# How short to clip nails?



## cassadee7 (Nov 26, 2009)

My other dog has white (clear) nails so I can see the quick, so I am really nervous about cutting Saber's black nails too short and hurting her. I have only been clipping off a teeny bit every few days. How can I tell where to stop? I like short nails, but how can I tell when I am too close to the quick?


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## Caitydid255 (Aug 28, 2010)

I started Freyja off when she was a small pup. I just nipped the tip and kept up with it. On account of the continuous trimming she has short nails.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

For pups, just the tips.
As they get older you can feel where the nail begins to thicken, clip just below that. Keep on clipping Saber's nails so when she is a big girl she will accept it. Dianna paints Eris's nails, there are pics of her biting a sleeve with a hot pink manicure!!
Karlo pitches a fit even if I touch his feet, let alone his nails. So keep it up, I regret I didn't when he was young.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

I'm not sure how well this applies to puppies... But in adults with black nails, look at the underside of the nail. You can see the fleshy quick, and where it ends. Then get as close to that as you feel comfortable! 

I realize this will also be quite hard with a squirmy puppy lol... When I'm clipping nails of younger dogs I usually get them really tired out first and then approach them when they're laying on their side. That way you can look under the nail, and often finish clipping before they even notice you.


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## cassadee7 (Nov 26, 2009)

She does really good with the nail clipping, just lies there and waits for her treat. I clicker trainer her for nail trims because she was NOT having it at first.

When I look underneath I don't see anything different. But maybe it will be more obvious when she is older. All her nails are different lengths right now because at first I was pretty much doing what I could, a tiny bit or whatever.


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

Have you considered using a dremel?
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/pictures-pictures-pictures/151852-jake-loves-his-pedicures.html


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

Caitydid255 said:


> I started Freyja off when she was a small pup. I just nipped the tip and kept up with it. On account of the continuous trimming she has short nails.


I did the same with Abby. Don't know how short you are hoping for but after a year and a half of nipping tips they still don't go clickity click on the floor or street.


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## cassadee7 (Nov 26, 2009)

I have a Pedi Paws (I know, waste of money but it was $4 on clearance a year ago). I could try using that to round off the edges and see how she does. I still wouldn't know how to tell if I am close to the quick though.


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## Lesley1905 (Aug 25, 2010)

We usually clip and then use the pedi paw to smooth over!


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

cassadee7 said:


> I have a Pedi Paws (I know, waste of money but it was $4 on clearance a year ago). I could try using that to round off the edges and see how she does. I still wouldn't know how to tell if I am close to the quick though.


Well use the Pedi Paws to desensitize her after you clip the tips. I love using a dremel...you can get them shorter and nice and smooth. If you use the Pedi Paws now, she won't mind a dremel when you get one.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

cassadee7 said:


> I still wouldn't know how to tell if I am close to the quick though.


It won't matter as much - with the dremel even if you do quick her it doesn't seem to hurt like with clippers, and no gush of blood either, just a tiny ooze that's easy to staunch. Plus it's so much easier to take a tiny bit off at a time with a dremel, lessening the chances of quicking the dog in the first place. You can take off a little every few days if the nails are really long, allowing the quick to recede between trims. 

Cassidy had really long quicks, so that worked best for her. It seemed no matter how little I took off with clippers it was too much! Plus she was horrid about nail trims, she'd yank her paw out of my hand every time I touched it. But I was able to get her acclimated to a dremel in about a week, working with her for a few minutes every day on desensitization.


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

Start with the pedipaw/dremel now..get her desensitized before she forms an opinion. I just take off the point and more on the top than the bottom. Have not hit blood and his nails have stayed pretty short. I do them about once a week..when he is tired and willing to lay down. (Dogs are better for just about everything when they are tired! lol)


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## cassadee7 (Nov 26, 2009)

Update... 
well I did it, I quicked her last night, ugh. I was just clipping a little bit off a back foot but geez, blood everywhere. I must have just got the very tip though because she didn't react much, just a slight pull and started licking it. And do you think I had the styptic powder stuff with me? Noooo. No, and do you think I could even FIND it?? No!!! So there I am trying to use a paper towel to stop the bleeding, she gets excited because she likes to eat paper towels, she is jumping all over making red spots on the carpet while my son is trying to find the powder and I am trying to make her lay on her side with treats and "leave it" with the paper towel, and finally I am tossing a handful of flour on her foot to try and stop the bleeding (I read that somewhere). So in the end we have a dog, a dog mom, and a living room covered in blood spots, flour, and chewed paper towel fragments. Joy.

At least now I know where the quick is.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Sounds like a fine time. Have you ever considered using a Dremel or similar device to trim the nails? We switched with our current dog and it is much easier.


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## cassadee7 (Nov 26, 2009)

Yeah codmaster, I am on that. Pronto.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Shawn, I did the same exact thing when Stark was Saber's age. 

Blood EVERYWHERE! 

I would just do the tip top of the nail, just enough to take the sharpness off. At that age, it's more about getting her use to having her feet touched than really cutting the nails.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

I've never heard of flour, but I use corn starch


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## DCluver33 (May 27, 2010)

when you dremmel a dogs nails you go straight up and down, parallel to the floor. you can go down as far as you feel comfortable or untill you start seeing a small greyish/ black circle (usually that's what it looks like) that's the quick and you want to stop. then you round the edges off so it's rounded and not sharp. I do my dogs nails every other day because it forces the quick to recede thus allowing me to get shorter nails. I dont want to hear clicking on my hard wood floors, so thats why i opt for short nails. I never dremmel my dogs nails unless I have the quik stop ready lol, but that's ok flour or corn starch works just fine.  for a puppy I'd just do the tips until they're older.


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

cassadee7 said:


> Update...
> well I did it, I quicked her last night, ugh. I was just clipping a little bit off a back foot but geez, blood everywhere. I must have just got the very tip though because she didn't react much, just a slight pull and started licking it. And do you think I had the styptic powder stuff with me? Noooo. No, and do you think I could even FIND it?? No!!! So there I am trying to use a paper towel to stop the bleeding, she gets excited because she likes to eat paper towels, she is jumping all over making red spots on the carpet while my son is trying to find the powder and I am trying to make her lay on her side with treats and "leave it" with the paper towel, and finally I am tossing a handful of flour on her foot to try and stop the bleeding (I read that somewhere). So in the end we have a dog, a dog mom, and a living room covered in blood spots, flour, and chewed paper towel fragments. Joy.
> 
> At least now I know where the quick is.


LOL I'm sorry, I know it's not funny but I have SO been there!!! It made me laugh, your description triggered identical memories of my own. THIS site is how I learned to dremel


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

cassadee7 said:


> Update...
> well I did it, I quicked her last night, ugh. I was just clipping a little bit off a back foot but geez, blood everywhere. I must have just got the very tip though because she didn't react much, just a slight pull and started licking it. And do you think I had the styptic powder stuff with me? Noooo. No, and do you think I could even FIND it?? No!!! So there I am trying to use a paper towel to stop the bleeding, she gets excited because she likes to eat paper towels, she is jumping all over making red spots on the carpet while my son is trying to find the powder and I am trying to make her lay on her side with treats and "leave it" with the paper towel, and finally I am tossing a handful of flour on her foot to try and stop the bleeding (I read that somewhere). So in the end we have a dog, a dog mom, and a living room covered in blood spots, flour, and chewed paper towel fragments. Joy.
> 
> At least now I know where the quick is.


YIKES! Hope you can get the blood stains out of everything.
Had that problem with my previous dog but not with this one so far.
One thing I did the other day: My dog was watching me clip my toenails
and since she was so interested I used the toenail clipper on her.
It worked great! Just took a little off and because of the way it is
made I didn't have to worry about clipping too much.


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