This is getting dangerouse and I don't know what to do

[LilyoftheValley]

Lily has always been an amazing dog. She obeys beautifully and thats not the problem. When I first started clipping her nails I would clip one, and then scratch her chest, rubb her tummy and she gets a treat, to make the experience enjoyable. It never worked. She always was fine though. Ignoring me when I clipped her nails. It started out like this.

When Lily turned 7 months I noticed she looked at me wierd when I clipped her (her nails grow REALY fast so she gets clipped every other week) Just looking at me. Next she would try to pull her leg away. Next she would bear her teeth just a little bit. Now its getting dangerous. If I go to clip her nails she will stair at me with this really wierd look, then she will bear her teeth. After that she WILL bite you. Growling, hackles up BITE like " I'm goint to kill you..." Growel! She nipped me a few times and made me bleed. This is the only behaviour problem she has. Shes a great dog. She has wonderful leash manners, walks beside or behind you, gets along GREAT with people and dogs, knows basic obedience commands and is amazingly obedient. I think the problem is I don't know how to correct her. So I let it go. When she bited I just walk away and she goes to sleep. I don't know what to do. I have talked to some trainers at petco and they told me they can't help me. I talked to some other trainers, they said they can't help me and I might just have to live with it. I don't know what I'm going to do... Any help? This is getting to be a big problem

 

[elegy]

i would take about three steps back and start rewarding her with something really really good for just allowing you to touch her feet. then when she's comfortable- not pulling away, not staring, not tense, move to manipulating each toe, then to picking at her toenails and so on. do it a couple times a day and do it every day, with really excellent rewards. your goal is to teach her that her cooperation with your stupid annoying behavior is really worthwhile to her. you'll have to go slowly and gauge her response, but it's totally worth it. it'll make her life and yours a lot better.

 

[corgipower]

I would do the following, over the course of a few sessions. Always stop before she gets upset.

• Start by touching her feet, and proggress to being able to hold her feet. Give her lots of treats and praise when she lets you hold her foot.
  
• Move on to seperating her toes the way you would for clipping, and she gets lots of treats and praise again.
  
• Get the nail clippers, touch her foot with the clippers. Again, give lots of treats and praise.
  
• Next you can move on to clipping one nail. just trim the tip of the nail, making sure you don't get close to the quick.

 

[LilyoftheValley]

Thankyou. She will let me touch, handle her foot without any vices, but when I actually get near here with the clippers, thats when she freaks. I will try your way. Thanks

 

[Tazwell]

I've successfully conditioned two of my small dogs to stand the clippers after many bad experiences. If all else fails, though, muzzling isn't that stressful for them. Especially if you take her to Petco or Petsmart (or other grooming salon) to do it, so she doesn't hate you for it, and you have more hands to hold her steady.

What kind of dog is Lily, just out of curiosity?

 

[LilyoftheValley]

Lily is a Rottweiler lab mix. You cant see it in the pictures but she has a little bit of the rust color on her toes.

 

[Chaoslillith]

If it is the clippers she doesn't like try buying a small Dremel Drill and a grinding wheel. You could grind them down. Some of the groomers at my Petsmart do this to dogs who hate clippers and it works well. Plus is seems to make it easier to avoid getting the quick.

Good Luck.

 

[Saintgirl]

When Lily turned 7 months I noticed she looked at me wierd when I clipped her (her nails grow REALY fast so she gets clipped every other week) Just looking at me. Next she would try to pull her leg away. Next she would bear her teeth just a little bit. Now its getting dangerous. If I go to clip her nails she will stair at me with this really wierd look, then she will bear her teeth. After that she WILL bite you. Growling, hackles up BITE like " I'm goint to kill you..." Growel! She nipped me a few times and made me bleed. This is the only behaviour problem she has.

What do you do when she shows this behavior? Several times a day we have people bring their dogs in to us have their nails clipped because they can't do it on their own. Often when dogs do not like having their nails clipped they will try several tactics to see what they can do to make you stop. When she pulled her leg away, did you let go? When she growls, did you let go? She has learned the behavior that when she bites you will stop clipping her nails. So in a round about way you have reinforced her behavior to misbehave when she is having something done that she does not like.

You have been given excellent advice about starting the nail clipping training over from scratch again. Hold her leg like you are going to clip her nails, but don't. When she pulls away her leg, do not let go, wait until she has settled and then release. Teach her that you are not going to hurt her and ultimatley you are in charge- YOU will let her leg go when you are ready. If this causes reactive behavior start at step one with you just handling her paws, but you already mentioned that she is ok with this.

Do not put yourself in a position to be biten, and don't set her up to fail. Baby steps, stay calm and in charge. When she cooperates heavily praise and reward her. Make this a positive experience for the both of you.

When we have a reactive dog in typically they fight and struggle for the first paw and then relax and let us go about our buisness. Very rarely do we ever muzzle, but never do we put ourselves in harms way. When I clip nails I want it to be a positive experience for both myself and the dog.

 

[LilyoftheValley]

What do you do when she shows this behavior? Several times a day we have people bring their dogs in to us have their nails clipped because they can't do it on their own. Often when dogs do not like having their nails clipped they will try several tactics to see what they can do to make you stop. When she pulled her leg away, did you let go? When she growls, did you let go? She has learned the behavior that when she bites you will stop clipping her nails. So in a round about way you have reinforced her behavior to misbehave when she is having something done that she does not like.

You have been given excellent advice about starting the nail clipping training over from scratch again. Hold her leg like you are going to clip her nails, but don't. When she pulls away her leg, do not let go, wait until she has settled and then release. Teach her that you are not going to hurt her and ultimatley you are in charge- YOU will let her leg go when you are ready. If this causes reactive behavior start at step one with you just handling her paws, but you already mentioned that she is ok with this.

Do not put yourself in a position to be biten, and don't set her up to fail. Baby steps, stay calm and in charge. When she cooperates heavily praise and reward her. Make this a positive experience for the both of you.

When we have a reactive dog in typically they fight and struggle for the first paw and then relax and let us go about our buisness. Very rarely do we ever muzzle, but never do we put ourselves in harms way. When I clip nails I want it to be a positive experience for both myself and the dog.

When she acted up, I treated her in the same manner I would treat a mis behaving horse. I'm not use to having a big dog that reacts like that so I just did what my 'instincts' told me. If your picking a horses hoof and he tries to take it away you DO NOT let go. you simply loosen up and let him work it out while you remain with a firm grip. Thats what I did with Lily. If a horse tries to bite you when your picking hooves or just in general, actions like that are NOT tolerated whatsoevr. Their just too big and dangerous to let them walk on you like that. When a horse bites you, (it may sound cruel, but you HAVE to, like I said their just too big to not to) you snap him on the muzzle. Just enough to let him know that YOU are top mare, and he needs to knock it off. Thats what I did with lilly. I gave her a snap on her collar. She stopped and I clipped one nail. BUT after she lowered her head to allow me to clip, after I clipped one nail, she turned around and nipped me. THATS when I stopped. I don't know, when I'm around the horses, ( I have a Belgian draft mule, a belgian draft HORSE.) I know exactly what to do and I'm not scared of hurting them with my corrections. But Lily is NOT a giant belgian, she's a dog. So i'm lost because my teqnuiqes are not working so I obviously need a new one.

 

[lizzybeth727]

I would stop snapping on her. What's happening here is that she is probably scared you're going to hurt her, or nervous because you're nervous. THESE feelings are what lead to her growling/snapping at you. NOW she's learned that biting gets you to leave, so that's what she's going to go to whenever she feels uncomfortable.

If you use physical corrections when she already feels uncomfortable, this is only going to make her feel worse. That's why everyone above suggested making it a relaxing, fun experience, to counter all those scary emotions she's already feeling.

How are you holding her while you clip her nails? Is she tethered? When I clip nails, I hold the dog upside-down on my lap, belly up, legs in the air. I don't do this because I want her to see me as "alpha" or anything silly like that, I do it simply because it's easier to hold them, especially if they were to start to get mouthy. Of course I condition the dogs to like this position before trying to clip their nails. If you hold your dog like this, if she were to wiggle, you can just hold her legs/chest, and that'll keep her in position. If she starts to mouthe, you can hold your hands on her neck under her chin, because this is pretty much the only spot where she can't reach your hands with her mouth (obviously, we're not trying to strangle her here).

 

[LilyoftheValley]

I hold her like the vet told me to. I flipp her on her side with my body over her chest and clipp. She likes the position because its comfortable for her. I dont feel frightened when I trim her nails, or anxious or nervouse. I come in with a vision that all is going to go great. I don't think I'm 'alpha' over her either. I was saying that about my horses because 1. their both stallions, and 2. I need to assert myself as alpha mare over them because if I do not, they will get out of hand and possibly hurt somone. These are HUGE horses if you have ever seen a Belgian. HUGE. And you have to be on guard at all times because they can hurt you without knowing. I will try what everyone is saying.

 

[Saintgirl]

I can guarentee that she will try to bite you the next time that you try to clip her nails- she has learned that biting gets what she wants- you to let go and leave her alone.

But the good news is that you can work through this! Start from step one. Make each time you touch her feet the most fun possible. Every time you pick up a paw make a huge spectacle of how well she is doing. Stop while she is behaving. Have someone with you, have her lead on so that if she tries to reach back for a nip she can be stopped. Like I said before, you don't want to set her up to fail AND you don't want to be biten. Before you even try to do her nails do some basic obedience so that she is focused on listening to what you say. Don't try to do all of her feet, maybe only have one nail as your goal. REWARD her HEAVILY when she remains calm, and then let her go. If she is fighting you, don't try to clip just wait for her to calm while holding on to her leg. When she relaxes let go of her leg. Each time go a little further, even if it is only you playing with her nail. Then have clippers rubbing up on her nails and paws. Make the whole experience a fun learning experience. Build her trust up that you will not hurt her. If she knows that she will be fine she will relax. Above all, DO NOT cut her quick because immediatley you will go back to step one. If you can only get the tip off, fine. If you have to work on her paws everyday, little by little, fine. Take your time, keep your patience, and build her trust.

 

[Brattina88]

Just a thought - have you checked to see if your nail clippers are dull? When they're less sharp the dogs tend to feel it more; as it has to rely more on pressure to make the cut.
Also, some dogs will ignore their feet when they're trying to get peanut butter out of a kong lol

Good Luck! keep us posted on how it goes & what techniques work for you

 

[Saintgirl]

Another suggestion would be to try another position. Let her stand, and pick up each foot the same way you would a horses hoof. This is how I do all of dogs and my clients dogs. Allowing her to stand might alleviate some of the stress she is going through.

 

[Maxy24]

I think your using too much force with her. You body position is threatening, you snap her on the face and she is scared of the clippers, all and all it's a very stressful situation. Do what other said, just get her used to the clippers. Sit next to her on the ground with them in your hands (if she is not already, command her to lay down). Just sit there. Don't try to touch her or anything. Wait until she is completely calm, she does not look at your, her breathing is normal and her body is relaxed. Then get up and leave, session is over. Do this everyday, a few times a day until he stops stressing when you approach with the clippers. After that calm is achieved go and sit next to her on the ground and gently tap her (one) foot with the clippers, then remove them. Wait a few seconds and repeat to the next foot. Every couple times give her a treat (that is in your pocket). Do this a few times, just one tap to each foot then end the session with a treat and get up and leave. Slowly get to the point, increasing taps until you give each foot five taps in a row all feet in a row. This will take a bit of time but she'll become comfortable with the clippers approaching her feet and with them touching her. Then start increasing the duration of the clippers on the feet. So hold her foot and touch her foot with the clippers and just hold it there for a second. Then again slowly increasing the length of time it's on her foot. If she pulls away more than as soon as you pick up the foot this means you've held on too long, next time do it shorter. So increase time until she's comfortable with you doing it the amount of time you think it would take to clip a dog's nails.

The next step (once she's calm through the previous step on all feet in a row) is to hold the foot and put each toe nail in the clippers but don't clip. If you can only do one at a time at first then do that and increase over time. Eventually you will be able to do it to all toes. Then the cutting can start. You'll have to introduce treats at this time. Cut then treat, cut then treat. You may only be able to do one foot at a time,. maybe only one toe. If she starts to stress you've gone too long, do less toes next time. Do one, get up leave come back do another, treat and praise, et up for a few minutes come back. Maybe play a game between cuts. Anything to make nail clipping the most fun ever. Eventually you can do a whole foot before a treat and game, then two three and four feet between. It might help to always have a game at the end. The goal is just to have her no longer fear nail clipping.

I KNOW it sounds like this will take way too much time but honestly it will be worth every second. Depending on the dog you can go faster or slower. Any stress means you are going too fast. Nail clipping is too be fun and unstressful. If you get stressed end the session, period. You may be able to combine the tapping toes and duration steps by both increasing tapping and duration of the taps held on the foot at the same time. But please try it.

Some things to stop...Don't force her onto her side, command her to lie down and praise when she does. Try not to hold her down either, she should be (after going through this desensitization) comfortable enough to stay down or be commanded back down immediately. Do not hit her when she tries to bite, she should never try to bite because this training will make her comfortable and less or unafraid to have her nails clipped. now if she tries to pull her paw away you don't want to let o because that's letting her "win" but if you don't let go she'll become more frantic and fearful and will bite to protect herself. Once again, this desensitization will make it so she will not pull away. If she does you need to go back a step and go slower, take a break between clips.

This is not a matter of who is top dog, it's purely fear and stress so you have no need to assert your position over her. You have to help her learn that nail clipping is not scary, and it will take time but it will be worth it. And of course I wish you luck!

 

[LilyoftheValley]

Ok I got through one foot done today!!! I started out giving her a treat everytime she let me clip one toe nail, I gave her a peice of hot dog in one hand, I sat beside her on the couch with her paw in the other, fed her the hot dog while I clipped the nail, and after I clipped the nail (a teeny tiny peice. She never gets hot dogs so this is a major treat!) I think she really enjoyed it. Afterwards I gave her a little massage... I got one foot done today and will take it one foot aday untill she lets me do it completely.

 

[lizzybeth727]

THat's great! My dog was terrible about having her nails clipped, when I first got her I could only do one nail a day. So you're doing good!