For dogs with hairy feet or if you have concerns about the hair growing between the toes or pads, I just trim the hair on the bottom of the foot before dremeling the nails. You can use scissors or a clipper. You don't have to trim a lot - for my corgis and schipperkes, I have not had trouble with the hair being sucked into the dremel and it's been up to almost an inch long. (Corgis and schipperkes don't have super hairy feet, but they do grow lots between the pads.) Also you could hold back any longer hair with your fingers as you support the toe that is being worked on. Trimming up the hair that grows between the pads seems to be more comfortable to the dog, cuts down on the dirt that can be tracked into your home and rv, cuts down on the dog picking up goatheads or other thorns in their foot, and makes the dog's feet look very tidy and groomed.
We just got one, and personally, I'm not too impressed with it. If the animals nails are too long to begin with, it does not work too well. I think it might work OK if you started out with nails that were not too long to start with.
tandemsuit wrote: We just got one, and personally, I'm not too impressed with it. If the animals nails are too long to begin with, it does not work too well. I think it might work OK if you started out with nails that were not too long to start with.
I'm not sure why you would find that to be the case, unless your dog's nails are over-grown to the point of curling under? In that case, you may have to work at it a bit. I have ended up grinding down what I can (from the top, mostly) and then peeling the nail on the underside to get that thick curled part to let go, just with my fingernails. Had to do that with my mom's chi a bit, and with a friend's dogs.
Also bear in mind that it takes several uses to really get the hang of it and figure out the best way to get the job done.
The following page was recommended to me as the best explanation of how to Dremel your dog's nails. I have to admit I've never gotten completely through it, however. That's a lot of reading! How I Dremel Dog Nails
Judy & Bud (Judy usually the one talking here)
2004 Pleasure-Way Excel TD
co-pilots, Rosie & Poquita
I got a call from my little sis last week, about her dog's nails. She has a horrible little Pom, who besides the fact that she's allowed him to be a little terror most of his life (except when they lived with me!) is now fairly senile and has a breathing problem that is aggravated by stress.
He's to the point where going to the groomer could be life threatening, and she can't really do a decent job on his nails, and they'd become so overgrown he was having walking problems. So our vet told her I'd got the peticure (yeah, he's part of the family grapevine!) and she called me to come and deal with it.
She gave him a tranquilizer to take the edge off (prescribed due to the breathing issue...) and that helped a good deal. I put him sorta half sitting up in my lap, like a baby, with a towel between me and the little shark's teeth. That worked great for the front feet. So did the peticure... except on the dew-claws, which were completely curled under and infringing on the pads. Did those first with human toenail clippers and my fingernails, then finished with the peticure. We did end up clipping the fur on his feet, but not because of tangling, which it didn't... I just wanted to be able to see what I was doing better.
For the back feet, I had Sis hold the little beast in the same position, and again with the towel so he couldn't get me. Believe me, he tried a few times. Peticure worked like a champ. The thing I love about it is that the guard gives you more control, and you can go back so much further than you'd ever dare with clippers.
By the time we were done, he'd largely calmed down, and his nails were not where I'd like to see him, but they were in much, much better shape than they'd been half an hour earlier.
That's I guess half a dozen dogs I've used it on, two with severely overgrown nails, sufficient to cause gait issues. Comparing what I was able to get done on those dogs with what I've been able to do in the past with overgrown nails (and the drops of blood I've blotted off the carpet!) I'd say you can call it anything you like... I call it a pretty nifty invention and well worth the price I paid for it.
It's big and bulky and not built as well as the small Dremel IMHO the Mini Dremel is the best way to trim nails and they last 'forever'. I suspect this new one won't last very long.
Instead of holding the paw by pulling it away from the body and up to trim, which actually bends both his ankle and toes in the wrong direction in which it is meant to bend......turn the paw backward and clip it that way. You have a better view of the quick and doing it this way prevents the cracking AND you will find many 'problem' dogs will sit more quietly because you are not bending their leg and toes backwards.
31 ft Four Winds
Chevy Tracker 4x4 BlueOx Aventa LX We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
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