Trimming Stedman's Nails is a Total NIGHTMARE!!!!
 

Ok guys, once again I need help :p Do any of your babies totally FREAK OUT when you go to trim their nails?? Stedman is soooooooooooo bad when I try to trim his nails. To be honest, I can't even get them trimmed, not a single one! He freaks out soo soo badly I cannot even tell you. He squirms ALL over the place and I end up with scratch marks ALL over me...on my arms, legs, neck, etc., etc. I mean it is just insane. He gets so out of breath from fighting my hubby and I that he starts panting with his tongue hanging out. It's crazy!! :eek: We just WILL NOT let us do it. I hope this isn't horrible :eek: but last night we actually gave him a pill to help to calm and relax him and THAT didn't even help! It's like it didn't do a single thing and he was still freaking out when we tried to trim his nails.

I seriously do not know what to do with him. His nails are getting so long and I know they are probably bothering him, but what the heck do I do?? He REFUSES to let me trim them. I have taken him to the vet before and they have done it (it took THREE nurses to hold him down PLUS the person trimming his nails - so FOUR people total and he is only 4 lbs!) - this little guy is STRONG!! :eek: If all else fails I can try and take him to the vet to have them trimmed, but I swear he is even worse about it now that he was before and to be honest I don't know if they will even be able to do it. I mean he is BAD and sooo super squirmy. Plus, heck, he'd be going in ALL the time...just for a nail trim?? I am at a total loss here...please help!! :confused:

P.S. - I should get a video of this...you would all just die :eek:

What do you use - the clippers or dremel?

Mine are good with nails, but Fancee acts like that with her ears. It's a tug-of-war to try and hold her while plucking and cleaning her ears. I've tried everything from babying to forcing. I always leave her until last because I know I'll be worn out when I finish (or giveup). The oddest thing is that she is the most clingy of them all. I laugh that I don't have any good pictures of her because she won't move far enough away for me to make her picture.

I use clippers. I was thinking of trying the dremel, but I know he would freak out just the same. He just does not like ANYTHING going near his nails, no matter what it is. And if he "heard" something buzzing around by them I think that he would really go nuts :eek: I don't know though, maybe it is worth a shot to just try it and see? The Peticure that they adviertise on T.V. (I always see it on Animal Planet) has also crossed my mind. I almost ordered it but I didn't know if it wasn't any good so I decided just to wait.

Fancee sounds just like Stedman and you are absolutely right! They really will wear you completely out! :eek:

Sit on him. LOL....

You just describe me trimming Ramsey....in the beginning.

You have let him win the battle...if he squirms long enough...you will stop. So for awhile..it's gonna be a fight until he realizes it will be done. Now Ramsey has learned...it will be done...it can be 5 minutes...or 25 but I will trim her nails. She also knows...when you are finished...you get a treat. I put her down...she's barking...I let you, where's the dang treat!!

OMG Brooke....I can totally relate. Murphy is absolutely CRAZY when it comes time for me to try. I seriously take him to the vet just to do it and that is just ridiculous in my opinion. :rolleyes: I feel I should be able to control a yorkie but HECK NO he is crazy just like Stedman. I wish I had advice for you but I am just as bad off as you are ... that’s why I was so scared about the ear hair you were telling me about a few weeks ago. :rolleyes:

I do have to say this last time I tried again I did it when it was just Murphy and I. I sent Mia on an errand with her daddy and I rolled Murphy over after he had been sleeping on the sofa and tried. AT first he was totally calm and I thought HOLY CRAP :eek:this is going to work and than one clip and he freaked so than I just had to hold him down HARD to do it. It was crazy but I got it done for the first time in my life. Afterwards he was panting like crazy...I mean CRAZY! :confused::confused:

Gosh I empathize with you - it is tough for me too. Okay now that I wrote a book and did not even offer one single amount of help - ha, ha!! :rolleyes: :p Sorry!!

In the south...we call that sympathy. :p

LOL....ha, ha.....or just the gift of GAB (as my mother says). LOL :p :D

Kayko was the same way Here's what i posted on another thread...

Wrap her Like a burrito- Snug- Leave one paw out at a time, Before you know it you wont need the blanket. Do Snipet's weekly So she get's use to it.

Someone else posted this problem recently and suggestd doing right after a bath when the nails are softer. I know Bella is really chilled out in the bath. I think I will try it again myself. I have to let the vet do it now.

Oh, I know what you mean, Brooke! Both my boys hate having their nails trimmed. I've been trying something new, which seems to be working. I wait until they are already sleepy, then I hold them and give them a massage and get them all relaxed. When I massage them, I touch their feet alot. In fact, I touch their feet alot when we're playing or if they're just sitting on my lap. After they are nice and relaxed, I hold them on my lap and my husband clips their nails (one dog at a time, of course;)). They get treats when they are all done. Also, trimming their nails after a bath seems to make it a little easier because the nails are softer.

Good luck, I know what you're going through!

Sit on him....LOL!!! Good idea! :laugh: Actually though, I do eventually give up because he gets SO out of breath from fighting us that it actually scares me. Seriously, hubby makes me stop because he is afraid that Stedman is eventually going to hyperventilate or something. It is VERY bad. And I can't just start clipping the nails because he is moving around SO MUCH....I would just end up hurting him.

He has got to be still otherwise I just can't do it. There is no way of me SAFELY trimming his nails without hurting him when he is jumping and squirming around all over the place :( I would probably end up cutting one of the pads on his paws by mistake or either clipping the nail too far and going down to the quick and that's SO painful for them :cry: I am just at a total loss!

I just take Alfie to the vet, he does not squirm but he makes me feel as if he is in mortal danger!!:eek:

Someone told me to put his paw in a popsock and his nails will go throught the stocking material and then :eek:you can trim them knowing you are not cutting the pad .

But it sounds as if Steadman might not like this either......:eek:

what does your vet suggest.:aimeeyork

Brooke, you might try the Peticure. I was skeptical at first, having two here that HATE nail trimming, I didn't believe the Peticure would make a difference. It's so quiet though there just isn't much noise to bother them.

It did take being persistent and I started with Ruby first, then once she was comfortable with it, started on Reno. I wanted to get confident with it at first before trying Reno, as he goes into the old "alligator death roll" :D when you try to trim nails.

Well even though I feel sorry for you that you have to go through this with Murphy too, at least I know I'm not the only one who has a "wild child" when it comes to nail trimming! LOL. I would probably die of a heart attack if I was EVER able to pull it off....I swear I need to get a video so that everyone can see what he does :eek: It would probably look like I was being mean to him in the video because I have to be SO forceful in trying to hold him down...but I'm actually not hurting him at all....he is just sooooo squirmy and persistent! It's so frustrating too....if he could just hold still for a FEW minutes...I could get all of his nails trimmed in a snap - but he absolutely refuses :(

THANK YOU Lenora! I will try this....heck I'll try anything!! This boy needs him nails trimmed SO BADLY!!

You know, I have heard of doing it then too - but I guess I never think of it when bath time rolls around because as you said, they are always so chilled after their baths and the first thing on my mind is getting them dry and warm ASAP. I will try this also though...thank you! :D

Thank you so much for your tips and suggestions Selina! They are greatly appareciated! :thumbup: It looks like I have a few new techniques to try with Stedman when trying to trim his nails. I surely hope that one of them works and that I am able to get the job done...I can't stand seeing his nails knowing that they need trimmed so badly! :(

I don't know if he would or not :confused: He is just SUCH a baby about EVERYTHING. He always gets soooooooooo freaked out!!! :eek: I wish you could all see him in person, and then you would know what I mean, LOL. I think you would all be surprised :eek:

I haven't really asked my vet about it but I'm sure that he would just tell me to bring him in and that they would do it :p However, with dogs needing their nails trimmed so often, it would just be so much easier on me if I could find a way to do it at home :(

:lol tears The alligator death roll....hahahaha!! I love it!! :D What a wonderful way to describe it, lol.

I think I will try ordering one of these soon as see how Stedman does with it. I'm sure he will freak out at first when I go near his nails with it (he doesn't like ANYTHING going near his paws) - but maybe since it's quiet it won't be SO bad.

Thank you so much for your help girl!! :D

OMG, girl, I can SO relate to this. Okay, Marcel - could care less - just sits back like you're feeding him bon bons, and we cut - easy breezy, as he is about everything.

Wylie - is a NIGHTMARE ON ELMSTREET X A BILLION. Horrible. It's because when we used to take him to the groomer (a few times when he was 9mths-16mths), they cut his quick - and he has been terrorized ever since. After we realized this was happening - NO more groomer, ever.

So, we had to wrap him tight in a towel - with one paw out, me holding him with every bit of strength - and Tony would clip. I mean, practically impossible. It was like holding a 2-ton gorilla. Eventually, we graduated to me holding w/out the towel - which is what we do now. But still, he struggles, pants, and freaks out as if we're going to chop off his very arm - it's just awful. I try to tell him "NO" when he struggles and "good" when he manages to stay calm.

I so feel your pain. :)

I know what you mean about hyperventilating. When Chloe was a puppy I had to give her prescription ear drops and you would have thought I was trying to rip her ear off. It took two of us to do it and sometimes we just had to stop she got so out of control. She would squirm, wiggle, moan, groan, squeal, pant and just about make herself sick. After 4 days we gave up.:(:rolleyes:

Lola Hates it Too
 

Lola hates to have her nails clipped too. I've always used regular clippers. She absolutely can't stand it! And her nails are black so it makes them really hard to clip because you can't easily see the quick.:(

This sounds like Crosley, but she's 17lbs, just think of how fun that is!
We are just starting to groom our girls at home, but we aren't including nail clipping right now! We take them to our vet for clippings! We LOVE our vet and have known him for 20 years.
It takes 3-4 to hold her down too, it's insane!!
Wrigley, calm as can be about it!
Can't wait to see how Camden is!

Sissy was exactly the same way when I tried to use clippers. She still doesn't like the dremmel (we use the Peticure) and the hubby needs to hold her while I use it, but believe me - it is nothing like when I was trying to use the clippers. She would scream (and I mean scream) like she was being killed, and I wasn't even touching her!!!! With the dremmel, she doesn't squirm like the did with the clippers and she doesn't scream at all. I am able to get all the nails done in less than 5 minutes.

Have you tried wrapping him in a towel like a MUMMY ? I have to do that ...then you take One squirmy foot out at a time and TALK TO HIM while you do it. Tell him to STAY and do it as fast as you can. If you can only get one foot - do the next at a later time

the nails are softer after a bath also - sometimes it's good to do them after a bath cause they're already so traumatized they just give up :D

I just went and read the rest of the posts - LMAO !!!!!!!!! that's all I'm going to say -

Yorkies take the CROWN for being little DRAMA QUEENS

Well, I don't feel so bad now, LOL! Thanks Brooke for posting this:D. Max's nails are too long and they scratch me, but there is NO way I can even get close to his nails to trim them! I just let the groomer do it. The weird thing is, they've NEVER made mention of him being problematic when they do it....maybe they're just used to dog hating it or something:confused:. They never cut much off though, b/c they're afraid of getting the quick, but anything is better than what they are now! And Madison's are the same way....I was going to attempt to do his, but just haven't wanted to deal with it yet. Besides, the cats 'hid' the nail clipper:rolleyes:.

Another Point
 

I also think that our babies are used to being spoiled by us and they probably know that if they scream & squirm, we'll just stop. At least that's how Lola is. She's so spoiled & gets her way the rest of the time (my fault!) that she knows I'll probably burst into tears if she gets upset while I try to trim her nails. Well, that's probably exaggerating a bit, but she definitely knows how to manipulate me.

Here's how spoiled she is. She has her own little "bed" right behind my desk (I work from home). So she can sit right by the window behind me and I can just swivel in my chair to pet her. Sometimes that isn't good enough for her and she barks or growls at me when she wants to get in my lap. If she were a child I wouldn't put up with it. Good thing I don't have kids! She knows just how to manipulate me and it works! LOL

Keon (& Lola)

Rocky really hates getting his nails done as well, I don't think he's as bad as you described Stedman, but here's what I do. I don't do them myself because I'm afraid I'll cut the quick, so either my fiance, the vet, or petsmart does them. I'll hold him up close to me really tight, and hold whatever leg is getting done out. I'll constintly praise him while he's getting them done, telling him "it's o.k" and "goodboy", etc. I don't know if my calming voice is what does the trick, but it does help. I don't know if that would completly solve the issue with little Stedman, but try it out it might help just a little bit. Also, try letting him sniff the clippers, or whatever you are using so he isn't afraid of the device. Maybe just do a couple each night, and after each session give him his favorite treat, or take him for a walk.

Brroke, I feel your pain and I know exactly what you are going through!
None of my pack likes having the nails clipped and it does take 2 of us to do it.

Someone suggested to me to try and put peanut butter on the counter and let them lap it up and while they are lapping it up, clip the nails.

I also heard that you can try to blind fold them and trim the nails.

Best of luck to you girl, I sure hope you find a solution and soon!