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Keeping nails longer in winter - thoughts?

6K views 37 replies 10 participants last post by  Cassidy's Mom 
#1 ·
I was going to grind my puppy's nails today but I'm having second thoughts. While we were out playing, I noticed that he's using his nails to claw into the ice and propels himself with them. I don't want to take away traction, so should I keep them a little longer? Our yard is a frozen tundra right now, with the snow packed down, and the ground frozen solid. The area where we play is actually pretty cool - the snow/ice/dirt/ has been scraped so much that it now resembles sand.

His nails aren't *long* long, still a tad shorter than his fur, but they're starting to click on the floor. But I don't want them to split either. Do SAR dogs keep their nails longer? Am I worrying too much, lol?
 
#2 ·
Do you ever walk him on asphalt or concrete? Most of the time Larger active breed dogs do not need their nails clipped. I took Zeus into get his nails clipped at the vets and the guy just looked at me stupid and said he didn't need it and as long as he was as active as he his now he will never need it. He is almost a year and a half and his nails are not long at all. My vet said walking them on concrete files them down? Dunno the truth behind it but kind of makes sense.
 
#4 ·
SAR is 'Search And Rescue' and I wondered if those dogs, having to climb over all sorts of terrain, used their nails more. Of course, like you say, they probably get ground down naturally doing that, lol. We don't have any concrete here, but when I had dogs in the city I never had to clip their nails. Right now it's all snow and even if I was to find a nice hard surface to walk him on, it would be covered in salt, ugh.
 
#5 ·
I do continue to clip nails throughout the winter, I want the quick kept low. Neither of my dogs has any trouble getting traction with shorter nails.

I do not believe that larger breed active dogs don't need their nails clipped. Maybe if you ONLY exercised them on concrete, but then I would be more worried about joint impact than nails.

My two Shepherds are very active (2-4 hours a day exercise, classes, endurance training, swimming), and I clip their nails about every 3 weeks. Their nails stay short on their own for a longer period of time, because they are active, but I still need to clip them. That said, the only time they are working on concrete is when we are working streetproofing, and running beside the bike for 2-3 minutes on our way to the trails.

If I can hear the clicking on the floor, for me they are too long. If the dog can't scratch themselves successfully (provide relief of the itch) then the nails are too short.
 
#6 ·
You can see his nails in the pic. They have not one time been cut in a year and a half and they are not long. I walk him around the block every night but thats all the time he spends on concrete. You can believe it or not but here is some proof for ya :)

And I hear no clicking on my floor
 

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#9 ·
You can see his nails in the pic. They have not one time been cut in a year and a half and they are not long. I walk him around the block every night but thats all the time he spends on concrete. You can believe it or not but here is some proof for ya :)

And I hear no clicking on my floor
This is about double the length I keep my dogs nails, they just peek from under the toe fur, so maybe we just have different opinions about what short is :crazy:

Either way, as long as the dogs feet are healthy and the nails are good, then whatever works for the dog and handler.
 
#7 ·
Is my dog the only one that has fast growing nails! I take Bear every two weeks to have his nails dremmeled (he won't let me do it, believe me I've tried!) We walk more than a mile every day, 2 times a day on concrete/asphalt surface and his nails still grow like crazy! I would rather have my dog's nails a little shorter than longer.
 
#17 ·
Keefer's nails grow very fast too, and they're very hard - it's like dremeling concrete! Fortunately, he's very cooperative about having his nails done because it takes easily twice as long to dremel them down as it does to do Halo's.

This is about double the length I keep my dogs nails, they just peek from under the toe fur, so maybe we just have different opinions about what short is :crazy:
Zeus's nails look long to me too, that's the "before" look for my dogs, and even after I dremel, Keefer's still usually clack on the floor a little. Maybe it's the way he walks.
 
#11 ·
Sorry Balnketback, I don't mean to sidetrack your thread but I was wondering.
If you let the nails grow longer then does the quick grow with it? Meaning you will only be able to trim the nails just so because of the quick? Does that make sense?

Sorry if it's a dumb question, but I always tried to keep the nails short because if you let them grow too much you will only be able to cut them back so far.
 
#37 ·
The quick does grow as the nail grows thats why its good to keep your dogs nails from getting too long and keep them fairly short. Because if you let them grow too much and then go to cut them, and do so too short. you will cut into the quick and make the dogs nail bleed. It is painful to have their nail cut too short..
 
#26 ·
When a dog is standing, his nail should NEVER be protrude past his pad, therefor hitting the floor (when they walk they still may click depending on how high and at what angle they lift their feet). If a dog's nails are that long, they end up walking on their nails, causing an uneven gait that can cause limb injury/soreness. I have seen this first hand.

Personally, I keep the nails as short as I can. Once that kwik lengthens, it can be a pain getting it down short again. Even dogs with short nails can flex their paws and grip you/other objects. A dog with short nails will have no problem in the snow.

This is the longest the nails should ever be allowed to be
 
#31 ·
It's not so much that they're long, it's that they're pointed, although for just being done a week ago they are pretty long. That point is the part I take off, like in this drawing:



This is how I do it: How to Dremel Dog Nails @ DoberDawn.com
 
#32 ·
Oh, I see what you mean. I take him to the groomer to have his nails done. She clips them at the angle in which they grow and Dremels the bottom side, not the front.

I clip my little dog's nails myself, but I haven't tried Jerry's yet. His nails are lighter than my other dog's, but it makes me nervous to do it. Especially since he's so well-behaved during nail trims - I don't want to hit the quick and mess that up.

His nails probably wouldn't click if they were done like Halo's.

Sent from Petguide.com Free App
 
#34 ·
Oh, I see what you mean. I take him to the groomer to have his nails done. She clips them at the angle in which they grow and Dremels the bottom side, not the front.
Can you ask her to do it the other way? You can actually take quite a bit more off the nail without risking cutting into the quick if you do it the way Doberdawn suggests on her website. I do it myself, but if I were paying someone else to do it I'd definitely want them to do it as short as possible, so I didn't have to do it as frequently. The nice thing about the dremel is that even if you do hit the quick there's not the gush of blood you get with clippers, and it doesn't seem to hurt the dog either. I've accidentally gone a little too far with the dremel and didn't even realize it until I was a nail or two past that and noticed a tiny ooze of blood. No shrieking and yanking the paw away like there would have been if I clipped too short.

First off, I am JEALOUS of Halo's nails! Haha even with dremmeling, many don't get that short (or I just don't have the patience to do Zeke's nails often enough to shorten them that much :blush: )
Oh, don't be - she's a drama queen and hates having it done, so it's no picnic for either of us, lol! It takes much longer to do Keefer's since they grow at least twice as fast and are twice as hard, but fortunately he's very cooperative. When Halo's patience with the process is over, we are DONE! :laugh: Consequently, we tend to procrastinate and don't do it as often as we should.
 
#33 ·
First off, I am JEALOUS of Halo's nails! Haha even with dremmeling, many don't get that short (or I just don't have the patience to do Zeke's nails often enough to shorten them that much :blush: )

That being said, Jerry's nails ARE short enough to not cause problems, even though the tips could of been done in more to shorten them. I would not be concerned with that length, that is usually what I keep Zeke at. If you place your hand or another straight edge along the bottom of the pads, imitating how the food would look if it were standing flat, you would see that his nails do NOT protrude past the pad. Therefor, no physical problem when walking :)

 
#35 ·
Thanks everyone for posting the pictures and diagrams. Wow Debbie, I'm impressed - those are great looking nails, especially knowing that Halo hates getting them done! My puppy's look more like Jerry's, still below the fur but needing a trim. I like dremeling them on the angle that Doberdawn suggests, and I don't grind the undersides, just the front tip of the nail itself - with a quick sideways grind to smooth them out.
 
#36 ·
Halo has become more of a diva as time goes on - she's actually worse about having her nails done than she used to be, so I rarely manage to do that good a job anymore. That picture is from a couple of years ago.

Found some more pics I took awhile ago, I think this was Dena:



That's what I aim for, but I don't always succeed! And here's Keefer right after a dremel (6 months old :wub:):



His aren't that even, but we were still working on it at that point. Now he's really good about having it done.
 
#38 ·
The dremel is great for that, you can grind off a tiny bit every couple of days, allowing the quick to recede between each session. It's difficult to take a small amount off with clippers, which is why I prefer a dremel. Every 2 or 3 weeks should be fine for maintenance, but you can do it twice a week until you get to that point.
 
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