When Fido doesn't wanna eat I act like I'm SOOO excited! (then he gets excited too) and then pour water over the food, and he eats it like a horse
I use school scissors to cut the hair on the paws, tail, and I trim the mustache with it sometimes, it works fine
When im putting a pony tail in Fido, I take something that is small, and long, and thin but hard, and stretch the hair a bit with it, then the ponytail doesn't hurt him.