Love My Dremel!

stdpoodad

Experienced Member
I've quicked Seamus several times but he's such a mellow fellow that he just stood there as blood wicked up his leg, no big deal.
Teaghan, on the other hand , is a diva. I did a tiny quick on her once, she screamed, then and there I decided to condition her to a dremel. I don't even have any clippers any more.
She is very skittish, I took probably a month getting her used to it. I would place it on the couch and let her explore it, sniff it, etc. I fed her treats off it, I stood in a corner of the room and turned it on and off.
This site is where I got all of my information about starting out right!
http://www.doberdawn.com/doberdawn/dremel.html

It was at least 3 weeks before I touched a nail. The time spent was well worth it!
I'm on each nail maybe 3 seconds. If I need to I go back and do it more, but I don't hold it on too long at one time.
I started out with a corded dremel, but after a few weeks I found it did such a great job that I decided to invest in a powerful cordless model. I use a Dremel 8200 with a Li-Ion battery.
I can't stand pedipaws and the like, I find they're way underpowered except for small dogs with light nails. With a large dog, you need to hold it on too long to get it to cut, that heats the nail up too much.
Here's a video I took of Teaghan a week or so ago.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Excellent job on conditioning Teaghan to accept the dremel (y).

I don't clip Zac's claws unless there is a problem nail, eg/ recently he had a swollen toe and when the swelling went down his claw had grown too long. However I've noticed that my friend's poodle has really long fast growing nails that need clipping very regularly, is this a particular characteristic of poodles?
 

stdpoodad

Experienced Member
It seems to be the way Teaghan's nails grow. Her nails point straight out, so they aren't worn down by walking. Whereas Seamus' nails sort of curve down, like most dogs, so walking wears them down.
I dremel him as well as Teaghan though, I just don't like them too long.
Does Zac wear his down? I can't imagine not ever clipping or dremeling nails.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
It seems to be the way Teaghan's nails grow. Her nails point straight out, so they aren't worn down by walking. Whereas Seamus' nails sort of curve down, like most dogs, so walking wears them down.
I dremel him as well as Teaghan though, I just don't like them too long.
Does Zac wear his down? I can't imagine not ever clipping or dremeling nails.
Zac wears his down, as have all our dogs. I suppose I can't imagine clipping a dogs claws on a regular basis.

I've only ever clipped his claw that one time because when his toe was swollen (for months) the claw grew to touch the ground then when the swelling went down his toe was pushed out because the claw was too long. Otherwise I haven't ever clipped any of his claws that touch the ground. I read that dogs need their claws as shock absorbers when they run and jump so if there was anything wrong with the length of his claws (too long or too short) he would start to get sprains and limps so unless he flags up a problem I'd sooner not interfere.

Once before the claw inside his front leg got split and it took ages to figure out what was wrong because it was on the inside of the claw. The vet had to remove the sheath and let it regrow. Since then sometimes I will trim those claws inside his front legs (I forget what you call them) with nail scissors if they look a bit ragged and I clean the mud off them so they don't get dried out and cracked but mostly they look after themselves too.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Well maybe I misremember :) I'll try and find the book again and see exactly what it says.
Still, letting nature and road walking look after claws has worked very well for our dogs.
 
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