All about dog nails
Dog’s nail has 3 layers and a quick. The first layer is hard outer shell that we see, the second layer is chalky dead layer and third one is live tissue. The quick in the middle is a soft highly vascular tissue that supplies blood to the nail.
Nails grow very fast and to maintain it you need to clip or dremel them every 2 week. When nails grow the quick grows as well so if you do not trim them for extended period of time it will be harder to get the nails to a proper length.
There are 2 different cuts for dog nail trimming. First traditional cut is a cut directly across dog’s nail and alternative line cut is a 45 degree cut used to recede the quick when the nails are too long.
To assess the length of your dog nails, stand your dog squarely on the floor and see if nails are touching the ground. The nails should be just off the floor.
When cutting the nails you need to be mindful of not hitting the quick. If you do it will bleed, it is painful for a dog and worse of all it creates negative emotion for the dog and future nail trimmings could become very difficult. In most cases dog reacts to your fear and anxiety more then to pain, so if you happened to have an accident, give your dog a big yummy treat right away and try not to make a big deal out of it.
Dark nails are scarier to do as you can not see the quick so slow and steady is the key. As you practice a lot it will get easier and you will have better idea of how close you are to the quick.
Maintaining nails is very important. Long nails put pressure on toe joints creating pain or twisting toes to the side. Long nails unbalance the dog. The dog with long nails have different posture called “goat on a rock,”These goat-on-a-rock dogs compensate by overusing muscles and joints, which leads to pain. Long nails can crack or break easier leading to pain and bleeding. So, short nails are a key to our dogs balance and health and happiness.
I use Dremel to maintain my dogs nails. It is easy to use, there is less chance of cracking nail as with clippers and the look of the nail is very smooth and polished. If you decided you want to use clippers use “scissor” style. Guillotine style crushes the toe which can be painful. Use smaller size for better control and trim little bits at a time.
If you cut the quick do not panic. Styptic powder applied to the wound will stop the bleeding almost immediately. If you did not get it before hand you can use cornstarch or some regular flour pressed tightly to the wound for a few minutes until the bleeding stops.
If your dog broke a nail do not panic. If it is bleeding use recommendation above. Wash the nail in warm salty water to remove dirt. I use Tea tree oil to disinfect and prevent infection.
Dogos, probably due to the weight and abundant energy, seem to break their nails frequently. Rada and Rub broke their nails few times when I was not too diligent to keep it very short. Lagotto nails are very tough and a lot of them dislike nail trims.
Puppies get their nails trimmed every week from birth. This practice desensitize them from being fearful about nails trim and prevents them to injure their mother. Initially I clip them and as they get a bit older Dremel is introduced.
Few links below might help to get you started
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj7q9AH7Msk
Clipping dog nails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JKlDIvRVDU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cq5X8aV95E
Teaching your dog to like nail trims