Cutting Dog Toenails -- video transcript

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Begin by lifting the paw, and if needed pull the hair back. I separate each toe, and then I support it with my fingers. You can see the white end, and for a light toenail like this, you can always tell where to cut. So, you cut until the center, as this black part down here looks like a jelly, gummy bear. It has the texture of Jell-O or clearness. It has shine to it. Versus if you don't cut it enough, it's white and powdery. It doesn't look like a jelly, or a gummy bear texture. So you keep cutting it. Even there, it's still white and powdery. So I'm going to take another slice off – and there.

So here, Duncan has a black toenail and this one's actually half and half. So on the half and half it's still easy to see where to cut. Okay, so there I've reached Jell-O. So the black toenail is very similar. It's white and chalky. You need to take another slice off and there it's become Jell-O-like, or jelly consistency – gummy bear compared.

This is a toenail clipper. I like to use this one because it's lightweight and maneuverable. There's a spring here, and there's a lock on this side, so when you're actually storing it, you can lock it closed. So you open it, and the actual toenail of the dog goes through this area here – good boy. Now this mechanism here is a guard, so here I can stick my fingernail far, but it's too far for the guard to cover it. So if I put the guard in, then my fingernail only goes through limited.

This is a battery-operated nail grinder, often called a dremel, which is also a brand name. So a lot of people actually use the dremels – Duncan, turn around. Come here – dremels to grind the whole toenail versus clipping it. So I just want to show you what I do afterwards. So what I like to do is just grind of the edges. If they have dewclaws you need to trim them also, just as you would a toenail that's on the foot.

So if you actually trim a nail too close, what you want to have available is Kwik Stop. This just happens to be one variety of Kwik Stop. To use Kwik Stop, you wanna put some in the lid. I didn't cut any of his nails, but what you would do is, if this was a nail that was bleeding, then you actually tap it into the Kwik Stop and that stops the bleeding.

How often should you trim toenails? I like to trim them about once a week, because then I don't hear the click-click-click of the toenails on my tile or hardwood floor. Generally, the more often you trim them, the more use to it the dog is, and the less you have to take off, and the less likely you are to hit the quick.

All right, so this is Daphne, who does not like to have her toenails trimmed, and actually she's being fairly good. So the best way to get a puppy use to trimming toenails is to pick up their legs and just let them get use to you holding onto their paw. Once they're holding still – and it may take many times of trying it – then you can trim a toenail. Okay, so let me just show again. She has to get use to this time, holding it, trim a toenail – good girl! If she wiggles again, I just once again, wait until she settles down, calms down, and realizes that I'm gonna be the winner of this outcome and that I'll be the one to trim the toenails – good girl!

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By: Susan Stekoll

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