As many of you know, trimming your dog’s nails can be a bit of a challenge and for some dogs, outright terrifying.
There is nothing pleasant about nail trimming; it hurts, it squeezes the nail before it cuts it, you are being restrained and sometimes it even bleeds! So imagine trying to tell the dog to sit still while you look for the nail under the fluff and then work out where the blood vessel inside it is and then line up the nail trimmers so you can slice off the tip. And then times this by 18!
And for those of you with dogs that have black toe nails, the challenge is even higher because you cannot even see that blood vessel that you have to avoid cutting.
For dogs that are active and have short hair, nail trimming is very likely to be a rare event however for the dogs that live indoors, have very furry feet, are elderly and less mobile, nail trimming becomes a regular and stressful event. And then there are breeds like Whippets and Greyhounds that no matter how much exercise they do, those nails just seem to go on forever.
Nail trimming with a sharp nail clipper is something that an experienced and confident person should do so either ensure you get loads of practise in or leave it to your vets or groomer.
And as some of you know, if you accidentally cut one and bleed it, your dog just never gets over it!
So a more simple approach is to nail ‘file’ the claws so instead of squeezing and cutting, you are gently grinding down the tips and because there is no pain involved and no chance of cutting blood vessels, dogs tend to be a whole lot more cooperative.
You can use a piece of good old course sandpaper or for the smaller dogs, a human nail file and slowly rub away so the pointy sharp tips are gone.
Now for those of you who still fee this is a bit demanding on the dog, check out this latest gadget that makes nail trimming even less stressful and believe it or not, even fun!
It is called DiggerDog Nail File and has been designed by an Australian inventor. Here is the link to the product www.diggerdognailfile.com.au.
It is designed to file nails on front feet only and all the dog needs to do is dig its little heart out in order to get the treats in the hidden chamber. How clever is that!
If you want to see how it works, here is a link to the video so you can see for yourself www.diggerdognailfile.com.au/video.
So as you can see, there is an easier way to trim those dog nails and you will never have to worry about cutting, bleeding, squeezing or hurting again.
