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

[Linds]

Originally Posted by Panzerotti

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

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

[*blackrose]

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

[katielou]

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

[Katem]

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.

[kady05]

Originally Posted by Panzerotti

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

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.

[AllieMackie]

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.

[BostonBanker]

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.

[sassafras]

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.

[Shelteez]

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.

Originally Posted by Panzerotti

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.

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.