Cutting Nails

[Tam234]

Interesting reading. We've had Finn in our house for almost two weeks. His nails were trimmed right before he came home, and I was assured by his foster mother that "I can do this!" He has light colored nails, which is a plus. But I have never clipped a dog' snails in my life and I am just a little bit nervous. I have seen some YouTube videos and am reading up on threads like this. I don't want to make it a big deal and show my anxiety - but I AM a bit nervous... My little dog Arthur has black nails and gets them clipped at the groomers when he has his fur trimmed. My last grey, Tori, had black nails too, and I had either the vet or the groomer do hers.

 

Wish me luck - I am going to make the attempt in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, will start handling his feet on a daily basis. Sounds like a good plan!

[Guest jetska]

You will be OK Tam234

[Guest Giselle]

This is the deal I make with one of ours who loves drama. I have a white resin-type kitchen chopping board whose surface has a tiny bit of "tooth". I put a tsp of peanut butter on a dinner knife and, pressing hard, I scrape a film of it across the board...with the long edge of the knife. It's surprising how far that much pb goes. Then I muzzle him, ask him up on the sofa, make him lie down, put the board down so that to lick it, he needs to turn his head away from me and I dremel one paw or a couple of nails at a time after casually draping his paw over a sofa cushion so I can get at the under side. If I take a break, I take up the board - no dremel, no pb board. He's not particularly thrilled with the job being done but happily, he is a pig. I make sure not to grab a paw awkwardly or to twist his wrist (altho I'd like to haha). If pb isn't an option, one tsp of cheez wiz would work too. This isn't counter conditioning, it's just sort of inventing an ok-truce.

Since fear is primal you really have to trump it with an excellent well-thought out food-reward setup to get around it...tricky to control the dog's fear when you're scared too (more primal) so it's usually a bit of a mess. Hounds are usually just being idiots but omg, you should see what happens when a trainer (me) works with a german shepherd dog who's learned every display trick in the book to intimidate his owners out of their clippers and pants.

Actually, what you've described is exactly classical counter conditioning. The Dremel = Peanut Butter. When you take the Dremel away, the PB goes away too. When the Dremel is introduced, you immediately introduce the PB. This is exactly how classical counter conditioning is supposed to be applied to nail trimming. Why it has worked so well for you is because you described how well you pair them together. You make sure one doesn't exist without the other. That's why it works.

 

However, this is also why so many people tend to fail at classical counter conditioning. If you want the trimming experience to be associated with something good, you have to present them both at exactly the same time. For example, show your dog the clipper while simultaneously popping a treat into his mouth. Then, touch the clipper to your dog's nail while simultaneously popping a treat into his mouth. Clip the tips of his nai while simultaneously popping a treat into his mouth. Once the clipper is gone, remove the treat. When the clipper is there, simultaneously pop treats into his mouth. It's that simple. The hard part is getting your timing down. Watch how simple counter conditioning (when performed correctly) can quickly change an aggressive dog's attitude about nail trimming:

[Brandiandwe]

Brandi used to not allow anyone to touch her feet - the GSOD is surprisingly loud and gets louder in a vets office - so when she had a seed wart she needed to be sedated. While she was down they clipped her nails. We then had about eight weeks of intense training. It started by DH fooling round with her feet every chance he got. Fortunately she loved cuddles so cuddles began including footsies as well. Then we moved to me touching her paw with a clipper and giving her s treat immediately. We did this all the time. Finally I started holding her paw and clipping nails and giving treats. She's now much better but still spins around to get to the treat she knows is coming. She tries after each nail, i limit them to after each paw because I am mean.

 

It was important for me to be able to handle her paws not only for nails, but also for ticks or other foreign bodies lodged in there. She needed to allow me to her feet without fuss.

[gracegirl]

I didn't read all of the responses, but Grace was my problem girl. She didn't scream or try to bite, but she really disliked having her nails touched. I was single for most of her life so my trick was to keep her standing, pop a muzzle on her and place her against the back of the couch or a wall. I could "block" her in and then I'd lift up a foot as you would lift a horses' hoof to pick it. As soon as we were done, she'd get a really awesome treat. She never "liked" it, but stopped fighting me in her later years.

Edited December 29, 2013 by gracegirl