# Getting your dog to trim its own nails



## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

This may have posted here before but I've not seen it. This woman trained her dog to trim its own front nails using a special scratch board she made. Very cool. This is the FB post I saw: 
https://m.facebook.com/groups/69214039560?view=permalink&id=10152674935129561

And this is a YouTube vid on several trimming methods, including the scratch board:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6JTKrJ2sVGo

I'm going to get the materials to make one of these the next time I'm in a hardware store.


----------



## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

Hm, weird. No thanks. I trim my dogs's nails, done in 2 minutes. I think some people are just lazy.
If they have problems with trimming, just take them to the vet to have it done.


----------



## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Let me know how it works! I might be interested. No I don't think people who don't want to use nail clippers are lazy. There may be special circumstances preventing it, such as overly stressing a dog. If a dog can safely do it with the method presented by OP, why not?


----------



## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

I would be concerned with overdoing it on the nails - this seems a bit rough, I would think some part of the paw pads would hit the emery board and possibly cause abrasions, but that is my opinion. 

And I apologize for my 'lazy' comment. If it is used for fearful dogs, different story.


----------



## Wendi (Jul 2, 2012)

I don't think they are lazy either. My parents don't want to hurt their dogs, so they wont do them. The vet charges $18 a dog; $36 is kinda steep when your on a limited income. They are perfect when clipping their nails. I get to do it, even though it is not my favorite thing to do.


----------



## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

I tried that with Guinness a few years ago. He is terrified of having his front feet even held, let alone trimmed!
The first part is to teach them to use the board. It did seem to help a little, but he has such hard thick nails I think I would have needed to do it daily to have any effect.


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I don't know... seems like trimming the nails that fashion would be haphazard. And I highly doubt all the nails would be trimmed back adequately. Particularly if your dog has dew claws. Particularly since dogs don't dig with all four legs generally. And I'd be surprised if the dogs didn't scrape their pads on something like that.  And other thing - it really is very simple and quick to trim nails on a dog who is used to having them done. Takes all of 5 minutes - especially if you trim nails every week. Especially if the dogs come to you from the breeder with very little concern about having nails trimmed. But even those who get very stressed - it's possible to condition them to handle nail trimming better. 

If you trim every week, you are nipping the very edge of the nails. There's no pinching for the dogs and they handle it better. 

Jacks used to require 3-4 people at the vet to hold him down while they did a cruddy job of doing his nails (they didn't cut them short enough and left them ragged and sharp). Conditioning him to let me nip those edges for treats changed his whole outlook on it all.

I was glad to see this thread yesterday though because it reminded me to clip nails on Bertie. Nails have to be REALLY short for show dogs.


----------



## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

cgriffin said:


> I would be concerned with overdoing it on the nails - this seems a bit rough, I would think some part of the paw pads would hit the emery board and possibly cause abrasions, but that is my opinion.
> 
> And I apologize for my 'lazy' comment. If it is used for fearful dogs, different story.


Actually I saw this on a fearful dog forum. People were very excited at the idea of training their dogs to it for themselves. 

As far as injuring the pads--didn't hear anyone who uses this method say that happened. I think you'd just have to keep a eye on the dog for safety. I'm gong to attempt this with mine... I'll let you all know what happens.


----------



## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

When I taught Guinness to do it, he actually scratches the board with his feet in a claw like position, the pads never got close to the board


----------



## Mr. Bojangles (Sep 15, 2011)

When Bentley was a puppy, he would file his nails in the swimming pool by scratching against the pebble finish on the sides of the pool. He even got a couple bleeders. As he grew up, I think his nails toughened up a bit because it hasn't been a problem anymore.


----------

