Using a nail grinder is slower but safer, and it doesn't require as much hand strength. Generally speaking, you need to trim your dog's nails every four to six weeks. Letting them grow too long can lead to health problems like splayfoot and injure your dog's tendons.
Clipping and grinding are equally efficient and safe ways to trim your pup's nails. Clippers are cheaper and less noisy, while dremels are louder and more expensive but more precise and efficient. Whichever you choose, nail maintenance is still an inconvenient and challenging task for dog parents.
A nail grinder is a fast rotating tool with a sanding head. The idea is that this files down the dogs toenail. This leaves you with a smoother, rounded edge. This means less chance of scratching you, or your furniture.
With grinding, you very slowly eat away layers of the nail, which makes it harder to affect the quick. Grinding also allows you to smooth out the cut, whereas clipping could leave some sharp edges. The drawbacks of grinding are the noise, dust and heat.
Clip only the tip of the nail, straight across. Include the dewclaws, located on the inner side of the paw. Avoid clipping past the curve of the nail or you risk hitting what is called the quick (the pink area of the nail that contains the blood vessels). A nick there is painful and will bleed.
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.
It's best to use the nail grinder every 7-10 days for maintenance. For dogs with long hair, trim the hair around the toes prior to filing, and move the Dremel around constantly to avoid friction that can cause an uncomfortable warming sensation.
Nail grinders are designed to reduce the risk of pain. The process of nail trimming itself likely won't hurt your dog, especially if you don't place the file directly to their nails for too long. Basically, if your dog is calm, and you make sure to trim the nail slowly, the grinder should never hurt your pup.
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 grinding tool can give a smoother finish to the nail than the clipper and works well on thick nails. When working with dogs that have black nails, there is less chance of hitting the quick because owners feel that they have more control in the trimming process.
Listen out for your dog on a hard surface: if you can hear the nails clicking, it's time to get the grinder out. Dogs that don't regularly exercise on hard surfaces, such as older dogs, will need a trim more often, as their nails don't wear down as much.
This is called the pulp, and it looks like a black spot in the middle of your dog's nail. The pulp is located right before the quick, so once you see it, you'll know it's time to stop cutting or grinding the nail.
Nail Care for Dogs. If your dog spends a lot of time outside on hard, rough surfaces, they will naturally have their nails 'filed down' for them by the ground. However, for the most part, you'll have to trim your dog's nails from time to time.
Survival instinct
The main reason dogs hate getting their nails clipped is because of the pain. It doesn't hurt them if they are clipped correctly but if your dog has been cut too close to their nerve in their nail, even once, he will remember it.
For overgrown dog nails, you'll need to clip long nails weekly. This gives the quick time to recede toward the paw. Once your dog's nails are finally at an acceptable length, keep trimming back his nails on a weekly basis. If you skip a week or two, your dog's nails will start touching the ground.
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.
When you fail to trim your dog's nails on a regular basis, the quick grows with the nail. In some cases, when the nails are extra long, the quick may lengthen so much that it reaches the tip of the nail. When this happens, you won't be able to trim much of the nail without risking cutting through the quick.
The growth pattern of a dog's nails forms a curved shape. If left untrimmed, the claws will eventually curve under the dog's paws and dig into the skin, creating pain when they walk. Anyone who has ever experienced an ingrown toenail can attest to the amount of pain this will cause.
Nails soften if soaked in water. Try trimming nails after bathtime or let your dog stand in a few inches of water in the bathtub for about 15 minutes.
Get down low on the ground and look to see whether your dog's nails touch the ground. If they do, they are too long and should be trimmed. If you can hear your dog's nails clicking on your wood or tile floors when he walks, this is also a clear indicator that the nails are too long.
Dog's nails should extend enough to be seen, but should not go past the paw. If your dog has long hair, you may not be able to easily see the nails. But if the nails extend over the bottom of the paw pad you'll know your dog's nails are too long.