How to Cut Dog’s Nails with Clippers or Dremel Without Cutting the Quick
hey guys it’s Samantha
from top dog tips and I am here to talk
to about how to trim your dog’s nails
now when you clip your dog’s nail there
are a few things that you need to
remember and a few things that you need
to keep in mind and I’m going to go over
those first and then I’m just going to
show you a quick close-up of how I trim
my dog’s nails so the first thing you’re
going to want to do when you trim your
dog’s nails or before you even trim your
dog’s nails you’re going to want to test
out some different types of nail
clippers if you’ve never done this
before this is the type that I use these
nail clippers are the most common and I
find them to be the fastest and work the
best you can also use a guillotine style
clipper which is similar to this but
instead of closing like this the blade
just goes up and down like a guillotine
it just slices off the nail so that’s
where it gets its name and then there
are also dremel Dremel czar it’s a like
a rounded nail file on a dremel that
spins around and it just files your
dog’s nails instead of having you clip
them a lot of pet parents prefer those
because they’re worried about getting
the click and those Rimmel’s just take
off
they just shave a little bit off every
time instead of that one big snip like
you make with nail clippers so but I
prefer these I’ve done my dog’s nails
now myself for many many years and I am
very comfortable doing that and I don’t
have any anxiety about it at all if you
have some anxiety you may want to start
with a dremel or you may want to ask a
professional groomer for some help you
may want to go in your vet can help you
as well they can walk you through the
process and just give you a little bit
of experience doing it with a
professional they are guiding you if
you’re really really nervous about it
but you know worst case scenario is that
you you clip the quick it is going to
cause your dog a little bit of pain
think about it the same way that you
think about clipping your own nail too
short if you clip your own nail too
short it’s painful but it’s not
debilitating in any way you can still
use your hand it’s not a big deal same
thing for your dog it is going to cause
them a little bit of pain it’s actually
going to bleed quite a bit because the
click is actually a nerve ending there
so it does bleed quite a bit and it will
be sensitive but
you know in a few days it’s going to go
away it’s not going to give your dog any
kind of traumatic experience obviously
if your clip clipping the quick that’s a
tongue twister if you’re clipping the
quick every time your dog’s gonna get
very tired of that he’s gonna get very
frustrated and he’s going to become very
very anxious about nail clipping time so
you know you have to you do have to be
mindful of it but at the same time it’s
not something to have anxiety about
you’re not going to do it every time you
know and if you do it here and there I
probably clip my dogs quick I don’t know
once every 20 times that we do it it’s
really not that often once you get the
hang of it and none of my dogs have any
type of anxiety about clipping their
nails so that’s that’s definitely
something you want to think about the
other thing that you want to talk that I
want to talk to you about is starting
your dog from the minute that you get
them preferably if your dog’s a puppy
it’s great to start out right in the
beginning when your dog’s a pup and get
them used to that obviously they’re
squirming it’s hard to get them to sit
still but it teaches them that trimming
their nails is okay it’s not going to
scare them it’s not something that they
should be worried about or anxious about
it’s just something that you do on a
regular basis that needs to be done and
it teaches your dog to just sit calmly
for you and by the time that he’s six
months or a year old you’re gonna be all
set he’s gonna enjoy having his nails
clipped it’s gonna be a relaxing bonding
experience for both of you and it’s
really going to be a positive thing so
keep that in mind if you do adopt an
older dog or you know dog that’s an
adult or even a senior dog if they’re
not used to having their nails clipped
all the time it’s going to take you a
while they’re older they’ve got those
habits already that you know nail
clipping is not part of so it is going
to be a little bit challenging but stick
with it don’t get frustrated keep trying
and eventually you will persevere
eventually your dog will learn to trust
you with the Clippers and he will
understand that you know you’re not
going to hurt him you’re not there to
hurt him you’re there to help him and he
will get that it’s just with an older
dog it’s gonna take a little bit of time
with a puppy our little beagle puppy
that’s behind me she’s about six months
old she is fidgety but if I get her at a
time like right now when she’s just
resting and relaxing she’s pretty good
about it so you know it does take a
little while with an older dog you know
if you only clip his nails I would
recommend when you’re starting them out
getting them used to it whether a puppy
or a senior dog do it once a week don’t
take off a lot obviously but that quick
will recede as you clip your dog’s nails
shorter the clip the quick recedes to a
certain point so if you just shave off
just a little bit of the tip of his nail
once a week it’s not going to affect his
his quick in a negative way it’s not
going to affect his toenail in a
negative way and you just shave a little
piece off just so that your dog gets
used to that routine he gets used to
touching his paws touching his toes
touching his toenails he gets used to
the Clippers or the dremel whichever you
use and in within a couple of months
he’s going to have that routine down and
it’s not going to be an issue so those
are some things to think about you need
to select the type of clipper that’s
going to be right for you and you really
need to make sure that you are diligent
about clipping your dog’s nails one so
that you get to routine but two it
actually can cause your dog pain if you
don’t clip his nails regularly if you
let them grow out you’ll notice that
your dog’s nails will kind of curve at
the end and you’ll be able to hear him
click click click click click on the
floor when he walks and that actually
when he’s click click clicking it’s his
nails touching the floor and it’s
putting pressure you know it’s pushing
on those nails and it’s causing pressure
now if your dog’s nails are just you
know just a little bit too long where
you’re just starting to hear that click
click
you’re not going to it’s not gonna cause
enough pressure to hurt them but the
more those nails grow the more pressure
puts when they put their paw down and
keep it actually really be painful for
them
so if you can’t clip your own dog’s
nails for some reason if you don’t want
to if you’re uncomfortable doing it or
if for some kind of a physical reason
you can’t do it send them to the groomer
send them to the vet your vet most vets
will do it most groomers will do it so
find a professional in your area that
can take care of that for you because it
really is a necessity for your pet so
now that we’ve talked about why you need
to clip your dog’s nails and the things
that you need to know beforehand as I
mentioned select the the clipper or the
dremel that’s right for you shop around
a little bit read some reviews that kind
of stuff pick the one that’s right for
you and once you purchase it you can
then move on to learning how to clip
your dog
nails and that’s what I’m here to talk
to you about today so I am going to go
ahead and get some things set up here so
that I can show you how to clip your
dog’s nails I’m going to bring the
camera in closer so that you can see up
close um you don’t have to stare at me
the whole time you can see up close
Chloe’s nails and exactly what I’m doing
and we will go ahead and show you how to
clip your dog’s nails okay guys so we
have my chocolate lab Sadie here and say
these nails look like they’re white
right now but they’re actually dirty
because sadie is a digger so her nails
are a little bit dirty but I’m gonna go
ahead and just give you a quick rundown
of how to trim your dog’s nails now you
can see that Sadie’s nails come to a
point here if your dog has white nails
odds are you’re going to be able to see
the pink quick that runs through them
that’s a nerve ending and again many
owners are very nervous about hitting
that nerve ending no I know um so it
that’s something that in a white dog you
can see very well but in any Brown dog
like all right
Sadie happens to be brown but in any
dark colored dog odds are that their
nails are going to be white sometimes
you get light-skinned dogs that maybe
have darker color spots or places on
their coat and sometimes they’ll have
some white nails and some black nails so
the white ones are certainly easier if
you want to try with the darker nails
sometimes it works to shine a flashlight
behind the nail if you just pick up the
paw and shine a flashlight in here
sometimes you can see the quick so
that’s something that some pet owners
try I’ve clipped many many dog nails and
I feel very confident in clipping dog
nails so I don’t really worry about it
that much if you are concerned about it
it might be something that you want to
work with a professional for and so
we’re going to go ahead and clip Sadie’s
nails one thing that you may want to
have on hand when you clip your dog’s
nails is called styptic powder and I
don’t use styptic powder actually use
home remedy styptic powder is a powder
it looks like flour it’s white and if
you do clip the quick you’re going to
get some very heavy bleeding for a
little while it’s going to bleed fast
for a minute and you can just dip a
little bit of that styptic powder sorry
about that that cut on my hand I scraped
myself this morning
but you just get a little bit of a
stupid powder on your finger and you
just dot it on the end of that nail and
it’ll help the the blood clot very fast
and stop that bleeding so that’s
something to keep in mind I again use a
home remedy I don’t pay for cific powder
because there are two things that are
commonly found in most kitchens that you
can use one of them is flour and the
other is cornstarch
I prefer cornstarch I think it works
better at clumping too and sticking to
the nail so I do use cornstarch and I
would highly recommend that I also like
to use flour if I don’t have any
cornstarch on hand it does work I just
don’t find that it sticks as well to the
nail as cornstarch so I prefer
cornstarch but that’s up to you if you
want to try one of those methods but if
you want a scientifically proven product
you can certainly buy styptic powder at
any pet store or grooming salon that is
in your area so I’m going to go ahead
and clip Sadie’s nails now and show you
now we have a dremel here and I don’t
prefer the Dremel as I’ve mentioned but
if you do it certainly it goes a lot
slower than nail clipping which is my
main reason for not liking it it takes a
longer time to file the nails down than
it does to just clip them off but if you
do prefer the Dremel my advice would be
to contact a groomer or your
veterinarian see if they have the
products that you could test out to see
if you prefer the Dremel more if you
prefer the nail clippers you could also
purchase the products and then you know
to try them out and find one with a good
return policy you can return it if you
whichever one you don’t like so I will
show you the dremel here Sadie’s not
really going to like it very much but
we’re just gonna do it quickly on her
she’s not
put our pot for me anymore so what
you’re going to do is just hold your dog
you want to separate the toe and turn
your Dremel on and then you just want to
press it right up to the toe and let it
just file file file file until the nail
is flat again it takes a while to do it
for each nail until the nails flat so
you just hold it there once you get that
point off you’re all set to move on to
the next nail so that’s the dremel it’s
it’s very easy very straightforward the
only thing you don’t want to really push
into the nail or it’ll stop the dremel
from spinning so keep that in mind I use
nail trimmers like these they have nail
trimmers that are called a guillotine
style and what happens with those is you
put the the nail in here and instead of
the blade coming down across vertically
it’s going to come up and down horizont
going horizontally like this it’s going
to go up and down vertically for you and
just come up like an old style
guillotine that they used to use to take
people’s heads off so that’s where it
gets its name
now Sadie’s getting a little bit
Restless because she’s been laying here
and we’re outside in the Sun so I’m
gonna go ahead and clip her nails really
quickly for you and just show you that
you just this is her do claw and same
thing you just want to take off the tip
there so there’s that one
here’s her the tips of her nails like
this and you just want to go ahead and
and snip the tip of that off there same
thing with this one I’m going to do just
the tip and you can see that I’ve worked
with Sadie very much she lets me just go
ahead and separate those toes just like
that I’m separating the child I’m gonna
put it in there and that guard you know
you can’t go any further than that but
sometimes on dogs with dark nails like
Sadie you may not even want to go that
far you might just want to take off that
little tiny tip I know you’re alright
Sadie good girl you’re doing good you’re
doing good
so um dogs with uh you know shorter
nails and um you know if you’re a little
bit more nervous you may want to just go
ahead and get that I’m gonna have to
move her she keeps hiding her paw from
me so we’re gonna sit it down I know I
know you’re alright she did one but
she’s not going to be cooperative with
the other one so just snip the tip there
and the tip of this one here tip of that
one and we’ve got one more with debris
stuck all over because she is probably
just digging a minute ago so it’s really
quick it’s really easy and again if you
know if you’re really nervous about
clipping that quick you don’t want to
take any chances so just take off a
little bit of time it’s not hard to go
back over it I actually noticed that one
of the CDs nails was much longer than
the others it’s this one right here so I
can go back on this one and just shave
off just a little bit more each time
just be really careful about it shave
off a little bit each time until your
you notice that that that rounded tip is
gone and your dog’s nails are nice and
flat I know Sadie’s nails are so dirty
but you can go ahead and see them now
they stopped right there at a nice nice
flat spot instead of going out to the
point like they used to so that is how
you clip a dog’s nails if you guys have
any comments or questions I would love
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a big help because chances are if you
have a question there’s another dog
owner out there that has the same
question so if I can answer for you
it’ll help them as well so don’t be shy
guys I want to hear your questions and
if there’s any other how-to dog related
issues that you want to know about
please send those suggestions my way I
would be happy to help with anything
that I can how to clipping nails is a
very popular one that we’ve been asked
many times so I started with that one
but I would be happy to do anything for
you guys you can see all the little
pieces of Sadie’s nails here so don’t
hesitate guys get a hold of me let me
know what you want to see or any
comments questions that I can answer I
would be happy to so I hope you enjoyed
this how-to and I’ll see you guys soon
you
