I battled this when I first got Scottie. Prior, I had a maltese who had clear nails. So when I got Scottie and first encountered his little tiny black nails, I was baffled on how to cut nails that were solid black!
In the beginning, I cut into the quick twice and freaked out and bought the qwik stop powder right away the next day, because boy, once it started bleeding, it took forever to stop!
After that experience, I started to trim off half a millimeter (more like a shaving) every two weeks so that I wouldn't go into the quick anymore (and so I wouldn't scare him anymore). I haven't had to use that qwik powder once after I bought it.
The slow trim has been working for me since. He walks around my hardwood floor, free of any tap-tap-tap noises. I'm also slowly able to see or recognize the 'jelly donut' part of the nail, which is the part right before the quick.
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...ack-nails.html I also realize that if I get too close to this part, Scottie shrieks in pain, even when there's no blood, so I guess that part is quite sensitive and I try to avoid cutting it near there.
I'm assuming this may work if the nails are too long, that you can trim a little by little every week or two until it's at the comfortable/right length.
I use the scissor style of clipper. I found the guillotine type too big for Scottie's small paws. I've never tried the grinder/drummel type before, but that's a really really neat idea to use panty hose to make sure the hair doesn't get caught. So crafty
