I have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Oliver, aka Buddy aka Butthead.

He's a total butthead when it comes to toenail cutting. I have been taking
him to the vet, and paying $20. They have to muzzle him, and I tell them
he's a biter, and they seem to get it done, although at times they look like
they earned their money.

Is there any tricks to doing this? I have a good clipper. I know not to
cut too deep. I have a PediPaws, which brings a snarl from him when I turn
it on. We have tried to clip him, and he just goes ballistic. We've tried
muzzling, wrapping in a comforter, going slow, everything.

Does using a grooming table with a leash from above help? Should I slip him
a couple of Valiums?

Help appreciated.

Steve

SteveB wrote:
I have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Oliver, aka Buddy aka Butthead.

He's a total butthead when it comes to toenail cutting. I have been taking
him to the vet, and paying $20. They have to muzzle him, and I tell them
he's a biter, and they seem to get it done, although at times they look like
they earned their money.

Is there any tricks to doing this? I have a good clipper. I know not to
cut too deep. I have a PediPaws, which brings a snarl from him when I turn
it on. We have tried to clip him, and he just goes ballistic. We've tried
muzzling, wrapping in a comforter, going slow, everything.

Does using a grooming table with a leash from above help? Should I slip him
a couple of Valiums?

Help appreciated.

Steve



Use a dremel.

SteveB wrote:
I have a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Oliver, aka Buddy aka Butthead.

He's a total butthead when it comes to toenail cutting. I have been taking
him to the vet, and paying $20. They have to muzzle him, and I tell them
he's a biter, and they seem to get it done, although at times they look like
they earned their money.

Is there any tricks to doing this? I have a good clipper. I know not to
cut too deep. I have a PediPaws, which brings a snarl from him when I turn
it on. We have tried to clip him, and he just goes ballistic. We've tried
muzzling, wrapping in a comforter, going slow, everything.

Does using a grooming table with a leash from above help? Should I slip him
a couple of Valiums?

Help appreciated.

Steve



Also, a pet groomer will charge you a lot less than $20 to clip his
claws. Try a groomer instead of a vet.

In article ,
chardonnay9 wrote:
SteveB wrote:
I have a PediPaws, which brings a snarl from him when I turn
it on.
[ ... ]

Use a dremel.

http://www.pedipaws.com/

Anyway, I've found that dogs that don't like toenail
clipping because they don't like having their feet handled
really don't like grinders, because they take so much longer
to get the job done and you're holding their feet all that
time.

I've had dogs who objected, although not to the point of
snarling. You need to figure out what in particular the dog
is objecting to. If it's a fear issue it needs a different
response from the one for an obnoxiousness issue.

I'm not sure what to tell you for the short term, but for
the longer term I'd work on getting the dog used to having
its feed handled, if that's the issue, and not screw around
overly much. That is to say, don't prolong the experience
if you can avoid it. Also, try a new, distracting place
where the dog's attention is elsewhere. Note that this is
probably not the best approach if the dog is actually
fearful.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

In article ,
"SteveB" wrote:


Is there any tricks to doing this? I have a good clipper. I know not to
cut too deep. I have a PediPaws, which brings a snarl from him when I turn
it on. We have tried to clip him, and he just goes ballistic. We've tried
muzzling, wrapping in a comforter, going slow, everything.

Peanut butter. I've done slow progression with PB on the paw while
clippers/grinder are a foot away, a few inches away, resting on paw,
etc. PB while I handle feet, squeeze NAILS (not toes), etc. Slow and
regular work gets the job done eventually. Get the dog accepting total
handling before trying to cut.

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

elegy wrote:
On Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:22:30 -0400, Janet Boss
wrote:

In article ,
"SteveB" wrote:

Is there any tricks to doing this? I have a good clipper. I know not to
cut too deep. I have a PediPaws, which brings a snarl from him when I turn
it on. We have tried to clip him, and he just goes ballistic. We've tried
muzzling, wrapping in a comforter, going slow, everything.
Peanut butter. I've done slow progression with PB on the paw while
clippers/grinder are a foot away, a few inches away, resting on paw,
etc. PB while I handle feet, squeeze NAILS (not toes), etc. Slow and
regular work gets the job done eventually. Get the dog accepting total
handling before trying to cut.

this.

only i used cheese.


SteveB, what you're doing with the above is trying to associate
something pleasant and desired with all aspects of nail grooming.
Patience is required, and in no case should you ever punish
your dog while you are trying to associate food with the
experience. Just smack yourself on the side of the head with a
newspaper, back off a bit, and keep trying. And use a really
highly-valued treat that only gets used with nail grooming.

Dylan liked liverwurst. And while her nails were being clipped,
Hubster kept up a steady stream of little cubes popping into her
mouth.

On Oppie, we use a grinder similar to PediPaws. His nails are
rock hard, and the clipper seemed to pinch, even though I didn't
cut close enough to the vein to draw blood. He is much more
relaxed since we started using the grinder.

I don't use a Dremel, because it doesn't have a guard around the
sanding element, and it's easy to nick something accidentally.
I've read about people using a Dremel for several years, but I
don't trust my coordination (lack thereof).

HTH -

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

In article ,
FurPaw wrote:
I don't use a Dremel, because it doesn't have a guard around the
sanding element, and it's easy to nick something accidentally.

An advantage, I think, of the Dremel is that it takes
grinders of varying coarseness and it can run at pretty high
speeds (although obviously you don't want to run it so fast
that the nails get hot). But as I mentioned it just took
too long for my dogs, who were all, like, "Just get it over
with, already." Getting them accustomed to clipping worked
much better - it just takes a few seconds (well, about a
minute) and they're done.

I think it really depends on the dog.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

Melinda Shore wrote:
In article ,
FurPaw wrote:
I don't use a Dremel, because it doesn't have a guard around the
sanding element, and it's easy to nick something accidentally.

An advantage, I think, of the Dremel is that it takes
grinders of varying coarseness and it can run at pretty high
speeds (although obviously you don't want to run it so fast
that the nails get hot). But as I mentioned it just took
too long for my dogs, who were all, like, "Just get it over
with, already." Getting them accustomed to clipping worked
much better - it just takes a few seconds (well, about a
minute) and they're done.

I think it really depends on the dog.

And, in my case, the hand that's holding the grinder.

When Oppie was a young buck, I never needed to cut his nails - he
wore them down with all his activity. After age and LP slowed
him greatly, I had to introduce nail clipping late in life. I
don't know if his nails were really hard when he was younger, but
they are extremely tough now. It takes a lot of hand strength to
clip them, and he winces when the clipper goes through, so I
assume it's pinching. The grinder we have goes fast enough to do
the job quickly (especially if we do a quick trim weekly),
although not as fast as clipping 'normal' nails would be.

FurPaw

--
Don't believe everything that you think.

To reply, unleash the dog.

Melinda is correct you need to work on letting you touch his feet.

When I first go Buddy 4 years ago if you tried to touch his feet you
would get a nasty growl from him and a snap. The only way I could get
his nails cut was to take him to the vets office. Where for some reason
he LOVES the assistant and will let her do anything she wants to him.

He likes being rubbed down his sides and back so I slowly over time kept
working my way down his legs as I gave him a good rubbing. Over time
he's allowed me to go the whole way down his legs to his feet and hold
his paw. I can now actually cut his nails myself. He still doesn't
like it and puts up a bit of a fuss but I don't worry about getting bit now.

It's a slow process and may take quite a time before he allows you to do
it but it does work.

Celeste

"spot" wrote in message
...
Melinda is correct you need to work on letting you touch his feet.

When I first go Buddy 4 years ago if you tried to touch his feet you would
get a nasty growl from him and a snap. The only way I could get his nails
cut was to take him to the vets office. Where for some reason he LOVES
the assistant and will let her do anything she wants to him.

He likes being rubbed down his sides and back so I slowly over time kept
working my way down his legs as I gave him a good rubbing. Over time he's
allowed me to go the whole way down his legs to his feet and hold his paw.
I can now actually cut his nails myself. He still doesn't like it and
puts up a bit of a fuss but I don't worry about getting bit now.

It's a slow process and may take quite a time before he allows you to do
it but it does work.

Celeste

I am thinking this is the approach. He just loves warm baths, and is about
the only time he will really hold still.

Steve