Trimming Nails
by admin ~ February 3rd, 2008Our great danes and mastiffs have huge nails, and trimming them is not an easy task. We’ve struggled with this for over a decade, and have finally found a great solution - the new dremel stylus.
Though we tried using a dremel to trim our 200lb. great dane’s nails years ago, at the time it just seemed to heat up the nail and cause more discomfort than trimming with clippers. We decided to give it another try and purchased the stylus, which is easier to hold than the older versions. This new smaller tool with variable speeds works great. There are a couple of tricks we’ve learned that help to speed up the task:
- If your dog won’t be still, make sure you have someone else keep the dog still while you hold the paw and nail. One slip of the dremel can leave large cuts on your pup, so it’s crucial that you have control of your dog.
- It seems to work best if you can rest the end of the dremel on the ground for stability, and hold the nail firmly to avoid vibrating the nail rather than filing it down.
- Be careful not to file the nail too much (into the quick) as this can make the nail bleed. Keep some styptic powder on hand just in case…
- Do this outside. Nail dust flies everywhere.
- Use the fastest speed and the sanding tip.
Nail trimming used to take quite awhile, and we have it down to about 5 minutes per dog using the new dremel. The best part is, the dogs seem much less stressed out about the whole nail trimming process.
