Nail Clipping Horrors - Please Help

[Gabi & Gina]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I hope someone will see it and be able to help me.

Gabi (15 months) has an absolute phobia of anyone touching her paws, so nail clipping is an absolute no-no. I took her to my vet a little while ago for his help. He asked me, in order to try and keep her calm, not to be present when they clipped her nails. When they returned her, he informed me that she ws so stressed, that she had messed herself (pooped), and they needed to bath her. I can't understand why she is like this, because she has never had a bad experience. I'm the only one that grooms her

I can't bear her being so stressed, but her nails are now seriously long, and she is damaging her coat when she scratched. Does anyone have any advice for me on how to help my poor baby overcome her fear, and make nailclipping less stressful for her??? Any advice is welcome. Short of having her anaethatised, I don't know what else to do. My vet says that General Anaesthetic is the only alternative left for us....but I'm not so keen on this option, before I'm satisfied that I've exhausted all other methods/options.

[Yorkie3]

I know this is probably going to sound like a very dumb question, but I have to ask. I've never seen in all my research, anything other than how to trim the nails. So here is my question: Why do they declaw cats and not dogs? Except for the simple answers, they use them for digging, and scratching. Does it have something to do with balance?

[txshopper73]

Isn't there a pill or something they can give her to help calm her without anesthetic? I know that when I had cats and needed to bathe them, the vet gave me some pills to help with that and I didn't get scratched once.

[Rem&Silkmom]

forgive me for my spelling but the surgon gave Remmy anitriptelene to keep him calm after his bladder surgery. It seriously drugged him up. So maybe you can give her that to clip the nails? I really would not know what else to do. If given in very little amounts the drug would wear off in a few hours.

[Gabi & Gina]

I tried a homeopathic remedy called "Rescue", which I'm told has a calming effect, but this did absolutely nothing for her, so I went past my vet again last night, and he has indicated that, rather than give GA, he will sedate her. He won't comatose her, but just make her very sleepy. He does not want me to do this at home, as he does not want her to stay sedated. As soon as the clipping is done, he is going to reverse the "drug".

I feel a lot better about doing it this way, but don't want to have to resort to such drastic measures every time her nails need cliping, so I'm hoping that I'll find a solution before her nails need cliping again.

[Dan & Corinne]

Was it the first time you took her to a vet or groomer where someone else besides you trimmed her nails?

I'm guessing at one time, even before you brought her home, she had a bad experiance where it was cut too short and hurt her or the person was a little to firm with her. Do you think you can trim her nails when she's asleep? Even if you only can get one before she wakes up, you can rotate every few days if you are up to trimming them yourself. Or can you distract her with her favorite treat that takes her time to gnaw on? Maybe that will help her associate good things with trimmings.

I can't trim Jazzie's nails because I'm afraid to hurt her so I do take her to the vet for trims.

[Latuya]

Gus was very skittish about his paws being handled. So what I did was,,, hold him like a baby and started to massage his ears, neck and slowly worked myself down to his front paws. I started this at a very young age. After a while he didn't have problem with ME touching them. The back paws were a different story. He still don't care too much to have his back paws messed with but he doesn't fight it either. The first and only time I took him to get groomed, I stood there and watched. He put up such a fight when trying to clip his nails that she made him bleed. I was so upset. It was the last time I let any groomer near him. I do all grooming myself. I file Gus nails each week so they don't get out of control and that way he wont get too freaked by spending too much time filing. He would get kinda freaked at first but now he will just lay there and sometimes falls asleep.

Poor little girl. I do hope you find a solution that will work for her. Good luck!

[Dougal&Little]

You might like to try touching her paws everyday, lifting each foot, spreading the toes, lifting lips to check teeth, checking ears - all the things vets do. Give lots of praise, and treats - if your dog is treat oriented. Once your dog is happy with that ask your partner / friends etc to do it as well so that your dog is used to different people doing it. You can't give in if your dog isn't happy cos you're reinforcing in your dog's mind that it IS scary to have your feet touched. I get too wound up to clip my babies feet and I get the groomers to do it. They don't like it but it's better than when I do it!

[BLowry]

Sadie never messed herself but, she DOES NOT like having her nails clipped...I started clipping her nails as soon as I got her (6 weeks old....I know WAY to early) I think maybe the breeder might have cut to close once and hurt her...I have a H*LL of a time clipping her nails. This is what I do. My husband and I give her a bath together....when she is all soapy my husband holds her up (we are telling her how good she is the entire time) and I start clipping...This isn't the easiest way to clip her nails but it works...Try filing them...this might work for you..

Good Luck!

[Mya's_Mom]

With our Pom Comic we clip one nail give him cheese let him and us rest and so on. Comic freaks out so much that every other dog we have had in our home would freak out when they got their nails clipped. I was pissed off at hubby for clipping Comic nails in front of Mya because now she does. Mya is much better at nail clipping wrapped in a blanket but Comic will never change.
A little bit of valium precribed by the vet might help next time.

[JeanieK]

The Dog Whisperer had a show about that.

They started by massaging the dog to get it relaxed (as someone else suggested) then they laid the clippers next to the dog and let her smell them and get used to them, all the while massaging and speaking calmly, then they would touch and massage her foot, and slowly worked towards actually clipping her nails.

This might take time. Just getting her to let you touch her feet might take time.

If you do get so you can do it, then I'd do one nail and then give a treat and maybe wait a while before doing the next one.

Once they get real long, the quick grows longer so you have to just take off the very end and do it every 10 days or so. Eventually the quick will shorten and the nails will be shorter.

Walking them on concrete frequently will also keep the nails short. Mine are fenced in on my concrete patio, and I never need to clip their nails.

[Latuya]

Originally Posted by JeanieK

The Dog Whisperer had a show about that.

They started by massaging the dog to get it relaxed (as someone else suggested) then they laid the clippers next to the dog and let her smell them and get used to them, all the while massaging and speaking calmly, then they would touch and massage her foot, and slowly worked towards actually clipping her nails.

This might take time. Just getting her to let you touch her feet might take time.

If you do get so you can do it, then I'd do one nail and then give a treat and maybe wait a while before doing the next one.

Once they get real long, the quick grows longer so you have to just take off the very end and do it every 10 days or so. Eventually the quick will shorten and the nails will be shorter.

Walking them on concrete frequently will also keep the nails short. Mine are fenced in on my concrete patio, and I never need to clip their nails.

The massage thing really works. At least it did for us. When I hold him like a baby, he will pick up his paws to my lips so I can kiss them.

And I do agree, frequent walks and play time running on concrete does help the nails stay filed.

Here is a picture of us in action. He just loves it!

[northview5]

Hi - We've been through the same kind of thing! Our dogs go bonkers when we trim their nails. Here's some of the things we've heard as to why they could be like this and what to do...

We heard that probably someone bled them at some point when trimming the nails. This book said that the pain they experience when the nails are clipped too short is something they never forget....

We took our dog to the vet for help once too. Tobey was absolutely off the wall wild about having his nail trimmed!!!! At that time our vet told us, "Watch and see. When he's four years old, then he'll let you trim them." Well, he fought us and fought us 'till he turned four. We couldn't believe how right our vet was! It cracked us up! We talked to him about it and he said, "It just takes till they're about four years old till the rebelous spunk is out of 'em."

At first Pepper (who is now 1 1/2 yrs old) was fine about his nails. Perhaps the groomer bled him. I don't know, but now he is bonkers too. I am taking the approach of giving him treats and working him into it. Also, I am trimming them VERY, VERY often. At least once or twice a week. If I have to, I only do the front paws and then do the back paws later. (Yup - the backs are the absolute worst!!!) He is gradually getting better every time. I just started working on this about four weeks ago and am quite pleased at the progress. I sit Indian style and lay him in my lap up-side down with his head cradeled in my left arm. Then I wrap my right leg on top of him and he can't get out for nothing!!! He is learning to calm down and now it doesn't take much force at all to keep him. After every paw he get a break and a treat.

Josie is just 15 weeks old and I've been trimming her nails at least once a week. They haven't bled once. When she went to the groomer I told them NOT to trim her nails. So far so good!! Hurrah!!!!! She's a breeze. She has absolutely no problem with me trimming her nails. BUT! Our other two were fine in the beginning too, so we've yet to see what Josie's nail trimming future holds!! We're hoping experience has taught us how to prevent the problem. Hopefully, hopefully.....

All the best to you!!! I know what a hassel it is!

[chattiesmom]

I am so very sorry you are having this problem. I am probably in the minority here, but I firmly believe that it is my responsibility to train my dog to quietly accept nail clipping and ear trimming. Even if I choose to use a groomer or vet it is not thier responsibility to train my dog unless I have contracted with them for training services.

Please understand this is a FIXABLE problem. Now is a good time to mention the 6 Yorkie "P"'s: Patience, Perserverence, Persistence, PRAISE, pee and poop. In training you use the first four while avoiding the last two.

First of all think about it from Gabi's perspective. Her feet are her lifeline.... and dogs generally are very protective of their feet. Start by getting Gabi where she will sit in your lap, quietly and still. When you have accomplished this, then rub her back. When you can rub her back with her relaxed then rub her upper leg -- do not go any further down her leg that she is comfortable with -- if you think she might move her leg, then it is very important at this stage to quickly move your hand pack up towards her shoulder. The goal is to slowly work your way down her shoulder and leg until you can touch her foot -- just touch it no more. All along the way, PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE. You, the trainer, must perservere, be patient and persistent. When she needs to pee and poop, take a break

Work in short sessions and ALWAYS end a session with Gabi more relaxed than when you started the lesson. This tells you that she is comfortable with what you are doing and is learning.

When you get to the point where you can touch her foot, then pick it up, let go, pick it up let it go until she is completely and entirely relaxed. Then touch a toenail -- this is a turningpoint and may take some time but, continue be persistent, perserve, be patient and remember to PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE and always avoid pee and poop

This is how I train my puppies. Last night I clipped the teeny tiny ends off Chizzie's three 13 week old puppies with them sitting quietly in my lap. Sorry this post was so long, but this is a subject I happen to be passionate about.

[Gabi & Gina]

Thanks you all for the great advice. I'm definately going to approach this from the massage point now. She is quite comfortable with me touching her ears/teeth/eyes/body etc, but the minute I get to her knees, she pulls away. For the time being, I'm going to back off completely and ditch all attempts to clip her nails, untill she is 100% comfortable with me touching her feet.

As it is, she is wary of me, and would rather sit with her Dad, as "Mom's the one who wants to do horrible things to my feet" Even when I get to the stage that I can touch her feet, I'm only going to do 1-2 a night, so that she does not freak out, and then lavish her with PRAISE and TREATS.

Just one last question.......while I'm decensitising her to the touching, do I have the clippers near by so she can get comfortable with having them around, or do I remove them so as to not make her anxious????


I'll keep you all posted on our progress.