toenails-how to shorten the quick


(Page 1 of 2: Viewing entries 1 to 10)  
Page Links: 1  2  

Dixie Land- Delight
Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 6:56am PST 
dixie loathes and despises having her toenails trimmed. it's the worst thing ever, in her world. because it's such a traumatizing experience for her, we've never clipped her toenails as often as we should...and i don't think her previous owner did either, because her toenails have been too long since we got her.

she doesn't seem to mind too terribly if i file at them with an emery board, however. but her quick is very long, and keeps me from being able to trim her nails to an appropriate length.

is there a way to gradually shorten the length of the quick? also...do any of you pups abhore the nail clippers, but are less offended by another method, such as a dremmel? if dixie so much as sees me holding the nail clippers, she runs the other direction and attempts to hide. i'm wondering if she'd be so horrified by a dremmel, but i hate to spend the money on one if it's going to have the same results.

any input would be greatly appreciated!

one more question, not related to toenails, but rather ears. how do you pups clean your ears?

Lick, lick, lick- I like to lick.
Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 11:51am PST 
Well Boston can be bad for nail trim to but he is small so its easy to get done. Now Rosie on the other hand is a bigger dog and she hates this done as well. Dremmeling once a week can help but the noise and vibrations can really freak them out there is no way I can get that thing near Rosie. So we know Rosies fav thing is peanut butter. I get a scoop of peanut butter on a spoon. My mom holds the spoon in front of her face and away I go I trim the nails with not to much hassel. To get the quick shortened you have to do nail trimmings once a week consistantly. Eventually it will get shorter. It took Daisy a few months though with consistant nail trims for her quicks to shorten. So it will take a while but it is possible.
Gray Dawn- Treader

Don\\\'t Tread- on me
Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 12:08pm PST 
The quick will naturally recede back if you clip just in front of it. I guess you'll need to a do a lot of filling to get that done. BOL
Mistress has never had to clean my ears actually, but if she did she'd get a cue-tip and swab out all the yucky brown stuck like she did with her cat. And buy ear-mite medicine.

Edited by author Fri Jun 6, '08 12:09pm PST



Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 12:36pm PST 
there are two things ill recommend for the quicks. one of them is cutting the nails weekly. have you ever tried taking her to the groomers to get them done? many dogs are worse for their owners for a lot of things, including nail trimming. sometimes, just the fact that t is a person they dont know is handling them will make them more weary of their behavior. so i would try that. if you dont want to do that, then having someone hold the dog while you trim them will help. if your dog is over 20 pounds, i would also recommend gettikng the dog to lay down on his side, have someone hold him down and talk to him, then clip away. sometimes if they cant seee it they wont freak out as bad.

the other thing you can do is take him to a vet, have him sedated, and have to vet clip them to where they should be. you still would have to keep up with the clipping, or else the quik will grow back out again. no matter what you do, you pretty much need to find a way to cut his nails.

as far as ears, you need to buy some ear cleaner at a pet store. sueeze a couple drops into the ear, then take a cotton ball and clean only what you can see. you can use a q tip to get in the crevices, just be really careful of your dog moving his head. if you see a little wax, or dirt, that is pretty normal. if the ear is red, swollen, or gunky with red or yellow stuff then the dog should go to a vet.

Poodle, not- doodle!
Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 6:58pm PST 
1. Buy a dremel. For like 19.99 at walmart and dremel once a week. it is really simple and less traumatizing.
2. when you are done clipping or dremeling put white iodine ( bought at any drugstore) on the tip and it dries the quick up some so that next time you can clip closer .
Miss Lola- Luftnagle

Solid Gold- Dancer
Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 9:01pm PST 
Another Lola here. I quicked a nail with the dremmel at work today. Severly overgrown. Pinky nail was a complete circle. Anyhow, we cut the nails first. (Dog had to be muzzled, and used the groomers helpers delux) while the other groomer had to hold her behind the sholders to keep Lulu from bucking. Anyhow, her quicks were longer on the underside than on top. Just one tiny bit of blood. I figured it wasn't a bad thing since the quicks were sooooo long, and anything to help them recede was a blessing...little angel
Gave her a coupon for $3 off her next nail trim.
Fuzzy- Huskies Dog- Team

'09 Jr. Yukon- Quest- Red Lantern!
Barked: Fri Jun 6, '08 10:49pm PST 
Try a friend's Dremel first to see how she reacts.

I don't know if it's true or not (just curious if anyone knows for sure here!), but I've heard that the Dremel produces heat or something through friction and can cause the quick to recede while you're trimming the nails.

Rub my tummy or- else!
Barked: Sat Jun 7, '08 11:14am PST 
There is a way to shorten the quick without really close trimming. Look closely at the nails. you'll see that the nail grows all around the quick at the paw end, but opens out a bit, further away, exposing the outside (dead part) of the quick. This is most easily seen on the hind feet.

You need a very small "half-round" file. File away that bottom part (the inside of the curve) of the all-round nail until the flaky,dead part of the quick is exposed. This will help the quick recede faster. I've used this on many a rescue dog.

I have had good luck with helping my dogs be better about their nails being clipped by lying them on their sides, and massaging them between nails. I also offer cookies a lot!

And the earlier suggestion about peanut butter and a spoon is gret, if you have someone to hold the spoon for you.

I use both a dremel and clippers, and they are both considered torture devices by my dogs... We call them the Evil Toe Grinder and the Evil Toe Amputaters. All we have to do to get Gracie to go hide is to look at her and ay "Toes!"

Dixie Land- Delight
Barked: Mon Jun 9, '08 6:26am PST 
i think a lot of Dixie's fear of the toe nail clippers has to do with the popping noise they make when they clip. she is TERRIFIED of gun shots. we think there's a good chance she may have been shot at before (we didn't get her until she was 2), hence her fear of loud popping noises.

when we first got her i was clipping her nails and i quicked one of them pretty good. this may also contribute to her hatred of the clippers.

thanks for the responses everybody. i guess i'll just have to suck it up and make her let me clip her nails once a week. making a 70lb dog do anything she doesn't want to do is a task in itself, lol...but i'll get hubby to help and have plenty of cheese handy. smile
The Black- and Tan Clan

have a nice day
Barked: Mon Jun 9, '08 10:02am PST 
i would definatly try the dremmel, i have the cordless one and its not too loud, there is also this great website that one of my dogster pals offered up a while ago.... it gives a great explination on how to dremmel nails and how to get your dog comfortable with the dremmel itself, i have 4 dogs, 3 were terrified of the thing when i brought it home and one was like "ok whater do what you must to me" but now all of them will let me dremmel so here the site and good luck


on the left side click how to dremmel nails
  (Page 1 of 2: Viewing entries 1 to 10)  
Page Links: 1  2