Trimming a Dog’s Back Nails
Trimming a dog’s nails can be difficult, especially if your dog hates nail trims. Holding your dog down to trim his nails only makes him hate dog nail trimming even more, and eventually he’ll learn to bite. There’s an easier way to keep your dog’s nails trimmed, and you don’t even have to touch your dog’s nails!
Trimming Back Nails
Instead of trimming a dog’s nails, teach him to grind back his own nails. You’ll need pea-sized treats, a concrete surface and your dog. Sit outside, preferably on the ground, and toss treats along your driveway.
Now, there’s an art to tossing treats for maximum back nail grinding. Instead of throwing treats up high, toss them along the concrete surface—almost like skipping a rock across a lake. Listen carefully as your dog scampers across the rough surface; you should hear his nails scraping along the concrete. If not, grab really good treats (e.g. cheese chunks) and toss about 3-4 feet away from you. Once your dog learns to run after a treat, slowly increase the distance.
Keep sessions short, about 3-4 minutes, but practice every other day to shorten nails quicker. Running and chasing treats for a long distance can cause paw damage because your dog is using his paw pads to stop himself, so keep the total distance traveled under 6 feet.
Watch your dog’s paw pads during this process to ensure he’s not rubbing his paw pads raw, and only play this game on cool concrete.
WATCH: How to Teach a Dog To Trim His Own Back Toenails
Trimming Front Nails
For front nails, teach your dog to scratch his nails against a sandpaper-covered board. Dogs get really good at this behavior so much so they can scratch their nails bloody. For details and a video demonstrating this behavior, check out this article on DIY dog nails.
Keep dog training sessions short, about 2-3 minutes per day, and practice every other day. Once your dog’s front nails are shorter, it will take a day for the quick to recede back a bit, so your dog won’t bleed.
WATCH: Trimming Dog Nails With a Scratchboard
https://youtu.be/XXx8HTT2has
Put down those nail trimmers, and teach your dog to trim his own nails instead!
