My husband and I have a very hard time trimming Porky's nails! Porky hates it so much!! We have to literally hold him down, wrap him tightly in a blanket and trim as fast as we can, and it still is usually a 2 HOUR job! Porky just gets scared and fights us the whole time. I don't understand why he is so frightened as he has NEVER gotten his nails trimmed to short or had a bad experience with it until he started fighting it a few months ago. :scratch: Are there any things we can do to make it easier on all of us? We tried stuffing his mouth with peanut butter and then trimming, but Porky just spit out the peanut butter all over me and started screaming and trying to run away from me. I have tried giving him treats when he lets me cut his nails, Ive tried holding him against me so he is comforted, I am just fresh out of ideas. Porky acts horrible as soon as he sees the clippers. He tries to bite and throws a royal fit which he never does at any other time. I can tell he feels bad about trying to bite us cause he just puts his mouth over our hand as a warning and then starts crying if we keep going, and then finally will bite down a little. I really don't understand why this is such an ordeal with him and don't want to traumatize the poor thing. Please help! We are willing to try anything at this point. My brother has a dachshund too and he hates getting his nails cut, but he found that if he took his dog to the groomer, his dog would behave and let her cut his nails. We tried with Porky and he bit her really hard! Then he cried all afternoon and wouldn't look her in the face. He is a really sweet puppy, but he turns into a devil when we try to cut his nails. Any idea why? I used to be able to do it while he slept and there was no problem now if you even touch his foot he freaks out unless he knows the clippers aren't in your hand. He has even started to snitch the clippers out of the cupboard and hide them. One time we couldn't find where he hid them for 3 weeks! He is too smart, we have childproofed our cupboards and he still gets in and climbs up to the shelf to get the clippers! My husband and I are totally lost as to what to do in this situation. :dontknow:
Porky's Mom
I don't do my dogs nails myself. But George and Grace will allow the vet or petsmart to trim their nails with no problem. I have a sheperd who hates her nails done. She is 11 years old and has hated it since a puppy. I have the vet do hers, they muzzle her and do it quickly. LOL
Nino, the moose dog, will alow anyone to do anything to him for a treat and belly rub.......LOL
I only have their nails done every 6 months or so, I have a doggy door and they spend time digging and their nails don't seem to require constant trimming. The vet says all 4 dogs nails look good. Now George hates his anal glands expressed, we muzzle him and do it quick. Both George and Grace get their anal glands expressed every 3 months. They seem to fill quickly!
How often are you trimming his nails? Let some time go by in between trimming and do it quick. I'm sorry I am not too much help here! Good luck! :dontknow:
I start trimming my puppies nails very early. Usually they are pretty good but there is always one that will fight it. I have found that *sometimes* if you start with the rear nails first and do 1 foot at a sitting this helps. Keep the nails trimmed often (every other week) this keeps the quicks short and less likely to bleed if you let them get long and just cut the tips off this will not help your problems at all and can cause problems with artheritis as the dog gets older... long nails are not healthy and can cause the dog to turn its legs in a unnatural position to compensate for the nail growth. Just be patient with Porky do one foot at a time and praise him lots :heart: You can also try covering his face with a light blanket or towel while you do it... this has worked for me as well.
Good Luck
Jen
Hi. Please don't take my post here wrong or as a personal attack, but I am going to be blunt and I think I have a new idea for you to try. First of all, no sense in trying not to traumatize Porky because you have already done that. Wrapping him up in a towel is not a good idea as he probably feels trapped and then he panics and bites..........his natural instincts kick in. You're going to have to go back to square one with Porky and nail trimming.
Okay, this is what works for us and our three -- Willy, Alex and Misty. First, throw out the clippers. Then go to Walmart and buy a Dremel in the hardware section. The Dremel doesn't cut, it files with a rotating head. Get the small one (the one we got is blue and cost about $25-30) which has dual speeds. Introduce it to Porky by first using the low speed for as many sessions as it takes for him to take it calmly. Have your husband hold Porky baby-style, stomach up, this will give you easy access to his nails. Do ONLY a couple toenails each time, just touching the Dremel to the nail for about one second. Count it out......One thousand ONE. Do this everyday, adding more toenails as you go along, but ONLY do one or two nails each time until Porky is relaxed with it. Give lots and lots of praise while you are doing this, praise after each nail.
It can get frustrating but do not raise your voice for any reason. Just keep going at a steady pace. If Porky gets too freaked out, stop and comfort hm and let him calm down. Try to end the session on a good note, it has to be a good experience for Porky, but also, you have to win or Porky will be calling the shots and walking all over you. When the session is done, give him a really good treat. After he is okay with the low speed, you can try the higher speed. Still, only touch the Dremel to the nail for one or two seconds. When I do our dogs' nails I do a count of ten TAPS to each nail.....counting out One Thousand One, One Thousand Two, etc. You don't want to hold the Dremel to the nail for an entire ten seconds or the file will get hot.
The Dremel we have is a cordless, with a rechargable battery. Its small and easy to handle. I found one for you at Petedge.com --
http://www.petedge.com/sdx/108935.jsp
This is actually made for pet toenails.
Are you able to take Porky out for walks? If so, a daily walk on a concrete surface will get those nails trimmed down without any hassle. Still work with the Dreme because sometimes weather and other stuff will prevent you from walking Porky, and Porky needs to learn that there are some things he is just going to have to put up with. The Dremel actually lulls Willy to sleep when we do his nails.
If you have any questions, please just ask. I think the Dremel is a good route to take. Don't give up because you cannot let those toenails get out of hand and too long or it will affect their feet, legs, walking, etc. The alternative is expensive -- taking him to a groomer or to the tech at the vet's office to have him sedated so his nails can be trimmed. So just work with the Dremel, it may take some time since Porky is already freaked out about his nails, but once he realizes that its not going to hurt him he will calm down. Please let us know how its going.
Taffy told me come near her again with that dremel and she would never speak to me again.
I am down to three nails that I haven't gotten clipped as short as I want them to be, and as the mother of a sweet angel puppy inhabited by a rottweiler/tasmanian devil demon,.....have you thought about just taking Porky to the groomer or the vet and letting them do it? It would be easier by far on you and your hubby,....Porky might hold it against you....but not nearly as much as against the groomer.....and if you stayed away while it was being done......well, less tramua for all.
I think after spending time on the boards, most doxies hate having their nails done, and will go to extreme lengths to keep us from doing it. I guess we are just lucky they can't report us for abuse just for trying to clip them and keep them from causing themselves problems.
I finally got the guillotine clippers, and we are working it out. I only have three nails on the right rear foot to go....we got them once, and only need a touch up. She hates it, but we cuddle, bribe, and do one at a time when we can.
Good luck....and think about the groomer. (How do you get all the peanut butter stains out?)
The only nails we have ever had to do were Emma' and we used to cradle her in nicks lap and I 'd cut. We would two feet at a time if she was due a vet visit we would get him to do them. Emma did not walk much in her latter years. The other pair I have now, never get the rs done as they get part of a walk on concrete.
Good luck.
Roberta
ps the funny thing is all the ones that never needed nails done have been long hairs while Emma was a short hair!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the ideas! I have tried the dremel thing but the sound is just too scary for Porky so we have been trying to use a regular file on his nails instead. He seems to enjoy the nail file a little bit more but still doesn't like his nails messed with.
By the way Patty, I did not take any offense to your comments at all so don't worry. The reason we decided to wrap him up when we tried to cut his nails was because it seemed to calm him down, he loves being wrapped up tightly as it makes him feel more secure. He has liked this since he was first born. When we wrap him up he calms down and stops fighting until we grab one of his feet to start trimming. So I don't think he minds being wrapped up because he can still see and move when we do this.
I have taken him to the vet to get his nails done when he was younger but the only way they could do it was to sedate him. I'm not really comfortable with doing that everytime he needs a trim. The walking on concrete idea was great but we have a slight problem with that in my town, we live in a small town where there is no concrete except at the post office. Which is why Porky's nails need trimmed so often. We try to take him to a town about an hour away with a big walking path at least once a week and walk him, but this is sometimes hard for us to do.
I guess I will just have to stick with a regular file for now and keep gradually working until he learns to accept the clippers again. I do not understand why he is so afraid, the fear started after his visit to the vet, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it, or he just finally realized that he didn't like it. We started "trimming" his nails at 6 weeks old to get him used to it and he seemed to be fine until we sent him to get fixed and trimmed at the vet. So...I was thinking maybe he associated the pain from his surgery with his nails getting cut.
Porky seems to be doing a lot better if I hold him in my lap and file his nails one by one while we sit on the bed. I tried it while my husband was gone, so maybe that made a difference I do not know. But, Porky stayed pretty calm until I got to the last paw which was tender cause he stepped on a sticker yesterday. So I guess we'll get that foot done later. He nails are keeping trimmed short enough, I was just worried about how upset he gets and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Thanks for all your advice and help. Patty I really like your dremel idea...cause I know that one works, my brother does it with his dog, but I had tried it and the sound just scares Porky so bad. How long did it take your dogs to get used to the sound? We had tried for two months and gave treats and cuddles every time. I'll keep everyone posted on how this is going. I might also try clippers when my hubby isn't home because he and Porky seem to feed off each other's nervousness about this.
You got some really good advice already. I'll add my 2 cents.
Hallie hated her nails trimmed when I first got her, I doubt she ever had them done because they were really long. What I did, and what I'd suggest for you and Porky, is I would gently turn her upside down, rub her belly, baby talk her until she was calm and relaxed. Then I would take the clippers and just touch them to one toe. I wouldn't even use them on her, just touch her toe with it. I would then immediately let her up, lots of GENTLE praise and a treat. I use a "bridge" word, which is a word you use (same idea as training with a clicker) that the dog learns when he hears that word, it means whatever he did at the exact moment he heard the word, was the correct thing and the thing that gets him the treat (since it takes a second or two to get the treat to them, the bridge word just makes it a little more clear what it was they did right). My word is "yes". In obedience training as well, as soon as Hallie does what I want her to, I say "YES!" and give her the treat.
Then you would stop for that session. VERY short, no trauma and positive experience in the end. I would do this until you get Porky to tolerate being touched by the clippers. It is going to be tougher for you since he has already developed a phobia to them. If even that is too much for him, I would let him sit there, hold the clippers to him, let him sniff them, say your bridge word "YES!" then give him a treat. Later once he's calm with this you can move on to the turning him over and touching his toe.
If you move too fast, you will go backwards. I know you need to have his nails done and this can take weeks so this also will be tough. But you really need to go slow. Once he accepts you touching one toe, then you of course go ahead and one little clip, bridge word, then treat. NEVER scold him. Realize too that every time he freaks out and you let him go...he wins and it will be even harder the next time. On the other hand restraining him when he's freaking out will also make it worse. That is why you have to start very slow, and work your way up in tiny steps of what he can tolerate a little at a time
Even if you have never quicked him and made him bleed, you might have inadvertently hurt him by squeezing his toe too hard of the clippers might have put too much pressure on his toenail and made it hurt. Hallie has one dewclaw that is at an akward angle for me to do and she always will pull away and her eyes get big on that one. I have to work with her every time with that one, but the rest she now will sometimes even nod off.
I did the same thing with brushing and scraping her teeth. She wouldn't have anything to do with that at first, but now she does really well. I just can't see risking their lives by putting them under to do their teeth each year when it is something I can do at home...but that one did take months before she got to where she let me do them.
You can do very short sessions several times a day, just don't make them too long. The same method would go for if you use the dremmel too. You have to read him..when you feel he is confident enough with you touching his nail, then you do the little one snip, and release him. While he's upside down, you should be talking soothingly to him, if he struggles and gets up, very gently and calmly turn him over again. Try not to let him up but if he fights too hard don't restrain him at this stage. That will just heighten his panic. Everything needs to be quiet and calm but you also can't let him win...you win by finally getting to touch his nail while he's calmly laying upside down. Never scold...and never treat or praise unless he is calm and you get to do what you started. I hope this makes sense. The punishment for him is having to repeat the whole thing until he does do it calmly, and also not getting the treat. The punishment should never be scolding or harsh words.
Trust me this will work great if you keep your patience and do it very slowly. He works himself right into a panic and he can't learn while he's that upset, so you have to do it slowly. I'd also have the clippers out all the time, put them near his dinner bowl, or next to you when he is in your lap, so he is used to seeing them during good times and not just when he's going to get his nails done.
I'd like to know how those of you who mentioned the concrete trimming your doxies nails, get this to work! :thinik: I've heard other people say that...but Hallie runs on concrete with me all the time and it never trims her nails back at all....I know it works for other dogs though! I wish it were that easy for us LOL.
When we first starting trimming Penny's nails, Drew would hold her and I would trim. She would fight us so bad that I couldn't really get them cut at all. Finally, one day I just sat with her on the ground and picked up her paw and just started to trim. We found that as long as she wasn't restrained she was just fine!
Dee Dee coming to think of it I think it is the way some walk, Oliver and Amy seem towalk on their toes so I think the concrete wears them. Emma, who you could hear thumping her way up the corridor walked on the back pads of the paws.
But I must try your method with the teeth.
roberta
Well I went out today and bought a new set of clippers for Porky's nails and tried to see if he would accept them. I let him carry them around and play with them for a few hours and then picked him up and he rolled over on his back and let me cut his nails without trying to fight it at all ! So...either he was feeding off my husband's nervousness about this or the clippers we had were hurting him somehow. Thanks for all your helpful advice!!! I am so relieved to have this problem solved so easily. :apls: Do you think the clippers were hurting him? I really wish I would have bought new ones sooner. It makes me feel bad thinking I may have been hurting him with the other clippers we had, poor puppy.
Wow - what a great turn of events !!!! I was going to advise as dd did -to take things very slowly. Your old clippers may have not been sharp enough and were hurtiing him - who knows !!! Glad you have found a solution - much less stressful for eveyone when it works !!!
I dremel mine - and mine do much better when it is a nice sunny day and we sit outside. The warmth and sun in their eyes help them to relax.
Glad you found your solution !
Quote from: doxielady5569128 on February 25, 2006, 02:05:19 PM
Thanks for the ideas! I have tried the dremel thing but the sound is just too scary for Porky so we have been trying to use a regular file on his nails instead. He seems to enjoy the nail file a little bit more but still doesn't like his nails messed with.
By the way Patty, I did not take any offense to your comments at all so don't worry. The reason we decided to wrap him up when we tried to cut his nails was because it seemed to calm him down, he loves being wrapped up tightly as it makes him feel more secure. He has liked this since he was first born. When we wrap him up he calms down and stops fighting until we grab one of his feet to start trimming. So I don't think he minds being wrapped up because he can still see and move when we do this.
I have taken him to the vet to get his nails done when he was younger but the only way they could do it was to sedate him. I'm not really comfortable with doing that everytime he needs a trim. The walking on concrete idea was great but we have a slight problem with that in my town, we live in a small town where there is no concrete except at the post office. Which is why Porky's nails need trimmed so often. We try to take him to a town about an hour away with a big walking path at least once a week and walk him, but this is sometimes hard for us to do.
I guess I will just have to stick with a regular file for now and keep gradually working until he learns to accept the clippers again. I do not understand why he is so afraid, the fear started after his visit to the vet, so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it, or he just finally realized that he didn't like it. We started "trimming" his nails at 6 weeks old to get him used to it and he seemed to be fine until we sent him to get fixed and trimmed at the vet. So...I was thinking maybe he associated the pain from his surgery with his nails getting cut.
Porky seems to be doing a lot better if I hold him in my lap and file his nails one by one while we sit on the bed. I tried it while my husband was gone, so maybe that made a difference I do not know. But, Porky stayed pretty calm until I got to the last paw which was tender cause he stepped on a sticker yesterday. So I guess we'll get that foot done later. He nails are keeping trimmed short enough, I was just worried about how upset he gets and trying to figure out what to do about it.
Thanks for all your advice and help. Patty I really like your dremel idea...cause I know that one works, my brother does it with his dog, but I had tried it and the sound just scares Porky so bad. How long did it take your dogs to get used to the sound? We had tried for two months and gave treats and cuddles every time. I'll keep everyone posted on how this is going. I might also try clippers when my hubby isn't home because he and Porky seem to feed off each other's nervousness about this.
Sorry, I didn't realize that Porky felt more secure bundled up. The thing with our pets is each one is different, and what works for one may not work for another, so its kind of hit and miss until you find what works for you and your pet. Using a file sounds great.
We used to use the clippers on the dogs, then I nicked one too close and it bled, and from then on I was nervous and they could sense it so they were scared too. Just like horses, the dogs can tell what you are feeling.
It only took my dogs about 3 or 4 sessions to get used to the Dremel on slow speed, then we tried high speed and that went well. Some dogs are freaked out by the sound, but Willy gets lulled to sleep by it. Alex doesn't care, and Misty is a wiggle worm anyway and can't hold still for too long, but she knows it has to be done and cooperates after the first couple of nails.
Every three weeks, it's off to the groomers for nail clips and butt squeezes. Best $20.00 ever spent.
I take Ozzy to PetCo and have the girls trim his nails. He sometimes pitches a fit, but the girls are very good with him, and it costs only $10.00.
Buelah has never minded having her nails clipped....Oscy....another story altogether! I would clip them and it would be pretty traumatic for both of us.
When Oscy had to go for his yearly shots the vet asked if I wanted them to clip them and they did. He just stood there and let them do it! Yep....no crying or carrying on at all! So that is where all THREE of them go now. Five dollars apiece once a month is money well spent!