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Nail cutting - is it always necessary?

6K views 44 replies 26 participants last post by  Richard Smek 
#1 ·
Hello guys,

I hope this new year started well for you and your family of humans and dogs ?

Two trainers that have seen my boy have told me that it is not necessary to cut his nails as they don’t touch the floor when he stands.

But they are really like 1 mm off the floor and they do click when he walks on concrete but yes don’t touch when he stands.

I have seen this YouTube video where it made the case that it is very bad not to cut the nails as this screws with posture and feet bones.

He hates having his nails cut so if I can do without this stress on him, I would rather do that.

Thanks you for your input.

Cheers

Mozi
 
#35 ·
You’ve got plenty of answers, I will say though if you keep them very active and especially if you let them do a bit of work on concrete, you’ll only have to trim the front.

So we’ve got that going for us, which is nice....
 
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#37 ·
Careful when using a Dremel. The grinding creates heat, if you do it wrong you'll know real soon. I clip my dogs nails but leave them long in the winter as here in Alaska we have snow and ice for about 6 months. They click clack on the hardwood but have traction outside. They are about 1/8-1/4 inch off the floor when standing!
 
#38 ·
I just keep my GSD dogs nails from getting too long as they can start to look like eagle talons....When I was a young man, I had a big male GSD that I never trimmed nails on, and on a camping trip with my family, my niece was playing with him with a stick. As these guys do, he took a swipe at her with his paw and caught her in the face. Opened a gash in her cheek that required 10 stitches and ruined camping trip as we had to pack up and rush her to doctor. I felt terrible about the incident and have kept my dogs nails trimmed ever since.
 
#43 ·
Whoever said high value treats, yup! I started Lillie off with bits of chicken breast, but now she gets just reg treats before and after. Also, on the Dremel heat thing, I count off 1001, 1002 etc. and don't do more than ten seconds on any one nail, could be seven or eight depending. Lillie gets a pedicure: http://tinyurl.com/y7plu95x
 
#44 ·
Our GSD hates nail trimming time and will actually jump when he hears the click of the cutters and try to pull his feet away. Luckily close to where we do our daily walks they just paves a bike/walking path and it appears to have some special coating for extra grip on the cement. This wears his nails down amazingly well much faster than normal cement and now no need for cutting. If anyone has anything similar near by its worth a try.
 
#45 ·
Nail cutting was always something Schevy dreaded. I never did get him used to it.
Then I switched him over to the Dremel and it was a huge improvement. Make sure you use the right attachment, select the right speed (about the middle or slower worked best for me). Don't know why the much noise Dremel was acceptable but the cutters were not. Likely because we had a few bleeders with the snippers when he was younger and he remembered the experience.
 
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