Many dogs naturally wear their nails down by walking and play, especially if the walk involves hard surfaces. An inactive dog may not wear their nails down.
The easiest, stress-free way to keep those nails filed down is “naturally.” This happens when your dog is walking or running on rough surfaces enough to keep the nails short.
The dog will usually not be able to grind all of their nails down evenly, so you may still need to use another method. Long walks can wear down your dog's nails naturally over time. In the wild, wolves and coyotes keep their nails short through digging and running after prey for hours.
Some dogs will naturally wear down their nails from frequent walks on concrete sidewalks, but if your dog primarily gets their exercise outside, their nails may need to be trimmed as much as once a week.
The quick will begin to recede within days. Continue grinding the nail regularly every 2-3 days until the quick recedes to an acceptable length. Be patient. If your dog's feet have been neglected for months or years, it might take months to shorten those nails to a healthy length.
Taking your dog for regular walks, including on hard surfaces such as pavements, will help to shorten their claws, but may not be enough to keep them as short as they should be.
Know How Short to Cut Your Dog's Nails
As a general rule, it's enough to grind away the pointed tip until the nail looks relatively straight.
In some cases, the nails can also split down to the quick. Not only would that be painful, but there would be a high risk of infection. Finally, it can affect their ability to stand and walk. Left long enough, it can even cause bone deformities.
An inactive dog may not wear their nails down. Similarly an older dog will often favour grass and softer ground and will prefer not to walk on hard surfaces, so their nails will not naturally wear down as much either. It is therefore important to keep your dog's claws well trimmed at the correct length.
While it's likely that you'll have to trim your dog's nails fairly regularly, taking your dog on walks outdoors can help cut down on the number of trimmings a dog needs. This is because hard surfaces like concrete and pavement can wear down a dog's nails naturally.
Just like in humans, dog's nails continuously grow. Wild dogs naturally wear down their nails due to the amount of exercise (walking, running) they do on uneven and rough terrain. Our domestic dogs don't normally get enough exercise on harsh surfaces to file their nails down.
Adult dogs may be fearful of the clippers and the sound they make, especially if they had a previous bad experience (having the nail trimmed too short or “quicked”). Desensitizing older dogs to nail trimming takes patience. The process cannot be rushed.
At the center of every dog nail is a bundle of nerves and blood vessels called a quick. Cutting this quick, or even applying pressure to the area around it, can cause your dog immense pain. Some breeds, such as Shiba Inus, pugs, shepherds, labs, and bully breeds, seem to have exceptionally sensitive quicks.
The other advantage of grinding vs. clipping is how the high-speed filing makes it easy to round off the tip of the nail, whereas clipping often leaves sharp edges. If your dog tends to paw at people for attention, this can be problematic until the nails naturally wear down into a more rounded shape.
A healthy canine's nails are oval-shaped but broader at the toe and narrower towards the tips. Like human nails, dog claws are made of the protein keratin. Dog nails are typically a similar color to the skin of their paw pads. So if the paw pads are pink, the nails will be transparent with a visible light pink quick.
Filing dog nails provides more control and less chance of damaging the quick. Regular nail trims also prevent a painful condition where the nerve and blood supply extends into overgrown nails.
In most cases, after a dog's nails are trimmed the quick will start to recede after about 7 days. Depending on how long your dog's nails and quicks are, it might take a few months before you can get their nail to the desired length.
Dogs need their nails clipped on a regular basis, approximately every 3-4 weeks; however, it is common for owners to wait too long in between trimmings which can lead to a number of health issues for the animal.
A dog's nails should be clipped often enough that they remain short enough to not click on the ground when a dog walks. Long nails that touch the ground may cause discomfort for your dog, and potentially cause problems down the road.
With your furry friend standing in front of you with their front legs under their shoulders, check their nails. Are they touching the ground? If so, then they're too long. And if you hear your dog's nails clicking or see them turn sideways, it's time for a trim.
Support the dog's toe firmly but gently. Grind across the bottom of the nail and then carefully in from the tip of the nail, smoothing rough edges. For better control, hold the grinder higher up, towards the top. If your dog has long hair, make sure to keep it back from the grinding tool so it doesn't get caught.
One of the most common foot issues in domestic dogs is long toenails. Ideally, the nails should not touch the ground when standing on a firm level surface, but are long enough to provide traction when climbing a hill or digging.
Grinding a dog's nails should be done regularly. Depending on your dog's breed, age, and how fast their nails grow, you should give their nails a trim at least once every 3-4 weeks. Of course, if you begin to hear your dog's nails click-clacking on the floor, this is your sign it's trimming time!
Ask for a sedated nail trim.
Unless there is a medical reason not to sedate your dog, your vet should be able to do a sedated trim. Being sedated should make the nail trim process less traumatic for your pup.
So if your puppy whines when you are cutting his nails, it doesn't necessarily mean you've hurt him. It may just be that he's anxious about the process and the strange pressure on his nails.