Question about the nails

A

Aynesa

Forums Regular
Hello all! I recently received my first show prospect sheltie from the breeder, however, when he arrived his nails were SHORT. I mean, really REALLY short. around 1/4 of an inch long, total. They didn't even show through the fur at all. I called the breeder and asked about this, and she told me that was how the nails needed to be cut for show dogs, and that I should keep them that length with a grinder around once a week. A week to the day after he arrived (which was just a few days ago) I tried what the breeder said. I grabbed my grinder, but as soon as I trimmed off even a tiny bit of nail, it was bleeding horribly. I staunched the bleeding and tried it on a second nail with the same results. After that I had to stop. It's been a few days now, and the nails are growing longer, but I dread the idea of filing them down.

it's really clear that in the past the nail has been cut well into the quick, but I'm not terribly comfortable doing this. Still, I do intend to show Kit, and I want him to do WELL. Is this the way that dog nails need to be trimmed? The breeder has a whole string of champions, so she must know what she's talking about... Do I just need to accept a little blood and keep em short?

Thanks, I really appreciate your advice!
~Renee and Kit
 
The key to grooming nails is to trim them at least every two or three weeks. Get into the habit and you and your dog should have no issues.

You most definitely do not want to be drawing blood every time. But if you stay on top of the nails, you should not have too.

If you leave the trimming too long, the "quick" grows out with the nails. The longer the quick, the harder it is to get the nails back down to maneable levels. So you want to stay ahead of it. You never want to clip or dremmel into the pink part of the nail.

Sometimes a nail will get out of control on you though. Or you have have a black nail and its hard to find the quick. Make sure you have Quik-stop handy. It's a powder than your sprinkle on dogs nails if you hit a bleeder. It stops the bleeding instantly. However, it will not remove the trauma from the dog.

Hope this helps
 
I do keep mine short...although not as short as others...but it does make the foot look much nicer with short nails. I grind them down to just before the quik so generally mine dont bleed unless I get side tracked and not pay attention and accidentally go too short.:uhoh:
 
Yes, the nails do need to be short for show. When you let the nails grow longer, the quick grows with the nails sometime. This makes it impossible to ever get the nails back down to short again (without causing pain to the dog).

Once a week grinding is probably your best bet to keep them short.
 
Yes, that's the problem I have. The nails have been cut so short previously, that ANY trimming whatsoever causes bleeding. Alot of it, and fast. I guess the answer is just to try again. The entire length of the nail (I don't mean from the kwik, I mean from the flesh/bone of the foot forward) is 1/4-1/3 of an inch. The kwik of the nail comes out to the very end of it. :\
 
brattina88 said:
If you dremel a little bit every third day, the quick will recede :wink2: The "show" people that I (personally) know actually never cut, then only dremel :wink2: I could be wrong, but I would think (I would hope) the breeder wouldn't cut into the quick like that. It can be done without it :
http://www.prairiedobecompanion.com/2011/02/nail-care-is-part-of-responsible-dog.html
Click to expand...

This is correct. If the quick has grown too long, the only way to deal with it is to gradually work its way back. Dremmelling the nails every few days will gradually work it back to a manageable length without having to deal with bleeders. As you dremmel, the quick should recede with the nail itself.

It sucks, I know, because I personally hate grooming nails and I tend to put it off myself. But it is the best long term solution.

Which reminds me....I think I should be doing nails tonight....:rolleyes2::no:
 
I have one dog who doesn't need his nails trimmed, the rest are kept longer because those super short nails aren't functional. My dogs need to be able to grip and turn, so the nails are a bit longer. The dog with the natural super short nails skidded out of the weaves this weekend, thus not getting g his second excellent a standard leg.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions. I took him to the vet today for his 'get acquainted' appointment, and my vet said that the nail had recently been cut well into the kwik, and the kwik was all the way to the end of the nail, which can't even be seen past the short fur on the foot. He suggested I let them grow out a bit. I'll keep you updated, thanks!
 
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