Nail Trimming

[Guest debymw]

Needing advise on getting my grey to let us trim her nails. She has been with us well over a year, still will not let us trim nails. We have had to fight with her several times. We have tried drimmel and clipping. We have to muzzle her and she will still try to bite and pull away. We have given her zanax, benedryl and have had to take her to the vet to do a sedate and reverse so that they could trim her nails. Has anyone experienced this? When she first came into our home she was very scared, shy, and has since came out of her shell, she is very protective of her home and also me. Very loving girl majority of the time, except when you try to do the nails. She has growled at people if they come to close to me.

I need suggestions on getting her nails done .........

[Guest mountain4greys]

We have a spook when it comes to nails, and one that just won't let us do them at all. (and my DW was a dog groomer) With having 6 greyhounds in the house, it's been easier just to take the 2 to Petsmart or Petco and let them do those ones. They do great at the stores, because there is so much going on for them to look at, that their nails are done before they even realize it.

 

I'm at pet stores every weekend doing M&G's, (greyhound awareness events), so I can take these 2 dogs in when their nails need done, and they help me at our table to.

[Guest Smedster96]

I feel for you....My dog is terrified of getting her nails trimmed. I too take her into the petsmart when they need to be done. Usually they have them trimmed in no time.

[Guest Swifthounds]

You need to start slow and work up to actually trimming. Xanax, benadryl and other things if that sort will not help her form positive associations and relax - they will disorient and cause more anxiety in the long run.

 

Some tips:

- pick a desired method - either dremel or clippers

- muzzle for safety - she has undoubtedly formed lots of negative associations at this point

- start by introducing the tool in her proximity

- work up to touching it to a paw, then each paw

- work up to touching nail, then to each nail

- at each of these steps, offer a treat reward with the action

- be guided by the tolerance of the hound

- exercise first - a sufficiently exercised dog is both tired and has circulating "feel good" chemicals

- avoid impRience and the desire to "force" her

- work on this a bit each day, every day

- keep in mind that it may take a long time to undo the damage that has been done

[Guest debymw]

Needing advise on getting my grey to let us trim her nails. She has been with us well over a year, still will not let us trim nails. We have had to fight with her several times. We have tried drimmel and clipping. We have to muzzle her and she will still try to bite and pull away. We have given her zanax, benedryl and have had to take her to the vet to do a sedate and reverse so that they could trim her nails. Has anyone experienced this? When she first came into our home she was very scared, shy, and has since came out of her shell, she is very protective of her home and also me. Very loving girl majority of the time, except when you try to do the nails. She has growled at people if they come to close to me.

I need suggestions on getting her nails done .........

 

 

 

 

I have tried taking her to Petsmart etc to get nails trimmed. She still acts up and will not let anyone trim them. We thought it was the drimmel but she wont let you clip them. It took 4 of us once to get them trimmed trying to hold her.

[Guest Swifthounds]

I have tried taking her to Petsmart etc to get nails trimmed. She still acts up and will not let anyone trim them. We thought it was the drimmel but she wont let you clip them. It took 4 of us once to get them trimmed trying to hold her.

 

With all she has been through, I don't doubt it. A sensitive dog will only worsen with force. Conditioning using positive reinforcement is the only way things will improve for her. The more she is forced, the more dangerous and traumatic it gets. It takes a lot of time and patience, but it does work.

[Guest debymw]

I have tried taking her to Petsmart etc to get nails trimmed. She still acts up and will not let anyone trim them. We thought it was the drimmel but she wont let you clip them. It took 4 of us once to get them trimmed trying to hold her.

 

With all she has been through, I don't doubt it. A sensitive dog will only worsen with force. Conditioning using positive reinforcement is the only way things will improve for her. The more she is forced, the more dangerous and traumatic it gets. It takes a lot of time and patience, but it does work.

 

 

 

Should I continue to let the vet do it for now with the sedate and reverse until I can do them myself gradually? Just hate she has to be put under to get them done. I dont like forcing her at all. I feel something has happen in her past to her nails that now she is scared. This poor thing has came a long way from the day we got her. She was a very scared little girl. She would shake when we took her collar....she is so much better now in regard to that, but never overcame the nail thing. Hopefully one day she will let us trim them....we have appt at vet tomorrow to get them done, didnt want to take her to MB without her trim getting done.

[Guest Swifthounds]

A lot of times, even with more timid hounds, the nail trimming difficulties have no relation to past trauma. Its often a byproduct of the complete change in routine, circumstance, environment and people along with the occurrence of an attempted nail trimming. Whether they come from a track or a farm, greyhounds have had a well defined routine in a xo trilled environment. The transition to home life, while viewed by people as a grand improvement, is almost never viewed that way by the dog - especially in the beginning. It's a big adjustment and the more sensitive and timid a dog's nature, the more the disruption can throw them for a loop.

[LBass]

None of mine have been as resistant as your girl but this is what worked for me with the two who fought trims and the dremel:

• I bought nasty doggy junk food treats. They like Pupperoni. I break the treat sticks into tiny little pieces.
• My sister came over to help.
• She held each dog by the collar, sat behind their heads, and plied them with a steady stream of Pupperoni pieces while I buzzed the nails.
• They were pretty well distracted by the treats, so they let me do much more than usual to their nails without fighting.
• I didn't worry in the beginning about doing all nails or even about trimming that much. The focus was on making nail trimming a reasonably positive experience.
• As they got used to that (3 sessions with my sister treating them), I made a point of getting all nails, though maybe not going as short as I wanted.
• I was soon able to switch to doing their nails alone. I have a container full of Pupperoni pieces and give treats randomly between or during nails/feet.

Good luck with finding a method that works for your girl.

 

--Lucy

[TheFullHouse]

Are you trying to trim them with the dog laying down? I ask because I have one that was having fits over having their nails done until I stood him up and did it the way they do in the racing kennel. Worked like a charm. It was what he was used to and I didn't have any more problems with him. If your pup still resists, I'd do as Lucy said, stinky food and maybe one nail a day until your pup gets used to it.

[gryhnd_adoptee]

Tessie does not like her feet touched at all, and will nearly turn herself inside out trying to keep them away from me. At first we took her to the groomer and it took 3 of us to trim her. We put her in the bath tub and I would hold her and sweet talk her, while an assistant would spray her feet with the water hose. For instance, while working on her front paws, the hose would get sprayed on her back feet alternately. The groomer would clip easily while Tessie was distracted thinking about her feet getting sprayed. Eventually, Tessie would just jump into the tub on her own for the new routine, and now I can trim them on my own with little fight at all.

[cleptogrey]

both swifthound and jilly'sfullhouse have said it all. i personally perfer working w/ a groomer rather than petco. the local small shop groomers(especially if you can find a guy) are wonderful. felix has/had a phobia to having his nails done. i worked w/ a local groomer for a year then finally convinced dh to help and dremmel away. dh feeds him treats, yes felix stands. i sometimes slack off and pay for it, but generally a trim every 5-7 days and he "gets with the program". but it took a while for him to face the reality that he had to give in and have his nails done.

 

remember the treats, most important.

[3vagreys]

After months of not being able to do anything to her nails, we found that if one person held a cup coated on the inside with peanut butter in front of her mouth, another person could dremel nails. We did one nail each session at first and gradually got to where we could do all her nails. It's been several years, she still gets peanut butter and she still sometimes resists but usually I just show her the biscuit she will get at the end and she calms down.

[pabozem]

We have a member of our greyhound group that is a vet tech. When we have our play dates she offers to do nail trims. Whenever there is a dog that is hesitant/scared, she just has her husband pick them up and hold them until all nails are trimmed. The dogs are so worried about being up in the air that they don't take much notice of what is being done to their feet. It's worth a try. I feel your pain though. I have one little girl who won't let me touch her feet. So, it's off to the vet to let them take care of it.

[Ragsysmum]

That must be a nightmare! How much walking does she get? All my hounds and fosters walk 3-4 miles over a day on rough hard surfaces and the only claws I ever need to worry about are dew claws. Does make life a lot easier!

[Guest jettcricket]

Out of my 3 the only one that cooperates is my little Duffy. Dave has gotten better, but I still muzzle him and take his lead and tether him. Hollie...well Hollie is my major drama queen. It's extremely hard to do her nails, but I dremmel all of my greys twice a month. Don't know about other breeds, but their nails grow very quickly and I'm very anal about keeping their nails nice and short...I've seen many greyhound nails very long. I just try to be patient and praise them when they don't scream each time I dremmel a nail.

[Fruitycake]

Vet Dr. Sophia Yin has written a lot about this kind of problem (and behavior issues in general) and has some great videos available on her website. http://drsophiayin.com/resources

 

There is one specifically about conditioning a dog to permit nail trimming (but this dog is relatively calm about it, your work will be a lot longer than the video shows).

 

Dr. Yin showing video of desensitizing dog to nail trimming

 

I am using much the same with our non-grey, only with a Dremel and we're not even to the actually using it on her. Just trying to make this something that she won't panic about and I'm not trimming yet.

[Guest Swifthounds]

Don't know about other breeds, but their nails grow very quickly and I'm very anal about keeping their nails nice and short...I've seen many greyhound nails very long. I just try to be patient and praise them when they don't scream each time I dremmel a nail.

 

Yeah, it's baffling sometimes how long some folks think is a good nail length for a greyhound. One of the groups here tells new adopters that proper length is so you can slip a credit card between the nail and the ground. Yikes! Lots of other breeds have less issue with too long nails, but conformation and locomotion on a sighthound is so sensitively tuned, a small difference means a lot of difference. Over time, long nails weaken the whole foot and make it more injury prone (as if toes don't take enough of a beating running on good surface with short nails), so it's definitely one of those things I wish people took more seriously and didn't regard as cosmetic.

 

Having had more than one sensitive hound, though I feel for the OP. My youngest actually leapt up, screached, and slammed into a wall the first time I turned the dremel on. It took some time and some experimenting with treats and tricks, but she's good for nails now.

[deanning]

I also have six years old dog. I am trimming my pet nail at home. I sedate my dog during grooming. Firstly, remember that not holds them tightly. If your grip, then they make aggressive and bite you. So, you just got bottom legs, without putting any pressure. You can free feet and cut the nails take anyone else help.try it yourself when vet is open. first time you have some problem but after time you can easily sedate dog while nail clipping.

[BatterseaBrindl]

 

"Put your dog on his side and grab him around the neck"

 

Please don't do this to your greyhound

Edited November 17, 2017 by BatterseaBrindl

[XTRAWLD]

A troll bringing up a 2011 post.....sigh.