Clipping & Trimming Nails for the Basic Health of a Dog

Video Transcript

Hi, I'm Jim Leske, animal trainer and behaviorist for Expert Village. We're here today to talk about clipping your dog's nails. This can be a very very stressful operation for both dog and owner, if not done correctly. If your dog has never had his or her nails clipped, or if you've had a bad experience in the past, the first thing I want to do is start making it a good thing. Bear, stay. Good boy. And the way I do that is that while I'm giving him a treat, I'm clicking the nail clippers in his ear while he's chewing on the cookie. This helps put the noise into a much more positive sense from Bear's point of view. So now, the other benefit to that is that while he's chewing on the cookie, he's -- it's called a "positive distraction". He's focusing on getting this cookie, while I'm trimming his nails. Very very very good. Okay? So thanks for helping us out. Now, the other thing you want to look out for is that dogs that have black claws can be very very challenging to trim their nails, and the reason being is that inside their nails is something called a quick. A quick is very similar to a vein and if you cut the quick, you can make them bleed very badly, so you have to look very very closely. In a dog that has light or white-colored claws, it will be very easy to see the vein or the quick in those claws. I have here a pair of clippers that has a guard on the back, and this prevents me from cutting too much off at a time. This comes in very very handy, especially if the dog has the darker claws. So herewith, generally speaking, I'm looking at Bear's claws, they're all in very very good shape. Very trimmed, okay? But I'm just going to do, I'm just still going through the motions. This helps Bear think that the whole idea of getting her nails trimmed is a good one. Many dogs that get enough exercise don't need a nail trim, other than this one up here. This is called their dew claw. It doesn't touch the ground and it often grows very very very long. His are in very very good shape, but we'll just trim just a little hair off there. Very good boy! Very good! Very good. Back here we've got one that could use just a little bit, and while he's finishing his cookie -- good boy! Very very good! With a little bit of practice and patience you'll see you can make nail clipping a very very fun and exciting very non-stressful environment for you and your dog.

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