Dog Nail Trimming Tips: Teach Dog to Use Scratchboard

April 24, 2015 by Fanna Easter

How to Teach Your Dog to Use a Scratchboard

You’ve built a size-appropriate nail scratchboard and now it’s time to teach your dog how to drag her front nails across it. You’ll need a clicker, lots of yummy treats (about the size of a pea), scratchboard and a room with a door.

Room With a Door

During the beginning stages, choose a small room with a door for dog training sessions. Before starting a dog training session, click and treat your dog for walking into the room and close the door behind you. By closing the door, you’re keeping your dog with you while minimizing distractions (e.g. movement around the house). Usually, I use our bathroom so my dogs associate it with fun instead of bath time. 🙂

This is not the torture room. This closed room means choice and fun, as your dog can decide to not participate. Remember, choice is a powerful reinforcer–sometimes even more so than food!

Placement of Scratchboard

After a few trials and errors, I discovered maximum nail filing when placing the scratchboard at a 45-degree angle to the ground. At this angle, your dog files the bottom portion first and then the middle and top of nail, forming a nice rounded and smooth nail. When keeping the scratchboard flat on the ground, I noticed a blunter bottom portion instead of a rounded nail tip, which seemed to grow out faster.

First Training Sessions

Goal: Positively introduce your dog to scratchboard.

Gather needed supplies, bring your dog into your chosen room, close the door and have a seat on the floor. Place treats on the seat of a chair before beginning each session. Basically, treats are kept up high so you can easily reach while keeping your dog from self snacking. Next to your treats, place the scratchboard. Placing the board on the floor means “let’s scratch at the board” to your dog. Plus you don’t want to miss any nail drags.

Place bottom of board on floor and leave top against your leg. The front should be facing your dog.
When your dog looks at, walks toward or touches her front paw on the board, click and toss her a treat.
Usually, looking at and walking toward the board happens during your first training session. Your dog is learning that the board means something so she’s going to investigate, which you will heavily reward.
Practice 5-10 times and end training session.

Paw on Board

Goal: Teach dog to touch paw to board.

Settle in chosen room, and set up treats and scratchboard.
Place board on ground with top portion leaning against your legs. Get ready. When the board is in place, this gives your dog the green light to start offering paw movements.
Click and treat paw touches (either paw or both) even if for a nanosecond.
After 5-10 treats, end training session.

If Dog Walks Away During Training Session

This can happen. Think of it as a temperature check of your training session. If your dog walks away, there are a few things going on:

Your dog is confused. She’s not sure what you’re asking her. Take a step back and click/treat for looking, walking toward and touching the scratchboard. Your dog should think: “When I touch this board with my paw, I hear a click and get a treat.”
Your treats are boring. Hey, your dog chooses what she works for just like us. So find treats your dog loves and use in next training session.
Too many distractions: Turn down the TV, close blinds or play soft music to drown out loud sounds.
Up your rate of reinforcement: Ideally, you should be clicking and treating every 5-10 seconds. I know your dog is offering behaviors in that short time. If you’re not noticing these behaviors, you’ll be shocked at what you missed. 🙂

VIDEO: Teaching Dog to Use Nail Scratchboard

READ MORE: Natural Pest Control for Your Home

Building a Dog Nail Scratchboard

April 23, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Teaching Your Dog to Trim Her Nails With a Scratchboard

After finishing an entire tutorial on trimming your dog’s nails with clippers, I want to be upfront and honest. I’ve taught my dogs to trim their own front paw nails. In my opinion, it’s much easier and so much more fun for your dogs!

In the beginning, your dog will drag one front paw at a time across the scratchboard. Our goal is scratching two front paws (digging style) across the scratchboard, making dog nail trims quick and fun. Keep that in mind when building a scratchboard for your dog.

But what about filing down back nails? You can certainly follow these guidelines for teaching back paw scratches. I noticed dogs wear their back nails down naturally through daily activities, such as walking on concrete or running in the yard.

How to Build a Dog Nail Scratchboard

It’s pretty simple to build your own scratchboard. All you need is sandpaper, wood and staples. After building a few and trying them out with different sized dogs, it’s best to build a scratchboard based on your dog’s paw size.

Sandpaper

Introduce self nail filing using 80 grit sandpaper. This softer grit is more comfortable during the learning stage and less likely to scratch paw pads. Once your dog learns to drag only her nails across the scratchboard, lower the grit size slowly. Remember, higher grit numbers mean softer (less abrasive) grit, which will slowly file back your dog’s nails. Most dogs are comfortable dragging their nails across 30-40 grit sandpaper, which files down nails fast.

Dogs under 10 lbs: 80 grit.
Dogs between 10-25 lbs: Start with 80 grit and slowly introduce 40 grit (medium grit).
Dogs over 25 lbs: Start with 80 grit and slowly introduce to 30 grit (coarse grit).

If your dog is uncomfortable using a lower number (coarser) grit sandpaper, move up size. Now, coarser grit sandpaper won’t cause your dog’s nails to bleed. It’s dragging her nails across the scratchboard too many times that causes bleeding.

Wood Backing and Staples

Trim a 2×4 into two foot pieces and staple sandpaper around front, back and sides. Make sure staples are flush with the board. You don’t want your dog’s nails to get caught in a staple. When lowering grit, I just staple it over the previous grit. For larger nail scratchboards, wrap and staple entire surface with sandpaper.

For dogs under 30 lbs, I recommend stapling sandpaper around a two-foot long 2×4. Wrap around front and side, and staple behind (unused portion).
For large dogs, screw two pieces of 2×4 side by side (creating a wide area for the dog to scratch).
Giant breeds: screw three pieces of 2×4 side by side.

VIDEO: How to Build a Dog Nail Scratchboard

VIDEO: How to Build a Large Dog Scratchboard

You may also like: My Dog is a Messy Eater

Dog Nail Trimming Tips: Teaching Nail Drags Across Board

April 22, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Teaching Your Dog to Drag Her Nails Across Scratch Board

By now, your dog will place one paw on the scratch board, usually holding her paw still as you click and treat. Now, we’re clicking for a front nail drag along the board so get your clicker and treats ready.

Paw Drags

This is probably the most challenging part when teaching dogs how to use a scratch board. The timing of your click is important right now so you may want to practice your timing before moving forward. You’ll notice frustration creeping in. Take a deep breath. You and your dog will get it.

Goal: Using one paw (left, right or both front paws) to drag (slides paw down board) nails across board.

Settle in chosen room with door closed. Set up treats and scratch board.
Place board on ground with top portion leaning against your legs. Get ready. When board is in place, this gives your dog the green light to start offering paw movements.
Watch for when her paw slides down (click for either left or right front paw). This happens once your dog places her paw on the board.
- When she doesn’t hear a click, she will remove her paw from the board (meaning she’ll remove her paw and try to place her paw on the board again).
- Removing paw off board looks like a slide down the board. The moment you see this, click and treat! It usually takes two or three clicks at the right moment and she learns “Oh, moving paw downward on board earns treats. It’s not placing paw on board and holding still any longer.”
- Paw pads are tough so dragging across fine grade sandpaper is safe. For thin or sensitive paw pads, choose finer grit sandpaper grit, such as 100.
Practice five times and end session (place board on shelf).

Teach Dog To Trim Own Nails: Teaching Nail Drags

Nail Drags

Now, your dog understands to drag her paw along the scratch board. Great job! Now, we’ll wait for nail drags to happen. You may have noticed a few attempts when teaching paw drags. Since the scratch board is held at a 45-degree angle, your dog needs to extend out her paw to promote nail drags.

Goal: Dog drags nails across scratch board once.

Place scratch board against legs again, keeping at a 45-degree angle.
Wait for nails to touch board instead of paw pads. This usually happens at the beginning of a paw touch to board.
Some dogs place paw on board and then flex nails out. When this happens, click and treat!
Within two to three clicks, your dog will immediately offer nails dragged across board.
Now, don’t get greedy. Click and treat for one nail drag and not several, or you’ll totally confuse your dog. We’ll work on multiple nail drags later.
Practice five times, then pick up board and place on shelf.

READ MORE: Why Dogs Dislike Nail Trims

Trimming Dog Nails: Let’s Get Busy Scratching

April 21, 2015 by Fanna Easter

How to Teach Your Dog to File Her Nails

Once your dog will drag her nails along the scratch board, it’s time to ask for multiple scratches before clicking and treating. Grab a clicker and treats, and let’s get started.

Two Nail Drags

Goal: Two nail drags in a row.

Place nail scratch board in place.
Wait for two nails drags before clicking.
- About 50 percent of dogs will drag once, stop and look at you (or the clicker), waiting for the click sound. If they don’t hear the click sound, they’ll usually drag their nails again. Click and treat. The other 50 percent will remove their paws from the board, think for a moment, then offer two quick nail drags. Click and treat!
- Tip: Wait for second nail drag. If your dog becomes frustrated and leaves, then she is confused. Go back to single nail drags for a couple of training sessions and slowly wait for two nail drags.
Practice five times. Pick up board and end training session.

RELATED: Dog Nail Trimming Tools

Three Nail Drags

Goal: Three nail drags in a row

Follow the instructions for two nail drags.
If your dog gets stuck and you’re seeing results, there is nothing wrong with two nail drags for one treat. 🙂

Other Paw

Goal: Other paw (non-dominant paw) scratches board.

By now, your dog is probably switching paws in between nail drags. If not, move the scratch board directly in front of the non-scratch front paw. This usually gets it moving. When she offers her non-scratch paw, click and give her two treats. Trust me, she will notice and start offering it again!

Both Paws

Goal: Both paws scratch one after the other (digging motion).

Depending on your dog’s personality, this may have happened already. Stella (my Bull Terrier) offered this behavior in the beginning so I clicked and treated. Some dogs need to experiment and practice more, and some dogs may never offer this behavior. Remember, the goal is filing down nails. 🙂

Ask the Dog Trainer: What Should I Do With My Reactive Dog?

April 20, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Dealing With Reactive Dogs

I received this question from a pet parent dealing with dog reactivity, a common dog behavior. This is a tough situation for both dog and pet parent so this story inspired me to write detailed articles discussing tips on living with reactive dogs. Changing behavior is difficult, but it can be done!

Q: What should I do with my reactive dog?

I have a one-and-a-half-year-old male Red Heeler named Rocky. He was fine with people and other dogs I owned when I was living on five acres. I moved to a smaller house and he was still fine with my own dogs at home and with people inside his house (he is a big baby, but can get nervous sometimes). However, whenever I take him outside for a walk, he starts to bark, growl and be just really aggressive toward other dogs and sometimes even people. Now, he’s starting to pull at kids on bikes and he is really protective of me. Sometimes, he won’t even let people come near me. I really want to be able to take him someplace without the fear of him attacking someone. He is young and I am trying to train him myself by looking up information on YouTube and Google, but nothing seems to be working that well.

RELATED: Offensive Dog Aggression

A: Consult animal experts and read up.

You’ve taken the first step, and that’s searching for answers for sweet Rocky. Good for you! As a dog trainer, it’s extremely difficult to pinpoint exactly what causes Rocky to react without meeting him in person. So I’ll make a few broad suggestions here. I hope these help.

My first suggestion is investing in an expert dog trainer partnered with a veterinary behaviorist. While it seems expensive, you’ll likely have a quicker and better outcome, meaning Rocky will respond quicker. I know this isn’t your first choice, but I want to put this out there. It’s worth every penny.

If you’re interested in learning techniques to help Rocky, I highly recommend reading a few books. You can order them online or find them at your local library. Check out their websites for videos and additional details. These books even offer a list of BAT-certified dog trainers in your area too.

Lastly, dealing with fear can take some time. I highly recommend keeping Rocky away from triggers so he doesn’t practice his reactive behavior. I recommend walking Rocky in the evenings when it’s dark so he can’t easily see other dogs and people. Now, I’m not sure if Rocky is protecting you or himself. It could be both. Until you’re able to control situations, which you’ll learn by reading both books front to back, I would keep people and dogs away. Again, the more he practices reactive behavior, the worse it becomes–that I can guarantee.

Hugs to Rocky!

You may also like: 4 Tips for Renting with Large Dogs