Not may dog owners would think that nail care goes with bathing, brushing and cleaning the dog’s eyes, ears and teeth. Nail care though must be included in the grooming routine of the dog. Dogs really have peculiar behaviors, while they would allow the tickly cleaning of ears, the stingy feel of the shampoo in the eyes when being bathed or the intrusion of the master’s hand on the mouth when the teeth is brushed, they would put up a fight if the nail is trimmed.
This part of grooming routine though is necessary because the long nails of the pet can destroy furniture. Dogs have the habit of jumping on people to show their affection and long nails can make irreparable damage to clothes and even scratch human flesh. Nails that are allowed to grow long can make walking on slippery pavement difficult for the pet. With elongated nails, the dog cannot stand comfortably much less put the full body weight on the feet. The elongated nails of the dog often get broken when snagged in the carpet.
A pedicure must be included in the overall grooming routine of the dog although the frequency of this nail trimming varies. Some pet owners would groom the dog’s nails every three weeks. Owners of dogs that walk on hard surfaces may not need to groom the nails as the dogs themselves maintain the ideal length of the nails.
More frequent nail trimming is imperative for indoor dogs as nails that are allowed to grow long can raise health issues. Because dogs usually resist this part of grooming routine dog owners would postpone clipping the nails of the pet but this would make the routine harder as the quick is allowed to grow closer to the tip of the nail. If this happens, the chance that the quick will be clipped along with the nail is increased.
A dog will be less resistant to the nail care if the procedure was introduced when it was still a puppy. Nonetheless, with a lot of coaching, the pet can be enticed to surrender its feet. Make nail grooming a fun experience for the dog. Take some time to cuddle and play with the pet before bringing out the nail clipper. Clipping white nails would be easy as the quick can be seen easily. To prevent cutting the quick of dogs with black nails it would be a better idea to cut the nails little by little. Have a styptic powder at hand to stop the bleeding if the dog had struggled and the quick was cut.
Read all about dog grooming and dog nail care at Sarah’s Dogs.