How to Clip Nails of Any Dog

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Clip Nails, cutting your dog’s nails are something very simple but require a minimum of knowledge and care to avoid harming your dog.
Remember that you can always go to your vet to help with this task and even if you usually take your dog to your hairdressing session right there, they will help you

Table of Contents

How to Clip Nails of Any Dog:

Best way to clipping your dog’s nails at home, Start by choosing a good time and think it is important that your dog is calm. Once you see that your dog is calm and you have your nail clipper, guide you through these steps:

⦁ Start cutting the nails of the front legs, then continue on the hind legs, putting your dog on its side or kicking its leg gently back when standing.
⦁ Hold the leg firmly and cut each nail without reaching the pink area, as this is where the blood vessels are. If when cutting the nails bleeds by accident, there are products on the market to stop these small hemorrhages. If your dog has black nails and you cannot see the area of blood vessels do not worry: cut from below slowly until you see a gray oval. When in doubt, always go to your veterinarian.
⦁ Once you cut all the nails, lick them to smooth the cuts.
⦁ When you have finished, congratulate your dog. You can give him a prize and so he will remember the activity as something positive and it will be easier for you next time.

How to clip dogs nails:

Are your dog’s nails too long? To cut them you have two options: go to the vet or do it yourself at home. Keep in mind that the nails of these animals have a curvature, are harder and, in addition, their matrix is much closer to the edge than we think, so we will have to be careful if we decide to cut them at home. In this article of a How we are going to tell you how to cut the nails to a dog so that you know the aspects that you have to take into account, as well as how to act in the event that a small hemorrhage appears.

Steps to follow when cutting your dog’s nails:

⦁ You should bear in mind that dogs’ nails tend to be filed naturally with each walk they take daily. But, on many occasions, this filing is not enough and that is when we have to intervene to cut the nails because, if not, you can find these situations:

Too long fingernails tend to curve inward and this can cause sores to appear, sink into the flesh or become infected.

They also cause discomfort at the time of walking because, having the shape of a claw, they will touch the ground before their own foot.

These discomforts or pains can cause the animal’s attitude to change and become more irascible and aggressive.

⦁ So that the animal gets used to this treatment, we recommend that from the first months that you have it with you, you start to cut its nails, so, it will get used to it and every time it will reject it less. If you have the dog since he is a puppy, teach him from the first moment so that he recognizes it as something else in his life.

In case you have never cut your nails and now, you want to do it for the first time, we recommend that the first day you start with a pair of nails and that, little by little, you will cut the others, thus, you will get used and It will not be so traumatic for him.

⦁ The first thing to keep in mind is that dogs feel your mood so do not approach him with fear or nervousness because you will get it. Keep in mind that you should be patient because cutting your nails is not an easy or pleasant process for your best friend. To begin with this treatment, you will need:

Scissors or special nail clippers for dogs because they have the shape with curvature and are much harder. You can buy this at any pet store or large supermarket.

Gauze sterilized in case you cut a part of the nail matrix and hemorrhage appears.
Oxygenated water or astringent powder to be able to disinfect the area in the event of bleeding.

⦁ Before starting the cut itself, it is important that we know that the nail of the animal has, essentially, two parts:

Dead keratin: it is the part of the nail that should be cut a little to make it easier for our animal to walk and avoid sores or wounds.

Live keratin: is the part of the nail that still has to be cut because it contains nerve endings and blood vessels through which blood flows.

When we cut, we should try never to cut the living part because it could appear a small hemorrhage and cause pain to the dog. If the dog has white nails it is easy to differentiate which is each part because the area that has a pink tone is why the blood still runs. But if your dog has black nails, you will have to go more carefully and cut little by little, starting at the tip, to avoid damaging him.

⦁ As we have just commented, if your dog has a black nail it will be more complicated to get his nails cut, therefore, in a way, we recommend that you start by cutting the outer part of the nail and observe the rest of the nail: if you see that See all white, you can cut a little more.

Surely, after this intervention, you will see that in the center of the nail a body begins to appear as gelatinous, it is the indicator that shows you that it is time to stop cutting because you are approaching the living part.

Clipping your dog’s nails:

Cutting the nails to a dog is a simple but delicate task because if it is not done correctly we can damage it.
Although the dogs’ nails are naturally filed off by the wear and tear produced by contact with the ground while the dog is running or walking, sometimes it is not enough and some of them need to be cut.
If they are not cut, the nails continue to grow and tend to curve inward preventing the animal to walk properly and even causing wounds to sink into the flesh.

Nail trimmers:

Special attention must be paid to the dog’s spur (or fifth finger) as it does not maintain contact with the ground and, consequently, does not lime naturally. Therefore the nail of the spur will grow even more than the rest of the fingers.

When it comes to cutting our dog’s nails it is important that we are sure of doing it and that we remain calm.

It is an uncomfortable situation for the dog, which causes some anxiety. If, in addition, our pet sees us nervous and insecure, it will tend to feel worse and this can cause an accidental cut that damages the dog.

If we are not completely sure we know how to clip nails of any dog, it is best to go directly to our trusted veterinarian and be the one who does it.

Once we make the decision to cut our nails ourselves, we must buy special scissors for it.

Scissor type:

These scissors are similar to ours, but with the short and rounded tip. When acquiring them we must indicate to the employee of the establishment if we need them for a dog of big size, medium or small, because there are different models (some called guillotine) to cut more or less hard and more or less thick nails.

Before starting to cut and in order to avoid that the situation is very unpleasant for our dog, we can have your favorite snacks on hand and reward you as you carry it properly, be calm and be still.

Part of the dog’s nails:

The dog’s nail is made up of a part of dead keratin (which is the one that we must remove) and a part where the nerve and the blood vessel end.

If our dog has clear nails, we will differentiate without problems the two parts looking towards the light and we will cut little by little each nail in a straight way without ever touching the blood vessel. The ideal is to leave at least 2 mm from this fleshy area of the nail.

how to clip nails of any dog: To cut the nails of the hind legs, if our dog has a hard time standing still, we can lay him on his side.

If our dog has dark nails, we can not differentiate the naked eye as far as the nerve. In this case, we will cut the nail of our dog (keeping it standing and with the legs supported) little by little until it is at ground level.