Trimming your dog’s nails

Trimming your dog’s nails is not something that many dog owners look forward to. Your dog may not exactly look forward to it as well but yet it is something that has to be done. Some owners choose to have a professional grooming service do the work so that may be a route you want to consider.

Long nails can hurt

When your dog’s toenails get longer their feet can become very painful for them. Hard surfaces push the nail back into their paws. Pressure is put on the toe joints and the toe is forced to twist to alleviate the pain. Your dog will not want to walk anywhere and it could eventually lead to arthritis and premature death. With damage to their feet your dog’s ability to process information from the nerves in their feet, which allow them to move around, is also inhibited.

Dogs are active animals. Throughout their evolution they have been active in the world and this has allowed nature to trim their nails as they ran. Today as pets they are not quite as active, which means that their nails will need to be trimmed. Through millions of years of evolution your dog has been taught to associate toenail contact with climbing up a hill which causes them to shift their weight. But there is no hill on your floor so they are again forced to shift their weight onto their back legs putting undue pressure on those joints. This can eventually make it difficult for a dog to be able to get up, lie down, jump or just do many of the activities that they like to do.

Best practices to help

To trim the nail properly you should know what you are doing as any mistakes can be extremely painful for your dog. To also get your dog to be less apprehensive you should handle their toes beforehand to get them used to it. Be gentle with your dog but do not hold their feet too tightly. Also make sure that you are using the correct set of clippers and scissor-type clippers work best. Do not use your human toenail clippers. Cut their nails in small amounts at a time and trim until you can see the white inside of the nail and when you can see that stop. If you make a mistake your dog by cutting small sections at a time it can minimize the pain that comes with a mistake. Your dog will be in some pain but it won’t die and it is nothing that a treat can’t make up for so give them a treat and another when you get done.

This is not something that is necessarily easy and there is a reason that many dog owners use a professional grooming service to do this rather than doing so themselves. There is nothing wrong with that and this is a service that we offer at Doggie DoLittle. By keeping your dog’s nails trimmed it will lead to a higher quality of life for them so that they will be around longer to help keep your and your family company.

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/trimming-your-dogs-toenails/
http://www.petmd.com/dog/grooming/evr_dg_how_to_trim_a_dogs_toenails
https://www.lovethatpet.com/dogs/grooming/trimming-dogs-nails/
http://www.dummies.com/pets/dogs/how-to-trim-your-dogs-toenails/

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