Trimming your puppy’s nails might sound like tedious work. Most people dread it, so they postpone the task until the puppy turns six months old, which they shouldn’t. Today, I am going to share with you an easy guide on how to cut puppy nails.
Let go of your fear and start early. Start as soon as you adopt your kennel, and do it regularly. The routine will help the puppy grow accustomed to it, and so lessen the burden on you.
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How to Cut Puppy Nails – Why do it?
If your baby’s nails grow a bit, are you going to not trim them out of fear, even though you know the consequences of not doing so? Just like how baby nails could collect germs and bacteria under them, the same goes to puppies.
And there are more reasons than just preventing the nails from harboring bacteria and germs. Here are four other horrific consequences related to neglecting to trim your kennel’s nails
- Ripped nails
- Torn nails
- Joint Pain
- Damaged paw beds
Ripped nails
If your Kennel’s nails get too long, they will often get them stuck in carpets and other furniture. Your puppy will engage in a tug of war until they break free. Unfortunately, sometimes the thing that gets entirely pulled out and truly breaks free is the puppy’s nail. And yes, it is as painful as it sounds!
This exposes the quick, which is what supplies the claws with blood as they run through the claw, so expect to see your puppy bleeding.
The best thing to do is to take your puppy to the vet. They’ll probably prescribe some antibiotics and pain killers for your dog.
Torn nails
How does one break a nail? Long nails could easily break and tear during any activity that involves using one’s hands. The same thing happens to dogs. If their claws get too long, and they engage in a rough game, their nails will tear.
That isn’t the worst part. The hard outer shell of their nails isn’t the only thing affected. The split could reach the quick, causing so much pain. Like with ripped nails, an infection might occur, and you’ll have to visit your vet.
Joint Pain
Dogs with long nails walk in a plantigrade position. This is a position where the dogs walk on the sole of their feet. In the plantigrade position, the long nails push the dog’s toes upwards and force the heels to come downwards in an attempt to restore balance.
This causes a strain on your kennel’s muscles in their legs. The pressure applied to the now changed bone alignment causes joint pain.
Damaged paw beds
Dog nails tend to curl when they grow too long. The tip of their sharp claws could push into the soft tissue of their paw beds and cause a lot of pain and inflammation.
A vet visit is mandatory because antibiotics and pain medications should be prescribed, yet again.
Save your puppy from these unnecessary pains, and regularly trim their nails. Let us talk about what you’ll need and how to clip puppy nails.
How to Cut Puppy Nails – What you’ll need
You are only going to need three things. These three things are:
- Clippers
- File
- Treats
How to Cut Puppy Nails – How to to do it
Before we start, I would like to calrify something. Dogs with black nails get a different regime because the quick can’t be seen.
If you too scared to trim your puppy’s black nails because the pink quick isn’t visible, then use a file to shorten their nails. You can check out our How to Trim Black Dog Nails The Safest Way blog post for more details.
Now that this is out of the way, here is how to trim your puppy’s nails.
This is going to be their first experience with getting their nails did, so we want to make it a positive one. This is where the treats come in handy. Place your puppy on a table and start feeding them their treat with one hand, and separate each finger of their paws and squeeze out all the nails.
The dog will associate this act with something positive since they’re getting a reward in return.
Add some more treats in front of them, and start trimming little bits of their nails. Make sure to leave between the quick and the area where you’re using the clipper a minimum of half an inch.
Refill the area in front of your puppy with treats and pat them after every nail you finish. Once you trim all of the nails, use the file to smooth down any rough edges left behind from the clipper.
How to Cut Puppy Nails – How often to do it
If your puppy doesn’t have a lot of outdoor activities, then stick to a regular routine of nail trimming once weekly.
However, if they do go on a lot of runs outside, this could be reduced to once every two to three weeks.
I hope that you now feel more confident with trimming your puppy’s nails and understand the bad outcomes resulting from long nails. Let us know how your first puppy trimming experience went in the comments down below.
