I took Ozzy in to have his toenails done, and he was a total spazz about it. He even, um, pooped, on the table. He was so freaked out, they had to put a muzzle on him. It took the poor groomer 20 minutes to do his toes.
He was a little better if I left the room, so I nervously paced through the aisles. I knew they were done when I heard Ozzy barking all the way from the other side of the store. He wouldn't acknowledge my presence for at least a couple of hours. I was going to give him a bath as well, but I decided to wait until tonight to do that, to lessen the trauma.
Any suggestions on what I can to to make Ozzy less upset about having his feet handled?
Boonie would loose bladder and even bowel control when I first tried to brush his teeth. He had already lost three teeth due to gum disease, so giving up was not an option. I had to take care of his teeth.
Cruel as it seemed, I jsut kept brushing. I would try to brush right after he had been outside, to lessen the size and probability of accidents. I placed a towel under him just in case anything leaked out. Then I would brush away. It took time, but the struggling, pooping and peeing stopped, and now he accepts it calmly.
In Ozzie's case, your options are:
1. Take him for lots of long walks on rough, concrete sidewalks, so that he doesn't need nail trims at all.
2. Get him used to having his feet handled by touching them as you cuddle. Then hold him and touch his feeties while you have the clipper nearby. In time, touch the clipper to his feet, but don't clip! Just get him used to being around the clipper. After this, try clipping. Reward him if he lets you clip without a struggle, even if it's just one nail.
3. Some dogs hate the clipper, but like having the nails dremeled. I think David C. has experience with this.
4. Leopold always struggled to have his nails clipped. Fortunately, he was a sound sleeper, and I could get two or three done before he was awake enough to object.
5. Keep a towel or potty pad under him, and clip away!
6. Let the vet or groomer deal with it.
Sorry to hear that Ozzy had such a bad time. I use a Dremel and it actually lulls Willy to sleep. You can buy the small cordless versions at Walmart for about $20-30, it has two speeds. I used the slow speed to get the boys used to it, just touching one or two toenails a night, and that was it, and lots of praise and treats. It didn't take long for them to get used to it. Dan will hold one of them, like cradling a baby. That lets me have complete control of the Dremel and the foot. Daily walks on pavement, even if its just 20 minutes, will get Ozzy's nails down to where they should be, too. Good luck.
Psssst! Ozzy! Madderoo here. What's up wiff dis toe chop stuff? It's not good, that's what. Eben dough I wike my gwoomer, Lynn, I still yip when she chops my toes.......mommy sez the cwipper hasn't eben touched me, but I don't bewieve it. And then to add salt to pepper.....or a saying sumptin wike dat, mommy sometimes invites Lynn to the HOUSE to chop my toes. WHAT'S UP WIFF DAT? Maybe if your gwoomer offered you wots....and I mean WOTS....of tweets, toe chops might not be so bad.. Oh, I fordot to mention, after da toe chops, I get my bootie squeezed. Dolly always twied to bite Lynn and had to wear da muzzle but I'm a good girl for bootie squeezes.
You've received some good advice. We use a dremel and treats. Stormy will actually flip over on his back when he sees the Dremel knowing treats are coming (we use oyster crackers as small treats). Sophie doesn't like it and we have to have two sessions, one to clip the hair so we can actually see the nails and the second for grinding. Fortunately on a little girl like Sophie, I can grind her little nails in less than 5 minutes. In both cases one of us holds the dog while the other grinds to prevent accidents (when tail hair gets caught and wrapped around the grinder, it produces some world class yipes).
Oh, yes. I forgot to mention a muzzle. Skeeter gets ANGRY when her toenails are chopped and will kick, scratch and bite her way out of it. A muzzle drains the fight right out of her. Oh, she'll stare at me with a hateful glare as I chop away, but once the muzzle is off she forgets her hostility because she knows a treat is coming!
Hallie was terrified of getting her nails done when I first got her too. Can't blame them, as far as they know you are chopping their little feeties off! I agree with what everyone has said about treats and going slowly. I started Hallie by just handling her feet gently, talking soothingly, massaging them, just as much as she could handle. If she fought at all I'd talk her through it and as soon as she relaxed I would stop so she would understand what I want from her is to relax. When she was better with that, I would hold her foot and just show her the clippers, lay them on the ground next to us, etc, nothing threatening all time telling her gently she was a good girl. I would also lay a small treat on the clippers for her to get, anything to make seeing the clippers more of a positive thing to her.
I just kept doing this, going farther and farther as she could handle it. Lots of treats and praise (quietly). I never pushed her farther than she could take at the time. It took me months and I worked on it almost everyday a few minutes, now it's no problem doing her nails (big difference from the beginning!), she doesn't love it but she is very relaxed and lays on her back quietly and sometimes will actually nod off.
She would also not let me near her teeth. That took even longer to work on but I can now brush and I even scrape her teeth with no fights and she is calm and relaxed. I always talk to her and still give her treats during both things.
It takes time and committment but I truly believe any dog can learn to enjoy or at least calmly tolerate nails and teeth, they aren't being bad they really are afraid because they don't understand and once they start to fight, if you force them and keep on going they of course are really going to think you are wanting to hurt them and panic even more.
You might also try just doing one nail and stop for the day. Do another the next etc. But if he fights you, you have gone too far too fast and never scold him, you have to build his trust so he understands it won't hurt if he doesn't struggle.
Oh I also have used a dremmel like some here, I like it but have just found the clippers are easier for me personally. Isn't Ozzie a longhair? If so do be careful if you use a dremmel the hair can get caught up real easy and give them a painful yank.
Porky hates having his toes chopped too. I can totally sympathize with you there. I had to give in and take him to the groomers as he would try and mouth me when i would go near his toes. I also found if i stay atthe groomers he does really bad and gets more upset than if i drop him off. Its hard trusting them with the groomer, but mine is good at putting me at ease about leaving him. Good Luck with the toe chops in the future!! Don't feel bad, it was not your fault he got so upset. Sounds like the others have great advice on how to make future trips more plaesant.
I can totally sympathize with you with the toe chops...actually my australian shepherd gives me the most problems. Zoe chews on her toes both front and back and I have never had to have them clipped...she does that for her momma....when I got Winston, I began touching his feet and massaging them all the time and he actually does not mind having his nails trimmed.....patience, patience, patience...just tickles those toes and love on em and I even kissed em.....they will then get used to you handling their feet and not mind it so much!!
I used to be fortunate to live in a place with rough sidewalks so I could keep Rudy & Max's toenails short without ever having to resort to clipping or grinding. Once we moved to a house and they spent most of their time in the backyard on the soft grass, the nails just grew. I was able to dremel their nails fairly effectively. Zeke & Zora won't have anything to do with the Dremel. I've basically resorted to going to my vet every 4 weeks to get their nails trimmed. They charge a nominal amount ($14 per dog) and they do a good job. Zeke doesn't seem to mind the vet trips since he befriended the staff while he was sick. Zora, though, is completely neurotic when I take her in for clippings.
Just handle his feet a lot between clipping times. For a long time I took my two to Petsmart to get clipped - but decided to start dremeling. They do so-so during the dremel. I try to do outside so the sun will lull and relax them. We walk on sidewalks every day - so they probably don't need as often - but I try to grind a little every week end - sometimes it is the front or the back and not all. They get excited to be finihsed because they know they will get their "Toe Treat" !!!