Training to Accept Nail Trimming?

My lab, Daisy, is scared to death of having her nails trimmed. I have had her since she was 9 weeks old and I touched her feet to make sure she would get used to it. Daisy lets us pick her feet up to dry them off and stuff like that, but if you so much as tap her nail she pulls her feet away.

I take Daisy to the vet to get her nails trimmed and you can hear her carrying on in the back like they are cutting her foot off or something. I was wondering if there are any methods to teach a dog to accept nail trimming? I really would like to teach Daisy to accept it, it would make it easier on both of us!

Hmm. I've never had any trouble with nail trimmming but I did spend a lot of time working on it.

What I did:
1. Throughout the day, even when I don't plan on trimming their nails I would bring them to the kitchen (where their nails get trimmed EVERYTIME), get the clippers out and make them lie on their side. I'd rub their feet and click the trimmers and touch it to their feet etc. Than big belly rub, lots of praise and a yummy treat.

2. When I did trim their nails, same procedure, but I'd clip each foot, than after each foot without letting them get up, they'd get a special treat, some pets and some praise. If they struggled to get up, I'd say very firmly "Hades your fine! Sit still!".

I actually just trimmed both of their nails now! LOL, and I'm very impressed with myself! I can do both of my dogs in less then 10 minutes. And today, (Hades goes first) Roxy came in and lied and her side and waited while Hades got his done! LOL

If your not completely sure what your doing, or even the slightest bit afraid you'll get a quick, DON'T risk it! Luckily I've never made my guys bleed, but once you do I'm sure you'll have a lot of trouble.

Take your time, just take a little bit off until you get used to it!

Good luck and I hope I helped!

Well, Tink USED to be fine when i did her nails, but then my sweet well meaning teen sis in law wanted to paint her nails, and of course Tink hated the smell, then she wouldn't let me clip...so.... I did this...which worked.
clipping is a funky feeling, so to get tink re-used to it, i held her on my lap(she's little) and let her sniff the clippers, then I gently touched them to each of her nails, then lots of praise treat, and seeya! next day, same thing, only i gradually did it over a few days 2x a day or so where I'd start to wiggle the nail gently with the scissors,a bit firmer each time till last night when she let me cut off just the merest tips again without *too much* fuss. I mean just barely a skim on the end-in a few days I'll have her worked back into a normal clipping.

I've posted this before and it really helped with me Roxy's nails. (They're black and it gave me a better idea of how I should be cutting them )

maybe you could try a dremmel ?

HAHAHAHAHAHA that's funny!!! Daisy would NEVER allow me to use a dremmel. Boy that would be a trip, trying to do that. Thanks for the suggestions though everyone. I think I am going to have to try some techniques for desensitizing her to the clippers. Daisy is VERY food driven, so maybe something combining clippers with yummies would work...

Good info... Stogie hates us to trim his nails, and infact, we've never been able to successfully complete the task! We end up trying, he gets way too fussy and we end up taking him to the vet or salon to have it done. (slightly off topic: last visit to the petsmart salon, I know they didn't wash him correctly - his coat looked like it had dried shampoo on him! I addressed this with them, they denied my allegations of course - I doubt I'll take him back there)

I'm unable to read the picture posted above - is there important wording printed on there? is there a bigger better picture? or are we just supposed to get the idea from the illustrations?

Great info - I will work with Stogie testing him with the clippers - but no action for a day or two.

it depends what stage your at, but I had to fake cut nails for 1 session, I'd grab each paw, 1 fake clip (go thru the motion, just not cutting the nail) and give a treat. the next day I clipped just a tiny bit off and gave a small liver treat every nail. Did the same for the next 2-3 times, then only a treat after each foot, now I just give her one when I'm done.

Nails are fun at my house. Midnite is the only one who will just sit there for you. She will give you one paw, then the other. But, she's 12 and has gone thru it a lot. Bruzer will hide behind the chair. He's easy because you can scoop him up. Gunnar so far is a 2 person operation. One to hold, one to clip. He's really not bad about it and gets better every time. I hold his collar, my wife clips him. He will sometimes try to pull his paw away. If we start on the back ones, he seems to be better with the front ones. Plus his nails are so darn thick, it's like we need bush pruners to do them!

The pic was just the to show how the quick "works". With longer nails you the quick is longer, and you have to cut more often to get the quick to recede.

It shows basically what a proper trim should look like.

I really must, just be lucky!

Hades could care less about nail clipping, he has white nails so it only takes less than 5 minutes for clip him and his nails are very soft.

Roxy definitely does not enjoy it, and it takes a few minutes longer because she has black nails, and they are very hard. So every time I "clip", I'm sure she feels it, it's more of a snap. ( I need new clippers! LOL)

As I said Roxy does not like it, but she lies on her side and stays there until I allow her up for her treat.

How do you all go about clipping nails?

I've done my parents dog Brutus, there are pics of him, and he's not the easiest. I find it easier to do alone, because there's not someone messing about with them.

How I do it physically:

I get the dog to lie on their side, I sit on the floor, on the "leg" side, facing their head with one leg over their side. (with Roxy and Brutus, they are much larger dogs and I like to prevent them from moving if someone comes to the door or whatever).

I try not to apply too much pressure with my leg (over their side), but it's there and I'm always ready to push down, if they startle and try to get up.

The other thing is, when we first started, I wouldn't begin trimming until they were calm. To begin, Brutus struggled to get up, and did not like the idea of being held down. But we stuck it out, and I fed him plenty of treats while soothing him and reassuring him. (not whiney though)

Once they were calm, I'd clip one foot at atime, with a short treat/pat break between feet without allowing them to get up. Once all the feet were done, they stayed on the ground, got a belly rub, some treats, got "OK" and then got some more and a pat.