Nail Clipping Question

My Standard Poodle is 4 years old now. When she was about 2 she had a really bad experience at the groomer's when she got her nails clipped apparently they were purposefully cut all the way to the quick because the groomer thought I had let them grow too long. Yes, the groomer did tell me about this. At the time I wasn't clipping them myself because she has black nails which I was uneasy about clipping and she was going to the groomer regularly.

Since then I have started grooming her myself. I had been taking off just the very tip because she jerks and I've been worried about cutting too much and making her bleed. She is still touchy about her feet but she will let me clip her nails and I now know how far to clip them without it being a problem. Even clipped back as far as they can be they are still too long. What I'm wondering is whether or not with regular clipping they will ever reach a more normal length and if possible how often I should clip them to achieve this?

Thanks in Advance,
Melissa

Yes, with regular clipping the quick will recede. I've found that following up with a dremel has a two fold benefit. It gets the nails shorter without quicking and something about the vibrations seems to make the quicks retreat even faster.

Yeah I would go for the dremel. Sadie had to be muzzled to clip her nails. I switched to the dremel and I can grind them without a muzzle, using just a few treats per nail.

I clip every two weeks , just take the tip off but the quick recedes each time. When they walk on pavement in summer they really wear them down so don't really need clipping and the quick is way back and the nails hardly visible, can't hear them clicking on the floor.

When I am shortening nails, I dremel every three days or so to get the quick to shorten

I dremel weekly

Thanks everyone. I do have a dremel but I'm not sure exactly how to use it yet lol.

youtube has some good videos on dremling dog nails.

here you go

YouTube - How to really trim a dog's nails using a dremel
YouTube - Basic Dog Grooming : Filing a Dog's Nails with a Dremel
YouTube - How to Trim Your Dog's Nails Without Cutting

i used to clip the nails once a week (wowies and cresites nails both seem to grow incredibly quickly)
then i switched to clipping AND grinding (i have a little plug in grinder which looks like a dremel but cost ALOT less and came with a bunch of tips as it was origioanlly ment for wood and glass)
but ruby HATES the nail clippers and even the cat clippers are too big for my tiniest chihuahua so i simply dremel them. a couple of quick short blasts per nail (when dremmeling keep the grinder in contact with the nail for SHORT blasts, if you hold it in place it gets hot on the nail from the friction) once a week and im done.

what used to take hours to do for 5 dogs (and owuld have gone up adding jasper as hes a pain about his feet) now literally takes me about an hour to do all 6 of them!

For Black Nail's Trim a little Bit Then look where you cut, it should be White. Keep Clipping til there is a black dot in the middle of the white. Take a tiny bit at a time.

Usually, where the nail starts to curve is just past the point where you should cut. A little at a time is a good idea. I like a Dremel, as it doesn't squish the nail against the quick, which also hurts....not just cutting the quick.

Caution: You can still quick them with a Dremel. Take it from me. LOL. But my dogs must be tough because it wasn't the end of the world those times I've messed up. If you look underneath, you can start to see the quick before you burn through it. It looks like the end of an itty bitty straw...sort of a hollow look to it. It will usually show through a very thin layer of nail material before it actually gets exposed all the way....even with black nails. But you have to stop and take a peek pretty often.

Anyhow, a gradual conditioning to the Dremel is a must. Here's how I did it: Reward with a favorite treat when your dog just looks at the Dremel that you've set down on the floor. (Off) If your dog gets closer to the Dremel to check it out while it's off, reward and make a fuss over her. Hold the Dremel and sit on the floor with it. When your dog comes over, repeat the reward/praise thing. Turn it on and just sit there with it. If he looks at it, reward/praise. If he comes closer, repeat. Hold your dog on your lap on the floor of have her lie next to you. Turn it on....reward. Hold her paw while the Dremel is running, make a fuss. If she is absolutely fine with all that, try just one second and one smidgen of nail material. Big treat. Call it a day. Do all that other stuff again the next day. Only move ahead as she accepts the former stuff you do with her. Try one more nail if she's okay with it. You might spread this conditioning out over several days or a week. Just take your time and don't force anything. If she wants to go away, let her. Don't force her to stay next to you. This must all be associated with a pleasant time.

Be sure to use high value treats after ever tiny success. Real meat tid bits, cheese..something really tasty.

If the fur gets caught, disastersville. So, you can also, ahead of time, put a nylon stocking (pantyhose) over her foot, pushing the nails through so the hair is held back. (If it's hard to hold the hair back while you Dremel.

Remember just 2 or 3 swipes per nail and then move onto the next, then the next and so on. Then you can come back to the first nail and so on. (once she gets totally AOK with it all) You do not want to burn her so pay attention to how long the thing sets on a nail. That heat only takes a few seconds to build up and will cause bad pain. So, make sure...just 2-4 swipes at a time before moving on. In the beginning, after each nail....a treat and a happy fuss. Then later, you can spread them out to after every paw.

When I get out the Dremel, my dogs all prance around in anticipation of fantastic treat time. LOL. We've been doing this for years, but they get treats every time.

Straight across, then just angle the edges so they're rounded a little bit and smooth.