

[mellie]

Callie- I could do anything to her while she was puppertonic (belly up between my legs). dremel/clippers/brush/trim.....

the pups get a nail or a whole paw clipped while they are laying next to me on the couch. just depends on how much playing has already occurred if they will stay still for more than one paw.......

Yea, Sally is no problem even though i have quicked her, but i handled her feet from puppy on and she is a good girl.Olive has put up a fuss and that keeps it from happening so need to find a way to break the cycle. Maybe just getting her while in a sleepy mood and trimming one nail will help her relax about it some.