By Denise Flaim
Dogs don’t dig pedicures.
To be sure, there are exceptions: Somewhere out there are composed canines who eagerly offer their paws and don’t react as if the term “guillotine clipper” is to be taken literally. I’ve just never met any of them.
A puppy who squirms and squeals with every snip of the clipper may seem cutely forlorn, but unless he gets comfortable with the idea of having his feet handled, by the time he matures it could well take a village to clip his nails: One person to wield the clipper, one to restrain him, and one to hover and offer useless advice. Dogs that live on concrete - hardly a recommendation, by the way - might sufficiently grind their nails down on their own; most others require weekly grooming sessions, which also should include ear cleaning and coat and tooth brushing.
Ignore nails at your own peril: If left uncut, they can literally curl in on themselves, imbedding in the pads. Dewclaws - those “extra” nails located just below the pastern, or wrist - can catch and tear if they are not kept short and tidy. To say nothing of the damage extra-long talons do to floors and furniture fabric.
The bane of any nail-clipping owner’s existence is the quick, that blood-filled tissue that runs down the center of the nail. If cut, the quick bleeds profusely (and messily) and isn’t pleasant for the dog. In dogs with light-colored nails, the quick often is faintly visible as a pinkish mass. With black-colored nails, well, may The Force be with you.
In the face of their own squeamishness - not to mention their companion animal’s heroic resistance - some owners go so far as to have their veterinarians anesthetize their dogs and do a quick clip job. Asking your vet to clip your dog’s nails while the pet is under anesthesia for another procedure, such as a spay or neuter, is perfectly appropriate multitasking. But - rhetorical-question alert - is it a good idea to expose your dog to the risks of anesthesia for nail care that should be routine?
Enter the Dremel, a small hand-held rotary tool sold at home-improvement and hardware stores. Popular among dog-show folk - especially the Doberman crowd, whose obsession with stubby nails has evolved the unofficial compound adjective “Doberman short” - the Dremel’s sandpaper-covered drum attachment grinds, rather than cuts, excess nail.
“Italian greyhounds are very feet-phobic - if you try to touch their feet, they have convulsions,” she says of her seven diminutive charges - her eighth is a Bernese mountain dog. “Dremeling gives you a smoother cut. And the dogs don’t run when they see me coming the way they do when I have the clippers.”
With the Dremel, the biggest hurdle is getting the dog accustomed to the tool’s whirring sound. Pugh is doing this with her Berner by taping wax paper to her refrigerator door, then slathering it with peanut butter. “When he licks the peanut butter, I turn on the Dremel,” she explains. “It’s a matter of desensitizing. Once they’ve accepted the sound of the Dremel, the nail-cutting experience itself isn’t painful.”
Once a dog is used to the Dremel sound, the next step is to touch the Dremel to a nail, then treat copiously with cheese or another beloved treat. With lots of positive reinforcement, dogs soon learn to accept Dremeling. Some actually lie down and fall asleep. To avoid making the nail too hot with the friction of the Dremel, move quickly around the nail and use only the sandpaper attachment, never the grinding stone.
For a popular Dremeling tutorial, visit DoberDawn.com and click on the “How to Dremel Dog Nails” link in the lower left-hand corner. Exhaustively detailed, it features photos of the author’s often- supine rescue Dobes named Lestat, Brandy and Duke.
Although Dremel and other companies market dog-specific versions of the popular tool - most of them battery-operated - go with the regular plug-in model; it will give you the necessary juice, especially for large-breed dogs. Take care with long-haired dogs, lest you inadvertently catch their coats in the Dremel like so much twirled spaghetti on a fork. Despite its small size, the Dremel is still a power tool, so wear protective eyewear. And beware the ensuing nail dust: It will give dark outfits a snow-dusted effect, and some sensitive owners have reported that inhaling it has triggered asthma and allergy attacks.
Finally, watch out for the quick, though if you do nick it, the Dremel will cause oozing rather than spurting blood, perhaps not a big distinction to some. “You can go overboard, no matter what method you choose,” Pugh warns.
And don’t stint on the peanut butter.