# How long are your dogs nails?



## Phillyfisher (Jan 9, 2008)

When I was at the dog show yesterday I noticed how short the goldens nails were; some looked almost painfully short. I suspect Tucker's are a bit too long, as I have been a wuss trimming them ever since I cut one to the quick and the nail was spurting blood. I now just trim of a little bit off the tips. I have vowed to do it weekly until I get them shorter. He does not click too much on our wood floors, only when excited, so they are not horrendously long. His nails are as black as can be, so seeing the quick is very difficult. Just curious how short everyone keeps them.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

The more you trim them ( little bits at a time), the more the quick recedes into the nail and the shorter they can be. I've been trying to do a little bit every week on my crew but much easier said than done!!!


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## Griffyn'sMom (Mar 22, 2007)

Not short enough - thanks for reminding me - I need to cut them - at leaset he's a better boy for it now - it took forever for him to get that way.:doh: I try to do his when I do my own. LOL I'm terribly forgetful with things like that. If you keep them short enough so that you don't here clickity clack on the floors you're doing a good job. IMHO


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

I try to keep them short, but I have been going slowly at it with a puppy and they haven't been as short as I would like. I was using the dremel, but just switched to clippers and with a wiggly puppy I was able to get them trimmed down more.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

Mine are super short. So short that the trimmed hair on their paws completely covers them for the most part.


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## olik (Apr 13, 2008)

i try to keep as short as possible.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

Gilmours stay nice and tight because I let his breeder take care of them on his Saturday visits 

Dakota was never much of a problem. He didn't have fast growing nails.

Now Comet. OMG Comet's Nails. I've NEVER seen a dog with nails like Comet's. 

One of his Nicknames was "Wolverine" LOL

Seriously folks, in a 2 month period, this boys nails could grow to an Inch long if I didn't keep up with them. He could actually hook them around my finger like a bird LOL


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Hank's seem to stay pretty short since we have a large brick patio our back that he plays on. He's also a digger. I've been working with a Dremel on him, at this point I only have to trim the dewclaws.

I never seemed to keep Maggie's short enough, I always heard her click-click on the vinyl & wood floors.


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## rappwizard (May 27, 2009)

Pretty short--I need to Dremel them and probably will do it tomorrow. The standard calls for medium sized feet, round, compact and well knuckled--splayed feet are a fault. If your golden is loosing traction due to those long nails, those nice feet can start to spread apart--you don't want that!


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Gunner's nails stay short because he naturally wears them down with all the retrieveing he does.
Selka does not get enough exercise to wear down his nails and HATES getting them trimmed! I know they are probably too long and would be better if I trimmed alittle every week when I do a thorough brushing but sometimes my body is not up for it.
The groomer (who butchered his butt feathers) said she dremeled his nails!!!
I would have liked to have seen how she did that!!!!


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## EvilNessCroft (Feb 17, 2009)

Molly's nails are pretty short I think. I trim them once a week a little bit at the time. Only the front paws that is.. The other two are always short because of her walks on the pavement. And she is the first dog that I have that doesn't mind having her nails trim!  I'm happy with that!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Longer than I'd like, lately. Since Flora gets hardly any exercise due to her surgery, her nails have gotten really long! I had them clipped about 2 weeks ago and clipped a few of them a week later, but they all need to be trimmed quite a bit. When I take her in for her first grooming I will make sure they give her nails a good clip.


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## artbuc (Apr 12, 2009)

Phillyfisher said:


> When I was at the dog show yesterday I noticed how short the goldens nails were; some looked almost painfully short. I suspect Tucker's are a bit too long, as I have been a wuss trimming them ever since I cut one to the quick and the nail was spurting blood. I now just trim of a little bit off the tips. I have vowed to do it weekly until I get them shorter. He does not click too much on our wood floors, only when excited, so they are not horrendously long. His nails are as black as can be, so seeing the quick is very difficult. Just curious how short everyone keeps them.


If I can hear them click on the hardwood floor, they get trimmed - about once per week.


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## Phillyfisher (Jan 9, 2008)

Ok I should have been more specific. How short are we talking- 1/4"? 1/2"? The dogs I saw looked like they were at most a 1/4". Also- whose dog has jet black nails? Tucker's are, and our neighbor was surprised when I showed them to them.


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

short short short...I try to trim them every Thursday and keep them as short as possible.


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## ilovemydogs (Jan 22, 2009)

Mine are both much too long right now. They are both going to the groomer in tomorrow morning. Duke is a 100 lb paw puller and squimer so he is difficult to get done. Bailey shows teeth at home when I do her nails, but is fine at the groomer. I've found it much easier to let the groomer do them both.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

Up until this past year, it seemed like our walks kept Brooks' nails trimmed back to a somewhat reasonable length. But now, they are way, way too long. I am now working with conditioning him to the Dremel as he hates for his feet even to be touched. 
So far (after about 5 "conditioning" sessions) I haven't exactly trimmed any nails, but have touched it to them a few times. I am hoping he will get better as time goes by.


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## AquaClaraCanines (Mar 5, 2006)

My dogs' nails, except the Whippet, are 1/4" if even that long. The Whippet has long quicks, and Whippets need their nails when cornering in lure coursing. I keep them as short as I can, but I refuse to hurt him on purpose to get them shorter, and he came from the breeder with long nail quicks.

My GSD has black nails, and so does Brooklyn. Starlite has some darkish ones.


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

all my dogs have a few pink nails, so I use those to gauge when cutting the black ones. Not foolproof but I've never gotten a quick yet. I better knock on wood now orI'm gonna feel sorry for whatever dogs quick I cut next


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## MGMF (May 13, 2009)

Some of mine have black some more pink. I keep my dogs nails very short. I file them once a week with a dremel which makes them round and tight. If you do it often you don't have to take off very much and just takes a few minutes. My dogs really don't mine having their nails done. I lay them on the floor on their backs between my legs....zip, zip, zip and lots of treats and they are done. They get excited because it is they private belly rub time when they get their nails done. They are almost not seen even when the hair is cut back.


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## MurphyTeller (Sep 28, 2008)

I do nails every 5 days or so...My general rule of thumb is that you should never hear nails on a floor or piece of agility equipment. So if a dog is trotting across a tile floor and you hear clip, clip - they need their nails done. I generally dremel - though if I miss a session and I'm working on 7 days of growth I'll clip and then dremel. I love the smooth edges that come with a dremel.

I do keep them longer than the "show" clip - mostly because I want a little more traction on turf - most of those conformation dogs aren't out there galloping on footing, jumping, turning, etc like my agility dogs are. When Teller was showing in the breed ring I did keep his nails even shorter - so that when his feet were show groomed you could not see any toe nail. His feet are still kept trimmed - but not to the show-ring round paw degree - mostly because I'm not that talented. Remember the conformation folks need to show the shape of the foot. Longer nails are going to detract from that foot shape - and nails that are clipping hard surfaces are going to impact how a dog uses his toes/feet - potentially causing soundness issues later on. Not to mention that a long nail breaks and tears MUCH easier than a short nail...

Erica


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I let my 2 older guys have their nails so that they *almost* click on the floor. I find that especially Toby will use his nails when he's getting up (his hind end is weak) to get some traction on the tile floor. 
Tito's depend on what he's showing in. When he's showing in conformation, they have to be pretty short so they don't show under the hair. But, for example, this past week I let them grow because I knew we'd be dock diving and I wanted him to have his nails for the astroturf so he wouldn't slip. Dogs can, and DO, use their nails so I don't like them too short if we're doing something other than breed ring. But of course, they should never "click" on the floors. If they do, they're too long.


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## Pez (Jun 9, 2009)

I toss the ball from our brick patio and they take off from there, which keeps their nails trimmed. Also, if you are squeamish, get a coarse file and use that if ytou don't have a Dremel. Once a week should do it.




Willow52 said:


> Hank's seem to stay pretty short since we have a large brick patio our back that he plays on. He's also a digger. I've been working with a Dremel on him, at this point I only have to trim the dewclaws.
> 
> I never seemed to keep Maggie's short enough, I always heard her click-click on the vinyl & wood floors.


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