For one thing, there is a big difference between regular (front) dew claws, and the more rare back dew claws. I have seen about 3 Yorkies with them on their back feet at birth, and they are not fun to remove, even from a newborn. The front dew claws are more simple to remove, but do sometimes grow back. I personally would not be concerned about front dew claws, I have never had any problems with them getting caught, they are trimmed the same way as their regular nails. I use baby fingernail clippers for most of mine. By the way, the dew claws can be trimmed down further, almost all the way down to the skin.
Now, that being said, the back dew claws I WOULD have removed, they ARE very simple to catch on things and they are more or less "hanging" off the foot and have skin attached to them. It's hard to explain without a good photo, I wish I had one of a newborn, you can see the difference quite well on them. |