How often do you deal with your dog's nails and what do you use?

About once a week.

Both my dogs click when they walk. I can tell based on the sound of Juno's clicking if she's due for a nail trim... I don't mind that she clicks, her nails don't actually touch the ground when she's just standing, and I haven't been able to get her quicks to recede. So whatever.

Lucy's nails are much longer than I'd like them to be, but she's such a butthead when it comes to nail trims that I am happy as long as I can clip SOMETHING off each nail. I don't spend my time trying to get them as short as possible cuz she won't stay still long enough for me to do that.

I have a dremel but I don't use it often. I prefer the clipper, as do my dogs. They both become super jerky when I use the dremel, and Juno hardly flinches a muscle when I use the clipper.

Pretty foots.

Thanks everyone!
I realised Coco's nails DID tap-pity tap tap on the inside floors just not outside.
So I just trimmed them myself now,I had her standing on top of her crate,with a stick covered in PB in my mouth,first I just held her feet and she got a lick,then I did some nail tapping and she got a lick,then I started trimming.She really didn't mind it,I didn't do them super short as I am nervous of getting close to the quick but her nails are no longer tapping on the floor.That will be my sign to look out for now!

Another one here! I really can't stand the "click-click-click-click" on the floor! Although, Enda can be so annoying, she's so silent walking up behind you, and she LOVES to be right on top of you in any room so half the time you don't know she's there till you've run right into her.

I know, the click clack drives me crazy lol!

Cynder gets hers done when I take her in for a bath - so about once a month. Her's are staying at a really good length, though. I'm actually jealous that all it takes for her to keep them nice and short like that is a trim once a month!

Chloe used to get hers done every time I groomed her (every 6-8 weeks), but after being so used to Cynder's nails I am now determined to get them shorter so she's getting them trimmed whenever I notice that her quick is no longer right at the edge (she has white nails).

Frodo we are currently torturing twice a week. One session for fronts, one for backs. So really they are getting done once a week, I guess.

We use clippers because they are faster and Frodo does better with them.

As for method: We soak his feet in warm water for a few minutes to soften them up, then Ryan holds him and I clip. He usually squirms for the first half, gives up and we can do the rest really fast. Then we shower him with food.

How the heck do you guys get them to NOT click?! Juno's nails are certainly not long and I can't imagine them getting any shorter than they are in that photo I posted... but, she clicks. It's quiet, but still there.

I clip once a week. I prefer to leave some length on them to maintain function though, since I expect Pan to run fast and turn quickly in agility.

I eyeball them about once a week and clip them probably once every 2-4 weeks. It depends on the time of year and what we've been doing. I leave theirs a bit longer than many here because I want them to have a bit of a grip in the snow for skijoring (in theory, anyway, since we haven't had enough snow this winter to do).

Maisy came to me with a horrible, panicky phobia of having her feet handled, and it's been a struggle to desensitize/counter-condition her. In the summers she gets enough exercise on pavement to wear the nails down, but winters are rough. Often have to sedate her to get it done. Mushing has helped more than anything, since their feet are checked before and after every run, but I don't think it will ever be easy with her. Squash and Pip are a breeze, though.

We use a dremmel when I start hearing that awful "click" noise on the tile... LoL its usually every few weeks or so.

This!

With the amount of fast turns on grass and running that Traveler does I try and keep them so that they can be useful.

That being said I couldn't get them done for ages until recently when I made that emery board so we are in the process of working his quicks back.

They are a little shorter than this right now.



ETA: For those that didn't see the emery board and who's dogs don't like nails trimmed

Emery Board

I'd say Cynder's nails are about the length of Traveler's in the picture. Maybe a tad bit shorter. Chloe just has very long nails because I am a bad mom. :O

About twice a month with the dremel. I keep Abes long compared to most because he uses them at agility and climbing.

Usually once a week, sometimes I'll skip and let them go a little longer. Bear is very patient about getting his nails done, so of course his grow fairly slowly. Pig can be a brat about it at times. Well no, I shouldn't say that. She's pretty good, she can just be squirmy if she's not in the mood for it. Unfortunately her nails grow super quickly.

Agreed. My dogs don't do agility, but they regularly go to the park where the run their butts off, and I like them to have SOME grip with their nails. Sako does lure coursing at times as well. So I keep them short, but not tiny little nubs.

Clip, about once every week or so.

Finn has always had longish quicks, but they're finally starting to recede some. I don't have a pic, but at the moment his nails are about the length of Traveler's in his photo.

My two both get clipped every 10 days or so. I borrowed a dremel to try, and Meg couldn't even handle being in the room with it on. Since she barely wakes up when I use clippers, we are just going to keep doing that. I do like them a bit longer than some pictured. I'm looking at them now, and neither dog has them touching the ground standing still (both got clipped 2 days ago), but they certainly click a bit when walking. Like others said, with the amount of running they do, both on their own and in agility, I've got to think the ability to 'grip' a bit with their nails helps.

I decided to try a Dremel yesterday and I was exceedingly uncoordinated with it. Also, Pip has long toe hair - I tried the "put a knee-high nylon over his foot and poke the nail through" trick and got the dremel stuck in the nylon. So I think we'll be sticking to trimmers.

I've always preferred using dremel. Much easier than nail clippers. For Josie i dremel her nails once a month, her back feet are rarely touched because she does alot of running that her nails gets filed down. I dremel the shelties once a week, for Chloe i'm doing hers twice a week because they are over grown. I like nails off the ground.

Here is Josie's nails, hers is all black


I don't know if you can tell in this pic but i usually know if i'm getting too close to the quick when the middle of the nail has a hallow black dot and tissues are shown



I take off alittle bit at a time to make sure i don't knick her.

This. With the dogs working rubble and difficult terrain fairly often, I like their nails long enough that they can kind of dig in and grip if they need to. So, if I need to work back a dog's quicks, I dremel once a week. But once I've got them where I want them, I just dremel every now and again for maintenance.