Dremel Training

Emily

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#1
Who's done it? How did you do it?

Obviously I have a basic game plan of CC/DS, starting with the dremel off, etc, but I'm curious if anybody has any insight into the details or any tips?
 

Emily

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#3
Patience, which I've yet to muster. PW & Springerlover have done it though incase they miss this.
That would be my issue too. :rofl1: After like 2 minutes of clicking and treating, I'm tempted to just sit on the dog and grind their nails. But Blossom's nails grow really fast, they're black, and she hurts me with them constantly. I'm keeping them in check with regular trimmings but it would be nice if I could round them off. The bruises on my legs agree.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#4
Sloan will take it if Denis is holding her, hell I could take off her tail I think, but Backup hates his feet touched even in a gentle caress sans nail clippers or dremel so I totally get it.
 

BostonBanker

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#5
I'm pretty sure it is a myth that you can dremel nails. Everyone just claims you can, to make the rest of us feel bad that we can't get our dogs to tolerate it.

I'm on to y'all.
 

Emily

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#6
I'm pretty sure it is a myth that you can dremel nails. Everyone just claims you can, to make the rest of us feel bad that we can't get our dogs to tolerate it.

I'm on to y'all.
THAT'S WHAT I THINK TOO! Everyone's like, "Just dremel them!" and my dogs are all *starts death rolling like an crocodile while screaming* :p
 

swabby

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#7
I have never had very much trouble. Shadow loves to have his done, he comes flying when I tell him it is time to do his nails. I honestly think he understands he can get up off the floor easier. At his age and bad hips, it really does make a big difference.

Stormy seemed to just watch and learn. I believe the easiest way in the beginning it to have them lie down and tell them to stay. I get in the floor with them and have at it.

Good Luck, just be patient.

(Baby talk helps with my Mom's dog.) ;)
 

Emily

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#8
I have never had very much trouble. Shadow loves to have his done, he comes flying when I tell him it is time to do his nails. I honestly think he understands he can get up off the floor easier. At his age and bad hips, it really does make a big difference.

Stormy seemed to just watch and learn. I believe the easiest way in the beginning it to have them lie down and tell them to stay. I get in the floor with them and have at it.

Good Luck, just be patient.

(Baby talk helps with my Mom's dog.) ;)
Sadly, mine are not going to be swayed by baby talk, lol. So if I'm going to do it, it's going to take a concrete training plan.
 

AdrianneIsabel

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#9
Shamoo allows it, I think it's because she's too old to care anymore and she's partially deaf which helps deaden the fear inducing sound.

The rest... I have decided to clip when it's a desperate situation. :p
 

Emily

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#10
Shamoo allows it, I think it's because she's too old to care anymore and she's partially deaf which helps deaden the fear inducing sound.

The rest... I have decided to clip when it's a desperate situation. :p
Mackenzy allows it, because she's Macky. Keeva - forget it, she's a wench about all things nails, so I have our groomer do it because Keeva won't fight her as hard. Blossom is doable for clipping, I do it at work and put her on the grooming table to take away her options, lol. Right now her quicks are nice and short and her nails are a perfect healthy length, I just need to keep them that way.
 

Toller_08

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#11
I have no patience for teaching proper nail manners either, because I hate long nails and just want them gone. I did try for a long time, but made little progress with my adult dogs.

That said, while none of my dogs are perfect, I dremel really quickly and they get a treat after each paw and that makes it slightly more tolerable for them. I never used a clicker, because that's too much for my clumsy self to hold all at once with the dremel.

I lay my dogs flat on their sides, and if they struggle and put up a fight, I just keep laying them back down and reward for what I want, then introduce treats and the dremel, and then just get it done basically. No real method. Just a "we're doing this, so I don't really care what you think" attitude, but I do try to make it somewhat positive. And then I just mastered how to hold each of them. The Dobermans are relatively easy, but Dance squirms a lot so I had to figure out a way to hold her so she couldn't keep pulling her paws away and trying to escape. She's horrid. And Journey's actually really easy somehow, so she doesn't count. Thank goodness. But yeah... for as positively as I do pretty much everything with my dogs, when it comes to general grooming and nails, I don't really have the patience to sit down and wait for them to learn to like it. I tried it, it took forever and ever and I barely got anywhere, and then I gave up because whether they like it or not, it's just something that needs to be done.

Sorry, that probably wasn't helpful at all haha. And I know it's a lot harder than it sounds, too, if you have a dog that struggles a lot.
 
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#12
I have no patience either.

A table and a grooming noose are necessary at my house. All dogs get dremeled on the table.

Rumor is actually the best about getting her nails trimmed and I can just stand her between my legs on the ground and cut her nails. Less stress, less fuss, so I do her that way. I can dremel her on the table, but she truly hates it so much I'd rather just trim her.

I started Zen as a puppy in my lap. I laid him on his back and had my mom hold a roll of raw food in his face while I dremeled. Then I faded it to where I was giving him bites after each nail or foot. Then when he got too big for my lap he went to the table and I use canned food after every few nails.. He still jerks and pulls at times, but he's decent.

We got Gus as an adult and I have tried a little of everything. Last time I just sat on him and cut his nails and did treats after every few nails. My husband hates helping and to dremel Gus it takes two people. He doesn't bite or anything, but he squirms like the dickens. Even on the table in a noose, but the best way to dremel him is with Travis holding a can of dogfood in his face while I dremel him. Of course, he has to be noosed on the table. If I could get Travis to cooperate and do it every other day for a couple weeks I'm pretty sure he'd relax and I could do him myself.
 

swabby

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#13
Sadly, mine are not going to be swayed by baby talk, lol. So if I'm going to do it, it's going to take a concrete training plan.
I understand. I don't have the patience to do my Mom's Cocker. She hates anything and everything to do with her feet.

You probably have already found it, but this is the site I first used years and years ago, it is very good. Excellent in fact. Good Luck! http://www.doberdawn.com/doberdawn/dremel.html
 

SaraB

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#15
I've just always gone and dremeled without any sort of training on my dogs, until Zip Tie.

One experience of anal glands and screaming puppy made me actually have to desensitize him. We started with Tim hold a spoonful of PB and me restraining/clipping. Slowed down the licks of the PB and now have phased Tim out of it completely so I can do his nails alone.
 

lizzybeth727

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#16
I've taught my two dogs to tolerate dremeling, as well as countless dogs at work. In fact there have only been one or two dogs that I haven't been able to eventually teach. :)

The way I think of it, is to train the dog to lay down, be still, and relax no matter how I'm handling him. I also greatly prefer teaching them to lay upside-down in my lap to get their nails done; not only is it an easier angle to see the nails, I can feel instantly if they start to squirm or get uncomfortable. So I start by teaching them to relax in my lap; then relax while I feel their whole body - belly, legs, tail, face, ears, mouth, etc. Usually I clip their nails once or twice, depending on how quickly they grow and how long it takes to desensitize the body handling. Plus it's easier to desensitize the dremeling if the nails are relatively short to begin with.

From there it's easy to do desensitizing to the sound and feel of the dremeling. Just remember to focus on keeping the dog relaxed and calm; sometimes you can only do a couple of nails before giving the dog a break, and that's ok.

I recently worked with a dog that I couldn't get comfortable upside down in my lap (probably at least partially because he's 98 pounds), so for him I did basically the same thing but I taught him to lay on his mat while I dremelled. I just used the dremmeling as a way to proof the stay on the mat.
 

SpringerLover

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#17
I did miss this!

The two dogs I've actually had to teach to tolerate dremeling were both taught that body flat with head on the floor earned food. I didn't do any actual training with/to the dremel necessarily, but I did teach an incompatible behavior.

Bailey will still lift her head on occasion, which I accept and let her take a break. But if I get out the dremel, she'll generally lay down and become one with the ground to earn food. I started by waiting for the behavior then dremeling part of one nail, feed, etc. I now reward after each foot, generally.

Amber is a lab I used to watch whose owners said they had to sit on her to do nails. She's a very operant dog so I followed the same protocol I had with Bailey. I can do all four feet with her generally before feeding.

The requirements to earn food are body flat, head on the floor. I don't get worried about kicking and it's never been a huge issue.

I can try to video Bailey next time I do it.
 
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#18
Honestly, for all of the dogs I've trained to dremel (8 that I can think of off the top of my head) I've just flooded. Had someone put the dog in lateral the first couple of times while I did their nails, someone else machine gunning high value treats during and after. Never had issues after the third time or so. Now all the dogs you tell them to lay down, and then I roll them onto their side and do their nails. A couple of them even fall asleep while I'm doing it lol
 

Whisper

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#19
I've followed instructions and steps to the letter, but I still can't get Fable to tolerate me messing with her nails. Part of the problem is that she considers being restrained or told to stay still worthy of flailing and blood-curdling screams.

Sizzle would probably have good input here- her dobes' nails are always beautiful and you can't accomplish those kinds of results without some methods worth sharing. ;)
 

Dizzy

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#20
Hahaha, well everyone has seen my thoughts on nails!

I don't have dogs you can sweet talk, or pin down.

Bodhi you might be able to pin as she's smaller, but it reeeeeeeeeally stresses her out, and that's pointless and mean when her nails never get too long, she wears them down day to day nicely.

Fred..... Oh Freddie fredfred. He was a SUPER puppy, we introduce the dremel from about day one. Meh, no more!!

The most success I've had with him, is with a guillotine clipper and the clicker and lots of treats!!

I dont grab his feet as he pulls away, and with his shoulder, I didn't want to hurt him. So I just did it very slowly. You can't pin him, we tried. Trust me, my other half couldn't hold him (and he lugs bodies round, he's pretty bloody strong).

We aren't there yet, and I haven't done it for awhile as he's being walked now..

I think patience is the only thing to help in some cases.
 

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