How to cut puppy nails
Here are some tips for low-stress nail cutting with puppies. Prepare a tub of delicious small treats – the more delicious the better, ready in a pot. Sit on the floor with the pot out of reach at this stage if you can which will allow your puppy to come and go and concentrate on the training session and not on the food. Now aim to do a 2-5 mins session with success being the name of the game. Separate each activity into mini training sessions such as:
- Having your puppy lying on their back, feed carefully for staying in that position
- You holding their paw
- You squeezing a toe to show the nail
- You holding the clippers and touching the metal to a nail
- You holding their paw, squeezing their toe, touching the metal to a toe AND then cutting a tiny amount of nail
During each session, feed often and thoughtfully to reinforce the desired behaviour which in this case is stillness.
How to cut adult dog nails who are new to the experience or with prior negative experience
Here are some tips for low-stress nail cutting with adult dogs. With dogs new to the experience, Chirag Patel’s Bucket Game is a way of gaining stillness for husbandry procedures – search ‘The Bucket Game’ on YouTube to find out more!
With dogs already showing behaviours associated with fear such as growling and biting, working with a behavioural trainer, versed in animal-friendly husbandry training will reap rewards who This is not obedience training; this is teaching a lifelong skill to an animal who for whatever reason has a prior negative experience. With patience, it can be taught.
What could I do in the meantime?
Pavement walks naturally shorten some nails. Why not try scratchboard training. See here for training this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYe-eKUSDmI. Nail filing is also an alternative sensation that may be less intrusive than cutting.
The art of cutting nails
Would you like to learn more? For just £20, attend renowned trainers Alex Collins’ special event All About Nails, hosted by Healthy Pet Store on Sunday 8th September. Book your space here: https://rb.gy/1uowpp