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

[cloudcandy]

What do you do with your dog's nails and why?
The last time Coco got her nails trimmed it was at the vets.I regularly inspect her but I'm not really sure at what point I'm meant to trim them again?She walks mostly on pavement and their not very sharp.
What would you suggest I do?
She doesn't mind nail clippers and I'm (semi)confident doing them.

[CaliTerp07]

She gets them done when she goes to the groomers (every 3-4 months). Like Coco, she walks on pavement often, and they don't get bad. I've never trimmed them myself.

[Maxy24]

I do Tucker's every time I go home because my parents are too scared to do it themselves (afraid of hitting quick and also don't really know what the heck they're doing, they've just never done it before). So it's about once a month.

I only clip off a little bit in each session because his nails are black and quicking him causes a lasting effect in his mind, sets us way back. Then we go for a walk because freshly cut nails are SHARP and the pavement dulls them. I can tell when they need a clipping because they start to get a bit of a point/thinner part instead of just a thick rounded edge. It's sort of hard to explain what they look like when they do vs. don't need clipping.

It's hard to say if you need to clip your dog's without pics...plus everybody has different preferred lengths. You often see Dobermans with SUPER short nails. I like Tucker's short enough that they don't click on the floor when he walks.

[Fran101]

They get them at the groomers or vets every 3 months or so. They usually clip or dremmel them down
I've never done them myself, they are city dogs who walk on a lot of pavement so I assume that helps because it's never been a problem.

The way I see it, the groomer does them for $8.. and it's a price I am more than happy to pay to not have to deal with it myself lol

[Toller_08]

I dremel my dogs' nails weekly. Usually every Thursday or Friday, but I was lazy today so they'll be getting their nails done tomorrow instead. Their nails grow ridiculously fast (the Dobermans especially), and if I leave them any longer than a week, they're atrocious. As it is, even with weekly dremeling (was even every 4 days for a long time), they're still not as short as I want them. Dance's are perfect, but both Dobermans I wish I could get shorter still.

[cloudcandy]

Yeah,my vets offered to do them for free if I'm too nervous.Atm they don't click on the pavement and they don't really scratch when they touch you so Ive left them alone!

[Fran101]

I would say just do them/have your vet do them when you feel they are becoming a problem (clicking on floors, scratching, etc..)

I personally like to keep nails really short. So they go to the groomers when I notice them basically lol I like the more little bunny foot look and don't like it when they curve (even if they don't touch the ground)



I prefer dremel over clippers personally

[cloudcandy]

Whats the best in terms of their health though?If that makes sense,what happens if you don't trim them for a long time etc?

[~WelshStump~]

They get done about once a month, the boys are clipped, and Enda is dremel. The boys are clipped just because of their attitudes, Noods went over a year without having his nails done and came to us in awful shape, so he had to be done by the vet for several months before I was able to start doing him here. Jinjo just plain ol' gets nasty, we muzzle him, someone holds his head and I just clip-clip-clip. Enda, I usually have someone else hold her collar and a bone filled with PB while I go over all 22 nails.

These aren't the best pictures, but usually I like to dremel the tips down, then smooth off the bottoms, I'll run my fingers over them all to make sure they don't have any "catches" which scratch skin and get caught in fabrics.


Dew claws, left foot by ~WelshStump~, on Flickr


Resting forepaw by ~WelshStump~, on Flickr
She was near needing a trim here.

[Fran101]

Originally Posted by cloudcandy

Whats the best in terms of their health though?If that makes sense,what happens if you don't trim them for a long time etc?

Really the one way they start impacting health is if they are long enough to touch the ground, because then their weight falls on their nails and that messes up how they walk and everything else.

To the left is how your dogs weight is distributed with a short nail that doesn't hit the ground and to the right is too long nails that do bear weight



This below picture IMO is a problem. When the nails are touching the ground and bearing weight. it does affect over-all health of feet/legs bones and how the animals walks and functions.

Too long nails get naught in fabrics, scratch people, and just hurt to walk on