Toenail Trimming Terror

[Guest walkingmygreys]

I have 3 greyhounds and one of my male greyhounds is TERRIFIED of nail trimmings. I have tried rewarding with food, conditioning him to tolerate my touching his feet and nails. Occasionally I can get him to tolerate the use an emery board on his toe nails but only a couple nails and then he looses it. I've tried clippers, nail files, dremmel and the Peticure - all with no luck. We tried the doing the trimmings at the dog park, in various rooms in our house, on a walk (his favorite activity) etc etc but a soon as he knows what we are trying to do, it's all over. He will bite (if left unmuzzled) if he is forced to endure a trim. He bucks like a bronco, screams and vomits. Yes I know he wins when I give up, but his behavior is extreme. He has never had a bad experience such as cutting the quick.

 

When his nails get real long, I take him to the vets and they use a 15 minute sedation, trim his nails, then give him another drug to reverse the effects and wake him up. But I am concerned about using the sedation especially as he gets older (he is 7 now) not to mention the cost (100+ for sedation and 12 for the trim). I actually spend a whole lot more on his nails then I do on myself!

 

Has anyone else been able to get their grey to overcome a serious toenail trimming phobia? Any Cesar Milans out there? I actually sent him an email about this issue but did not get a response.

 

Thanks!

[gracegirl]

How much does he like peanut butter? I have heard of some people putting PB on the inside of a muzzle and then trimming. I have found for my female who used to hate having her nails trimmed and now *tolerates* it that it's much, much easier to do it standing up.

 

Maybe place some PB in the muzzle and do one nail at a time. Do that every day. Do two a night if you can. That way each nail gets cute very 10-20 days. Just a suggestion to try.

 

ETA: Also, do it when he's tired. Dead dog tired. Go for a 5 mile walk, then do nails. He'll be less likely to fight you that way.

[Guest Scouts_mom]

My Scout behaved like that for nail trimming. I ended up going to a local groomer who came highly recommended. She and her assistant would wrap their arms around Scout and do it so quickly that Scout didn't have time to realize what was going on. I think the combination of being intimidated by the strange location/people and the speed at which they did it was what made Scout behave for them.

[Batmom]

If he'll tolerate only a couple nails with the emery board, then just do ONE. Every day, for three weeks. Then do TWO. Et cetera. Use a treat that he only gets for nail work -- hot dog slices or cheddar cheese bits.

 

My parents' whippet was so phobic and freaked-out that only his breeder was willing to do his nails -- squirming, screaming, snapping, trying to get away ..... He got used to the dremel well enough in @ 3 weeks, maybe a couple months? before he was relatively easy about it. We worked on the process every day without fail.

 

One of the important bits about desensitizing is that you want to stop before the dog is totally unhinged. If the dog is flinching every time you touch a foot with your hand, you want to work on touching feet with hand until that's easy every time before proceeding to next step. When you can sit down by the dog and touch the foot for the first time that day and dog doesn't flinch, then it's time to up the ante.

 

Not guaranteed to make every dog absolutely easy to do, but with work and patience, I think you can get most to put up with it.

 

 

 

ETA: It also helps to have a good sense of when the dog isn't actually frightened but being a diva. Then there is nothing wrong -- and sometimes much to gain -- with a firm "Cut that out."

[GreyAcresMom]

The only way that I can do Jax's and Kala's nails: Have my son grab her around the legs and pick up. I then am able to dremmel or clip. Sure beats the vet prices. Having her in the air does wonders. I read that from a greyhound farm post.

[silverfish]

If he'll tolerate only a couple nails with the emery board, then just do ONE. Every day, for three weeks. Then do TWO. Et cetera. Use a treat that he only gets for nail work -- hot dog slices or cheddar cheese bits.

 

 

One of the important bits about desensitizing is that you want to stop before the dog is totally unhinged. If the dog is flinching every time you touch a foot with your hand, you want to work on touching feet with hand until that's easy every time before proceeding to next step. When you can sit down by the dog and touch the foot for the first time that day and dog doesn't flinch, then it's time to up the ante.

 

Batmom has it!

 

Jack was like this, minus the biting and vomiting. He flinched if we so much as touched a foot (or his chest, or his stomach, or his back end). He flinched, he bucked, he screamed, he fell over and splayed and screamed some more .. *Sigh*

 

Cutting toenails is still not easy, three years after adopting him at nearly ten years old.

 

I did what Batmom said. I spent a LOT of time sitting by his bed gently and lightly touching him, starting with unthreatening places, and now and then just laying a hand briefly somewhere he didn't like. It always got a flinch, a scream and a head whip-round at first, but eventually it got to the point where he'd let me do that for quite a few minutes without completely freaking out. Just the roll of the eyes to show he was still scared but accepted that I wasn't going to hurt him. I would talk very quietly to him - not in a baby 'poor dog' voice, just quiet 'It's ok' or 'silly old dog' noises. And I would always stop before he was freaked.

 

At first it literally is just a brief touch and then stop. I mean stop for an hour or longer. The aim is to get the dog thinking that it's actually not so bad being touched, not to get them thinking 'I wonder when this is going to turn nasty'.

 

So after quite a few weeks of this, I was able to very gently hold one foot very briefly, with nothing but the quick whip round and a small moan from him. Again, days, weeks of that... and eventually I would bring the clippers with me, and eventually I would tap a nail with the clippers.

 

As Batmom says, it is VITAL that you take it very slowly and stop before they freak completely. That would only set you back.

 

After three years, I can now clip Jack's nails. It is strictly on his terms, and I still usually only get two or three done at a time before he lets me know he's getting very scared. He will either be laying in his bed or standing with collar and lead on and OH holding him for me. Now - many dogs will not tolerate this being done in their beds, but for Jack, it works. I most often clip his nails sitting on the floor by his bed. I don't hold his foot more than absolutely necessary, and in fact I'll often just shave tiny bits off without holding his foot at all. He hates feeling trapped.

 

My vet is impressed by the progress we've made with this spooky little dog, but refuses to attempt to cut his nails.

[Guest walkingmygreys]

Thanks for the all of the greyt suggestions. Now I have hope that I can overcome his toenail trimming terror. I will work very hard on conditioning Candale. Thanks again.

[pabozem]

At Greyhound America several years ago, they had someone trimming nails. If a dog was really afraid, they would have someone hold him/her up off the floor, with their feet hanging down. That seemed to help some of the dogs who had a pedicure phobia! Of course, I would hate to be the one having to hold a greyhound up off the floor for any length of time. Good luck!