[capt_noonie]

Some dogs also have dew claws that aren't securely attached to the rest of the hand, so if the nail gets caught on a rug or something, it could actually pull out and be quite painful. That is why some breeder elect to remove the dew claws at birth. One of our members here Mimimomo had one of her dogs that it happened to. He was ok, but he had to take a trip to the vet for a stitch or two if I recall correctly.

But yeah, that nail needs to be trimmed more often than the others. Many dogs' dew claws if left untrimmed will grow into a circle making it extremely difficult to trim, or could even grow into the skin and puncture them, which would cause more problems. If his dew claw grows more straight instead of like a macaroni it would be easier to cut. But if the nails are very long, you need to cut little by little otherwise you will cut the quick (the nerve) and the nail will bleed, and the dog will most likely scream.

We use the electric file, basically like a battery Dremel. It takes the dogs some getting used to though but you can get much shorter with it vs cutting it normally.