Just like human nails, dogs do not have any feeling in the nail itself, but the quick contains a nerve that transmits sensations back to the brain. When trimming the nail, it is important to stay far enough from the quick to avoid causing pain or drawing blood.
A dog's nail consists of the living pink quick and the hard outer material called the shell. The quick supplies blood to the nail and runs through the core of it. Nerves in the quick cause bleeding and discomfort when cut. Regular nail trimming will cause the quick to recede from the end.
Untrimmed nails can curl and grow into your dog's skin or paw pads, resulting in an infection and pain. This is true of all nails, but especially the dewclaws. Long nails are more likely to get hung up on things and torn off.
With mature dogs, untrimmed nails can cause decreased traction, affect mobility, and even cause pain. A dog's nails should be trimmed every 2 weeks depending on your pup's growth rate.
Dog nails also have nerves and blood vessels running through them just like human nails do. These nerves and vessels are located in the inner part of the nail known as the quick and are very sensitive. In contrast, the claw part of the nail is not sensitive at all.
Nail grinders get the job done in a fraction of the time it takes clippers. You can also round off the tip of the nail with much more precision. Once the super efficient grinding heads wear down, they are easy to replace. Once clippers have dulled, most people toss them out and have to buy another pair.
A dog's aversion to having their paws handled is instinctive – in the wild, a wounded paw could be the difference between life and death. Naturally, dogs feel the need to protect their paws and even the sweetest, most well-trained dogs can react negatively to a nail trim.
The average dog should have his nails clipped every three to four weeks, but it should be done as often as needed to keep the nail from touching the ground when your dog is standing.
For overgrown dog nails, you'll need to clip long nails weekly. This gives the quick time to recede toward the paw. Once your dog's nails are finally at an acceptable length, keep trimming back his nails on a weekly basis. If you skip a week or two, your dog's nails will start touching the ground.
Adult dogs may be fearful of the clippers and the sound they make, especially if they had a previous bad experience (having the nail trimmed too short or “quicked”). Desensitizing older dogs to nail trimming takes patience. The process cannot be rushed.
If your dog's nails are clear, you can see the pink color inside the nail towards the paw. This is called the quick and you want to avoid it when you trim. The nail will bleed and your dog will cry; it's just as painful as it is for us when one of our nails breaks into the quick.
If you dog has dark nails trim very thin cuttings off the end, as it's easy to accidentally damage the 'quick' or soft part of the nail. If you see a black dot in the centre of his nail, you have reached the quick and should stop cutting right away.
If a dog's nails are too long, you will hear them clack when the dog walks on hard surfaces. Deciding if your dog's nails are too long is quite simple. The claws should not protrude over the pad and should not touch the ground when standing. You can cut your dog's nails at home.
When your dog's nails are too long, they create an unnatural angle for the foot. This causes unequal pressure on the toes and can cause the nail beds to become sore and tender. Long nails on dogs are more prone to splitting and/or splintering. This is the equivalent of a human hangnail.
Adding some hard ground or pavement walking to your daily routine can be enough to keep your dog's nails trim and mean you won't need to clip them. But if your dog is small and light, they may not weigh enough for their nails to wear down naturally through exercise.
While nail clipping may be the most common method, it's not the only option. Regularly walking your dog on rough surfaces, using a scratching post or an emery board, and encouraging digging can help. These are all effective solutions to shorten your pet's nails without clipping them.
Keeping your dog's nails trimmed consistently is very important, because a lack of regular nail trimming can cause an overgrown quick. Without regular nail care, the quick will advance inside the nail and may even advance enough to match the end of the nail's outer shell!
It's best to not cut within 2 millimeters of the quick. As you cut the nail deeper, a gray to pink oval starts to appear at the top of the cut surface of the nail. Stop cutting the nail at this point as additional cutting will cut into the quick and cause bleeding. Styptic powder stops bleeding when applied.
Generally, your dog's nails shouldn't touch the ground when he's standing upright on all four feet. There is no hard and fast rule as to how far from the floor those nails should be; it varies from dog to dog. If the nails click on the floor, they are usually too long.
Dogs that are frequently walked on pavement or concrete may be able to go a bit longer between nail trims, because walking on a hard, rough surface can help file the nail. Dogs that are inactive or do not spend any time on hard surfaces may even need nail trims a bit more frequently, such as every three weeks.
There are two main ways to shorten nails: clipping with either a guillotine-style or a scissor-type clipper and grinding with a rotary tool such as a Dremel or a similar product designed specifically for grinding dog nails.