How to help a dog that is afraid of nail clipping

Our little Beagle, Cody really does not like to have his nails clipped. He is a senior guy and his nails are thick and they seem to grow fast.

The Lovely Shane and I adopted Cody in June. Since then, we have noticed that he is really anxious in certain situations. He does not like getting shots at the veterinarian. I cant say that I blame him, I am afraid of needles too! However, Cody yelps like he is in extreme pain before the needle ever touches him. (I have stopped yelping when the doctor pulls out the needle... now I close my eyes)
He only has to see the needle to become anxious. I suppose he is associating the needle with the pain of the stick ( not an irrational thing to do at all in my opinion).

Cody in his basket.

He is also afraid of the nail clippers. I speculate that perhaps at some point in his life, someone accidentally cut into the quick and hurt him. Of course now, I speculate, that he is associating the pain he once experienced with the nail clipper. We could use one of those dremel tool type devices that grinds the nail but I doubt he would be thrilled about that either.

The problem, in my opinion (based upon experience with other dogs), is that he is associating people doing things to his nails with some painful earlier experience. Much like people, some dogs are just naturally more anxious than others. Cody is generally slightly more high strung than our Whopper Beagle, Copper. Copper generally does not get nearly as anxious as Cody.

There is a reason I am writing about Codys anxiety here. There is a technique for addressing this problem. I have had a lot of success with it in the past. Dog Trainers call this technique Counter Conditioning and Desensitization. Sometimes, just so we can sound cool, we abbreviate it CC&D.

Cody and I ready for a little nap.

It is outside the scope of this blog post to teach you all the details of this method. However, the way I usually explain it to people is as follows:

As I mentioned, the real issue here seems to be that the dog is associating pain or something negative with the nail clippers. Simply put, our objective is to get the dog to associate something positive with the dreaded nail clippers rather than something negative.

It is important that you remain patient during this process. It will not happen immediately. It takes slow, methodical steps. Like virtually everything else in dog training, patience and routine are really the keys to success here. It is very important that you not get frustrated.

What we do is find something that the dog loves.It should be something that motivates him. Something that is of "high value" to the dog. For some dogs this may be a food item like a frankfurter (we do not say hot dog :) ) or cheese. For some dogs this may be a favorite toy.

Me when I learn the Doctor is going to need
to use a needle.

Once we have identified the motivation, we very slowly, in a controlled environment begin to get the dog to associate the motivator with the nail clippers. In other words, we are desensitizing him (making him less sensitive) to the nail clippers by associating the nail clippers with the motivator (maybe a nice piece of stinky cheese). This helps to "counter-condition" him from associating the clippers with pain and he begins associating the clippers with fun good stuff.

I know this sounds like a lot of psychological theory. I am not a psychology professor (however I do occasionally play one on T.V. :) ) I do however know what my experience has been .It does really work. I have seen it work many times. In the beginning, I was skeptical of this technique. I am a reformed believer now!

The Lovely Shane and I are going to begin this with Cody very soon. I will keep you updated on our progress.

If you have a dog that is afraid of the nail clippers or anything similar, this is a technique that we can use to help your little guy or girl. There is hope! It just takes the proper technique, time, and patience.

Please contact me and I will be glad to help you help your dog to deal with his/her anxiety.

Till Next Time

William

William Moore
William Moore Canine Training
678-702-4791
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com

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The importance of nail trimming

If you look closely in the picture above, you see that our little Cody had very long nails when he was at the shelter. When we picked him up to bring him to his forever home, one of the first things we did was to have his nails trimmed.

Properly trimmed nails are important for more than cosmetic reasons. Nails can break if they are too long and this is painful for the little guy or girl. If the nails are too long they also affect the gait of the dog. This can, in some cases, lead to stress on the joints.

I keep a close eye on our little friends nails. I usually have them trimmed about every couple of weeks.  I am not very good with nail clipping, so I usually take them to a professional groomer to have it done. It only takes a few minutes and is well worth the effort.

If you want to do it yourself there are two options. You can use clippers or a rotary tool.

Clippers come in two different types. There are guillotine and scissor types.

The blue handled trimmers in the picture are scissor type and the green handled are guillotine type. When I worked a Petco, we sold both types and it was sort of a personal preference thing. However, the majority of the groomers that I know use the scissor type. 

There are also some trimmers that have electronics built in to them to detect the quick. The idea is that this keeps you from accidentally cutting too deeply. 

If you decide to trim the nails yourself, be sure to have some styptic powder on hand. This stuff will stop the bleeding if you accidentally cut to the quick.

 This picture shows the rotary nail trimmer. A rotating stone grinds the nail. This is more comfortable for some dogs and sometimes easier for the person doing the trimming. However, again, most professional groomers that I know use scissor type clippers.

Regardless of the method you use or even if , like me, you prefer to let a professional do it, it is important that your dogs nails are trimmed regularly!

The ASPCA has some good information on their website about nail trimming.

Many dogs are anxious about getting their nails trimmed. It is important with these guys that you make it as positive an experience as possible for them. Try not to get frustrated with them. In cases where the dog is very anxious, there are desensitization training techniques that can be used to get the dog more comfortable with the clippers or the rotary tools. Some dogs are very scared or anxious when any sort of grooming is done or when they are at the veterinarians office. If you have one of these dogs, please contact me. I can help you work with your dog to make grooming or the vets office a much more pleasant experience for the dog and the people!

Till Next Time

-William-

William Moore
William Moore Canine Training
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com
678-702-4791

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