How To--and Why you should keep a Dogs Nails Short

The dog's paws and the pasterns work together to absorb the shock of jumping and running and to provide flexibility of movement.  It is very important to keep your dogs nails short.

A proper introduction to the Dremel is the most important step to grinding your dog's nails. I do it in a process over a period of days or even a couple of weeks depending on the dog's sensitivity and temperament. First, all I do is just get the Dremel out and let the dog explore it.  I then turn it on and off in the room with the dog and give the dog a treat for examining it . After this is going well,I have the dog lay down and I just touch the Dremel to one nail and give the dog a treat with lots of praise. Please note, I just "touch" it. I do not actually grind the nail down. Then, gradually I touch 2 nails and then a whole foot of nails... followed by a treat. I build up with a treat after each nail then wean down to a treat after each paw. Finally, I work up to doing all the nails on all the paws and the dog gets a treat and praise when all done.   Once I do start grinding the nails, it "feels" very similar to the dog because I only spend a few seconds on each nail.   When I first start grinding the nails, I do not try to grind them completely short . I grind the nails on one paw only, and then just "touch" the nails on the others. And, I do not try to get that one paw down to the maximum shortness. I want the experience to be positive.   Build the grinding time up slowly and with all positive experiences. If you are a newbie to grinding and you try to go too short early on, you may nick a quick and that will not be a "positive" experience. So, building up slowly is better for both of you.

In order to grind nails effectively, it is important to understand the anatomy of the Nail.  The nail grows out from the base (closest to the paw). The nail consists of three main areas: the hard outer shell, the meaty area between the shell and the quick, and the quick area of the nail that will bleed if you nick it. The shell is the old growth. It is essentially dead material.  The dog has no feeling there.  The meat(right under the shell) is the new growth area that is in transition from quick to shell. It is not as hard as the shell, but it is not sensitive . Then, there is the quick. That is the portion of the nail that still is alive and growing with nerve endings in it and a steady blood flow. If you nick it , it will cause pain to the dog and it will bleed. The quick grows out from the base and narrows as it extends out into and ends in the meat and "dead areas" of the nail. It also has a tendency to curve down inside the nail towards the ground. Overgrown nails usually curve down in an arc.

When you grind the nails, you bring the outer protective edge and covering of nail back closer to the quick. The natural reaction to having less protection out there is that the sensitive quick recedes. Thus, when you grind the nail, the closer you can come to the quick without nicking it, the further back you can force it to recede and the shorter you can eventually get the nail to be.  So, the goal, when trying to get nails shorter, is to get the quick to recede back from the tip of the nail. In order to do this, you want to come as close as you can without hitting the quick. This is where the angle on the tip you grind is important.

;If you grind the nail tip perpendicular to the floor (straight up and down), you can get more of the nail off close to the quick without actually nicking the quick.  Also, I later grind off the sides and corners so that they are not so rough and square.  Then just touch the underside of the nail with the grinder.

Always support the toe and nail you are currently working on.  This enables you to have better control in case your dog moves the paw so you don't accidentally grind fur or pads instead. If you push slightly on the underside of the pad, it will extend the nail out a bit further for easier grinding: Nails are easier to maintain short.   In some nails, the quick will never recede back to as short as it once was, and you will never get the nails back without "quicking" them (they will bleed some).

I try to grind the nails about once a week   Some of my dogs nails seem to grow faster than others.    Actually, on longer nails you can do them every 3 days to attempt to get a shorter nail.

When I grind the nails, I start off by going straight across the underside of the nail.  I take off the curling down point of the nail tip and bring it up to flush with the bottom of the nail. IT will then be a straight line.  I then  take off the top front edge of the nail somewhat at a slant from the tip to the top of the nail.  After that, I begin my straight vertical edge across the tip of the nail, coming back gradually to the quick. As you take back the tip, it will be solid then you will start to see a two-textured arch. You will see the hard outer shell on top and the meat under that, sometimes it looks grey or white in color.This is the quick that you are approaching and is the point at which you should stop grinding .

I then take off all the rough corners to give the nails a smooth rounded finish. As a nice finishing touch, a little Vaseline adds a nice black gloss to the nails.