Is caring for your pet’s nails a big challenge for you? If so, it’s high time you learned more about how to take care of your dog’s nails on your own. By learning about the structure of the nails, their functions, and the correct rules for trimming them, it will be much easier for you to take care of them.
Caring for a dog’s nails is essential to dog care and hygiene. If you don’t trim your dog’s nails regularly, they may break, or worse, your pet may try to shorten them by biting. Dog nails affect the grip of the paws on the ground when moving.
What you will learn from this article:
- Trimming your dog’s nails is very important
- Too long nails can break and disturb the dog
- Dog nails affect the dog’s grip when moving
How to care for your dog’s nails
We should care for our dogs, not only by monitoring his health or a balanced diet. Our task, no less important, is to take care of their hygiene and care. As you undoubtedly know, our dogs’ paws can be very delicate. We should pay special attention to the nails of our pets. For this reason, I want to tell you how to care for your dog’s nails.
Taking care of our pet’s paws is very important. It is a part of the dog’s body that has constant contact with the ground. As a result, it is highly susceptible to all kinds of injuries and abrasions. Unfortunately, this is also where wounds have the most challenging task of healing because your dog constantly hurts the sore spot by moving around.
In the post you can find HERE, I tell you how to care for the paw pads of our four-legged friends. That is important because dog pads are a susceptible part of our pet’s paws. Particular attention should be paid to them in winter when snow is sprinkled with salt on the sidewalks and on hot days when the ground outside can burn.
In this post, however, I want to focus primarily on dog nails and how to care for and nourish them so they are healthy and robust.
Everything you need to know about dog nails
However, before you learn what good care of your dog’s nails should look like, I will first tell you what our dogs’ nails are and what functions they fulfil in their lives.
Dog use their nails to get an additional grip while moving. The pads of the paws are soft, so without the support of the nails, your dog could slide while moving.
In addition, during an intense and fast run, they help the dog to push off the ground, thanks to which your dog runs faster.
It is also impossible not to mention one of the functions of nails, undoubtedly enjoying the slightest sympathy among dog owners. Namely, I mean digging holes, of course. Many dogs love this form of entertainment. Regardless of the choice of place or time, dogs love to explore.
My dog often has, without much reason, decided to dig a hole during a visit to the park. He is well aware that this behaviour of dogs can be a particular nuisance in a house with a garden.
Therefore, if you want to learn how to deal with a pet constantly destroying the garden, I refer you to the entry that you will find HERE. I explain the causes of such dog behaviour and suggest how to prevent it.
The nails of dogs also play a warning role. In addition to his scent, the dog marking his territory also leaves traces of his nails. In this way, he communicates to other quadrupeds that this area belongs to him. I think it’s an exciting way to emphasize your position in a given place.
How to care for your dog’s nails step by step
You already know the main functions of the nails of our pens. They are essential in many areas of a dog’s life. That is why it is so necessary that they are always in good shape. To properly care for their nails, dogs need our help. Therefore, as a good dog guardian, it is good that you know how to take care of your dog’s nails step by step.
Proper nail trimming
There is no denying that regular trimming is the basis for caring for your dog’s nails. That is very important because otherwise, too long nails may break. Unfortunately, in such cases, the crack most often occurs right at the tips of the dog’s paws, which can be very painful for your quadruped.
What’s more, your dog feels that his nails are too long and interfere with his daily functioning. If the length of the nails starts to be particularly uncomfortable for him, the dog may begin biting them himself. That may result in wounds on the dog’s paws and torn nails near the pads.
So how do you go about trimming your dog’s nails? He knows that many dogs will run away as soon as they realize what their guardian plans to do. Therefore, before you even start clipping your dog’s nails, you must work out the most effective distraction system for your pet.
I need another person’s help trimming my dog’s nails, even if my dog is small enough to do it alone. However, I cannot simultaneously cut his nails safely and effectively distract him from what is happening now.
That’s why giving treats when cutting nails worked for me. It looks like this: I hold the dog and cut his nails, and the other person gives him treats. These must be tiny treats so that the dog does not overeat them treats during the entire operation.
It is beneficial to keep the treats in the MIDI treat sachet from the Bowl&Bone Republic. Thanks to the fact that they are hidden, the dog focuses on the treatment given to him individually.
I have already tried many methods to distract my dog while trimming his nails, but this one, although I realize it is effortless, turned out to be the most effective.
Dog treat bag |MIDI pink
Proper nail length
Okay, we’ve already figured out the most effective way to trim your dog’s nails. Now let’s focus on how the whole process should work correctly.
How to trim a dog’s nails? I highly recommend you choose a clipper designed for our dogs. Then we are sure it is the best for our dog’s paws. Such a clipper is adapted to the shape of the dog’s nails and has a strong enough construction to handle even a thick nail.
First, the length of the dog’s nails is essential. We should not cut them shorter than 1 mm from the matrix. If we cut the nail too short, the dog may bleed in this place. However, if we leave the nails too long, they can still cause discomfort to the dog.
What to pay attention to when trimming
You should cut the dog’s nails at a 45° angle. That is the most optimal arrangement, adapted to the structure of the dog’s paws and nails. During this activity, you should pay special attention to the matrix under the nail. As I mentioned earlier, its damage can cause bleeding and, above all, pain.
How often do clip nails
The frequency of nail trimming depends on the lifestyle of a given dog. Namely, our dogs wear their nails to some extent during everyday movement. Therefore, the frequency of nail trimming largely depends on the dog’s activity.
Nevertheless, in most cases, our dogs’ nails will require trimming. How often we should do it depends on the condition of the dog’s nails. We must regularly control their length; as soon as we notice that they interfere with the pet’s everyday life, we should immediately take care of them.
You already know how to care for your dog’s nails
Taking care of the dog’s nails is one of the main tasks in his regular care. As you can see, it’s not a big challenge. What matters most is regularity and stable control of the length of the dog’s nails.
How is the nail trimming process for your pet? Does he politely let you do your grooming, or is it challenging? Tell me in the comments. If you have any questions or want me to discuss a topic in the next post, share it in the comments section.
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