Everything You Wanted To Know About Greyhound Nail Trimming

[Guest GentleHugs]

I use a dremel and have for about 4 years now. Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! I love using the dremel and hate using clippers. With a dremel, you can get closer to the quick without actually quicking it and the nail edges come out being a lot smoother with a dremel, too. Clippers always seems to leave a few sharp edges. Before I got my dremel, Ashley nailed Heisman in the front shoulder/chest area with one of her freshly clipped nails resulting in a $355 vet bill, 2 trips to the ER vet and 1 trip to our regular vet get him stitched, re-stitched and re-stitched again. It was a T tear and every time he moved his shoulder, the stitches ripped open. Finally, our regular vet put in tension stitches and they worked. She told us as she brought him out to us that *he might not look too pretty but these should hold!* That's when we found out that Heisman doesn't do well under anesthesia either so we are very careful about putting him under for anything now.

 

 

 

All 3 of mine don't mind having their nails dremeled but they do not like clippers. In fact, if Heisman knows it's time to do his nails, he hops up on the couch, cockroaches and hands you one of his paws. About the time I get to the 3rd nail, he's out like a light fast asleep smiling with his tongue hangin' out!

[ShantisMom]

I use a heavy duty acrylic nail file. On my grey I can easily do 3 out of 4 legs. She HATES her left rear being done. I am guessing she has an old injury to that leg. I actually bought clippers today. I will test them out on my Shepards first. They are easier going about new stuff.

[Guest Wpgkeith]

What is the manufacturer on preferred dremmel? I really need to get good at this, 'cause it's costing me! Also, what is the general rule for avoiding the quick? My Max's nails grow an inch a day, I swear!!

 

Dremel actually is the name brand. Technically, it's a handheld rotary tool...there are several other brands out there. I've only ever used a Dremel. We have two kinds....one just has a high and low setting, the other has a dial that goes from 1 to (maybe) 10. I greatly prefer the one with the adjustable dial. We use it on 3.5 for dremeling nails. You can check out www.doberdawn.com for a 'how to.' The thing I like about the dremel, is I can see the quick coming up and stop just as soon as I see it.

 

 

Thanks for the website! Awesome details. I now feel that I can start to take care of Riley's nails better than I have in the past month.

 

Keith

 

Hi to add to the commentary...

 

I read the info contained in this site: www.doberdawn.com - drawn from one of the other posts. So over the past three or four days introduced Riley to the Dremmel and wow! is this ever easy. Gotta' pay attention and not try to over do it, becuse eventually he gets bored, tired, or just plain had enough, but his nails are back to the "not clicking" on the floor stage!!!

 

Great thread, thanks for all the input.

Keith

[SAVED2]

Use the corse drum , 80 grit I think and dont let the nail get hot hold the nail with one hand and dremel with the other.

Dan

[gazehund]

Four hounds, dremel, lying down. Kia used to have issues with having her nails clipped. She is much happier with the dremel.

[Lilysmom]

I just started taking Lily and Marx to a wonderful groomer who uses clippers first then dremels. She is so good that my sometimes drama queen Lily didn't flinch at all.

[gracegirl]

Yeah holding a dog yourself and cutting his nails with him standing leads to the dog pulling away by the leg, sometimes getting himself in a painful twist. It also puts your face at dog bite level should you quick him by mistake and cause him to snap. ALWAYS lying down IMO

 

Yeah that would be nice in theory, but when your dog keeps getting up it would be more dangerous to hold them down and try clipping. Grace won't lie down for nail clipping, so I put her muzzle on her for safety in case I do quick her (never have) and place her standing parallel to the foot of my bed (works with a wall too). This way she has something to lean into, an escape if she needs it, and is comfortable there. I clip one foot at a time and then praise/treat but ONLY if she was good. If she was not good I don't praise or treat at all, but remove the muzzle and go at it later. I occasionally get the GSOD if I get close to the quick, that's usually when I'll go back at it later. Drama!

[Guest DeweytheGreyt]

We dremmel both of our pups' nails while they are lying down. Dewey usually tends to sleep while I do it. Roxie on the other hand requires DH to help. He has to hold her still and pet her while I do her nails. She HATES the sound of the dremmel but clippers made her scream.

[Guest mountain4greys]

My wife does our pups laying down with clippers. But for Christmas we got a Dremmel. I think once we and the pups get used to the Dremmel, it'll be better for the nails. Especially nail length.

[Guest whatahound]

We dremel both dogs at home, it does go smoother if we have two people doing it. One to do the dremel tool and the other to give soothing belly rubs.

[Guest act2redux]

I wait til they are 1/2 asleep on the couch in the study. Thier legs hang off the edge a foot or so. Then I sit on the floor and dremmel away. If I've slacked off and gone to long I'll clip first then dremmel. I usually only dremmel two feet at a time. Three feet seems to be their "annoyance" threshhold. I try to spen 5 min on them every other day. I am trying to work the quick bak but they are not overly long so I'm taking my time about it.

 

I wish I could bring the dremmel to france

 

(the electric is diff)

 

-luv

Hey, I havn't read all of the rest in this thread, so maybe someone else will give you better info...BUT ...you can get a series of plug type things that will allow you to convert the power in most of Europe...try a local mall. The one I saw was in a luggage specialty store

[Guest SillyDog]

My girly Carly let's me do hers and she only minds if I quick her. Since she's got mostly black nails I have quicked her & felt just awful about it. My guy, Prancer just had his own post about nail trimming phobias. He thrashes and screams when I or anyone else tries to do them. He did just get them done at the vets and was fairly cooperative, however, and screamed only on one foot. His pattern is to be ok the first time anyone tries to trim his nails and then the second time he goes haywire. I fully expect he will need sedation at some point to allow the vet techs to trim him.

 

So, I've got one of each!

[Guest PiagetsMom]

We clip at home. Piaget is very good and I do her standing up as her trainer showed me to, and then file them afterwards. I've never had any problems, but I'm definitely more nervous about it than she is!

 

 

Edited September 11, 2007 by PiagetsMom

[FountainLady]

I answered that the groomer uses clippers. She also dremmels them smooth after they are clipped

Add to that she expresses the anal glands .... all that for just $5.00.

 

Such a deal! I always tip her too.

[Ragsysmum]

I file the tips off her dew claws but the rest wear down naturally as we walk several miles a day on a variety of surfaces.

[Guest Kitty_cat]

I do like a previous poster does: lying on the couch on his side (on his left side since I'm right handed) with his legs hanging over the edge. Use clippers, he doesn't mind unless I go too close to the quick. I try to do them every 4 days because they are too long right now, when they reach the right lenth they'll get done 1X/wk.

Edited October 21, 2007 by Kitty_cat

[Guest StriderDog]

Strider sleeps thru the dremmeling. Daza (non-GH) shrieks as if we've lit her on fire.

Edited October 21, 2007 by StriderDog

[macdaddy]

When we lived in Pennsylvania and only had Mac I'd take him to the groomer and they would use the Dremmel and only charge $7.00. I like to trim every two weeks. Out here it's $15.00 and I've added Dessi to the pack so I now do it myself. They tolerate it but DO NOT like having it done....I've always done the nails standing up but thanks to this poll I see that laying on their side might be worth a try. I'm always finding new info here...

[Guest Nik]

Well, I finally got to a point at the weekend where I figured I had gained Jed's trust enough to do all his nails, properly, in one session. It went very well until I caught the quick on one of his dew claws. Neither of us noticed right away, but pretty soon there was blood everywhere. I was so ashamed of myself.

 

A couple of hours later, I summond the courage to go back and do the three remaining toes. I managed to catch the quick on one of those and he screamed! So I'm doubley shamed, and my DW has made me promise never to try to cut Jed's feet off again.

 

[Guest amyunicorn]

Ava's nails need to be done desperately, but I'm terrified of hurting her. The quick is clearly visible and so long in all of her nails! I'm thinking of finding a vet to do them at least the first time, and we're leaning towards the dremmel idea.

[Guest KsFrets]

I have nail clippers, but I also don't want to go too far, and maggy has black nails. I never even thought of a dremel (which I have, but maggy hates appliance noise!) But then also thought about a set of files I have for other hobbys. Not small ones...but not big industrial ones either. Actually just right. Last night I took a hobby file to maggy's nails...works like a charm. It's slow, but then he could let me know if anything hurt or I was getting close to the quick (which never happened). Instead, he seemed to be incredably relaxed by the process...30 minutes later his nails were uptight, and he was sound asleep.

[Guest laddie4]

i've only had miller 3 weeks so he hasn't needed a trim yet. i thought i would see how he reacted before it was actually necessary so i tried just filing his nails a bit and he didn't like it at all. i've ordered a PEticure( basically a pet dremel) and to prepare him i've been massaging his feet and rubbing the ends of his nails while making a buzzing noise. might seem a bit over the top, but now he just lies there when i do it so hopefully i will be able to replace my fingers with the dremel without too much drama

[Guest amyunicorn]

laddie do you have an electric razor? You could always plug that in and turn it on beside you while you are massaging his feet and touching his nails? I've been massaging Ava's feet and touching her toes and she barely flinches/reacts at all. I'm more worried about hurting her at all but that's because I'm a big softie.

[Guest Hotwire]

We use the dremmel. Usually the pups lay on the couch and I sit on the floor so their feet are easy to access. Hope is the only one who pulls her feet away, and I get dirty looks, but I am pretty sure it is for disturbing her sleep!

 

Charger has very long nails and quicks, and also has corns. He actually seems to love having his nails done, maybe he thinks I am massaging his feet?!

[krissn333]

I Dremel here. The big kids lay down, I wouldn't say any of them mind TERRIBLY but my girls like to have someone petting them while I do it. I can do Fritz's by myself, he just falls asleep so does that indicate that he likes it?

 

My little guy isn't really laying down when I do his, he sits in my lap with his feet out in front of him. It looks funny but it works and I can do his without help from others.