How to get short nails?

[Gempress]

I was wondering. How do all you show people get your dogs' nails so short?

Voodoo's nails aren't long, but they're longer than those short nails I see on the show dogs. Zeus' nails are even longer. Not overgrown long, but still long.

How do I shorten them? I love the neat look those short nails give a foot. I've heard that you slowly shave off a little bit of the nail, but my boys don't really have much to take off, if any at all! And with them both having black nails, it makes it rather difficult. How should I go about doing this?

 

[bradley300]

good question, i waited a little long to clip rusty's nails once, so now that i did he alredy could use it again, but he has black nails and i dont want to clip that blood vessel

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I've been told dremel.. Then dremel every day a tiny tiny bit.. And the quick will recede, but I can't be bothered to do it more than once every 2 weeks.

 

[RedHotDobe]

If Rumor's get too long due to a lack of commitment from me, I try to do them every two or three days. Twice a week at the very least. I just dremel right until I can see they're about to bleed.

I would imagine there's a good amount of show people who get them bled back, too. I don't know this for a fact, but if my old rescue boy is any way to judge, there's only a certain length of short you can achieve without having them bled back.

 

[RD]

I've heard of some people getting the nails cut way back when the dog is under anesthesia, particularly rescue dogs with impossibly long quicks.

I dremel 3-4 times a week if I want to take the nails back, but it only works on the border collies. Ripley's nails will always be longer than everyone else's because I can't dremel his. If he ever goes under anesthesia again I will have the vet cut them back so I can maintain them better.

 

[angelzeus]

trimming nails

if the nails are black you need to cut themright below the thim part were the nail gets thick

 

[Brattina88]

When I first got Charlie his nails were too long for comfort. I started cliping them once a week, and upped it to twice a week when I could get away with it. The quick slowly started to recide, and I tried dremmeling it a couple of times too.
Now that they're at a better length I clip them whenever they start to look like they're growing out again. They still look longer than show dogs' feet, but the are loads better to me (and him)

 

[otch1]

Generally the tight foot/very short nail you see is because this was started when the dog was a puppy. Once you've allowed the qwik to grow out, it's much harder to get down to that truly short length again. Dremeling is the only way to do this and you'll need to do this weekly. Look in Pet Egdes' catalog/website for a variety fo dremels at competitive prices. Good luck.

 

[Paws90]

okay, I feel alittle stupid here but what the heck is dremel????

 

[SummerRiot]

A Dremel is a sanding tool that you can pick up at any hardware store.

They are FABULOUS if you use the right tool bit, on dog nails.

I NEVER cut the quick back on Riot.. it promotes a dog that HATES their nails trimmed because it stings each time.

I always tip Riots nails and then Dremel them back a bit. He gets this done about every week and during show season at least twice a week.

Hes gotten to the point where he knows the routine inside and out lol He'll just stand there on the grooming table and hand me his next paw when i'm done with the first one lol

I had made a thread with pictures when I had done Riots nails.. Before and After pictures..
http://www.chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53085

 

[SizzleDog]

Many show dogs with almost impossibly short nails (Dobes, Boxers, Danes) have had their nails cut back while they were under anesthesia for their cropping. This provides a good "startng point" to keep nails very short... you just have to keep up with them!

Foot shape also comes into play - a correct cat foot with short, tight toes seems to keep the shortest nail. Ronin has wonderful feet, and his nails are extremely short. Ilsa's toes are longer, so her nails are harder to keep short.

Here's a little page I threw together about my dremeling routine: http://www.freewebs.com/lhartlep/whyidremel.htm

 

[MysticRealm]

Many people will even quick their dogs our puppies when not under anesthesia but it's very unpleasant (the breeder did this to my poodle puppy before I got him)
Now his nails are slightly longer than I would like (though shorter than most pet people's dogs nails are) but I want to get them 'show' short so I am either dremeling or cutting them back 1-2 times a week, cutting them till just before they start to bleed. His nails are getting much closer to being the length I would like.

 

[SizzleDog]

Many people will even quick their dogs our puppies when not under anesthesia but it's very unpleasant (the breeder did this to my poodle puppy before I got him)

Didn't seem to bother Ilsa... then again, poodles are a much more sensitive breed. Why would a poodle breeder put a puppy under anesthesia in the first place, may I ask? The only reason it's done in Dobes is because they're having thier ears cropped at the same time.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

No sizzle.. breeder isn't putting them under.. The advice was to just quick the puppy because it 'doesn't hurt'.

 

[MysticRealm]

WHAT?!! I was saying the exact opposite. That it does hurt (see where I said it was unpleasant)
I don't agree with quiking dogs and if you can't stay on top of the nails then you have to take the time to slowly work the nails back, like I am doing with my poodle.
I have only had my poodle put under to get some teeth pulled so his adults would grow in straight.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

I was saying what your breeder had apparently said their advice not you. That is exactly what you had written..

 

[MysticRealm]

no it wasn't. I said the breeder had quicked my poodle before I got him but he never said it didn't hurt the dogs.

 

[Zoom]

I feel so bad when I accidently quick a dog, I can't imagine doing it on purpose. I need to get a Dremel and start working on Sawyer's nails because they're really long even after trimming. He's got hare feet to begin with so they're always going to be long, but I need to get them back some.

I'm going to have to get him used to the Dremel all over again because the last time I did it, he jerked oddly and hit my dremeling arm, which in turn made the dremel itself hit him and it ripped out a good chunk of hair on his uptuck.

 

[Whisper]

Lucy's nails are naturally pretty short but Millie has longer nails- and longer quicks. I want to get a dremel but it will probably take a long time for them to get used to it, as simple nail clipping took a long time to desensitize, especially with Lucy.
As for quicking- I could never do that on purpose either. I accidentally hit Lucy's quick once and I felt horrible.

 

[MysticRealm]

Some dogs will be WAY better with a dremel than nail clipper, Clippers actually squish the quick as they cut so it is uncomfortable for the dog. Dremels are pretty quiet and don't squish the nails when you use them