Who cuts their own dog's nails?

[rustystihl]

I've always cut all my dogs nails myself. Start doing it when they're a pup to get used to it even if you aren't actually trimming them. I've never had a problem.

[BurlyGirl]

I'm the resident nail trimmer in the house. This past summer, my training partner had a litter of lab pups. When the litter was young, they also got their toe nails trimmed, as well as 'light baths' (a bit of water from the hose and the bathing/suds-ing up motion) so they could get used to it all from a young age. He kept a pup from the litter, and while she wiggles a lot when I want to cut her nails, she doesn't fret or get upset. She's seven months old, just the puppy wiggles of excitement.

For the adult dogs, I use trimmers that look the same as what last 5-oh posted. I dislike the guillotine style as they're not comfortable for me to use. My vet showed me a good technique to keep the old girl's nails from turning into talons, and I've incorporated it into my way of doing things. A handy tip that made me less stressed out was learning that regular white all-purpose flour can be used to stop the bleeding if you accidentally go too far. Knowing there was an easy solution that didn't involve buying a specific product made me relax about the process, so it became less stressful for everyone involved.

[Waftrudnir]

The more the dog runs, the less need to trim...
So, typically I have only two nails to trim, which makes life relatively easy.
I used to use a cutter like shown earlier. Advantage is that there's no noise, but you can cut too deep. Right now I'm using a cheap battery powerd grinder from the pet shop. The thing is noisy (which my dog doesn't mind anymore), and very low powered. The latter is a real advantage - no concern about overheating or ripping the nail off (pushing hard on the nail will make it stop due to lack of power). considering the little bit I use it, the extra second spent is well invested, because the dog never gets hurt and there is absolutely no fuss about trimming her nails

[thunderbelly]

I've never cut a dog's nails. Regular walks keep their nails filed short.

[Waftrudnir]

I've never cut a dog's nails. Regular walks keep their nails filed short.

correct, but what about the dew claw?

[thunderbelly]

Must have been lucky don't ever remember having issues with them. I wonder if the dogs bite them off? I know not all the dogs I've owned have had them removed.

[Waftrudnir]

the would break off eventually, but that is pretty painful for the dog. so you might see them licking their claw after it happend rathen than they biting off the nail intentionally

[Cass]

I have to cut the little dog's nails almost weekly, they grow crazy fast. I haven't cut the cocker's since he was a puppy - maybe his constant movement keeps them down lol. They just never seem to grow. The dachshund's nails click on the floor even right after I clip them.

[last5oh_302]

I've never had a dog that didn't need it's nails cut (dew claws included, although some dogs have all of them removed) but some dogs needed cutting less often due to their own activity level or just the way they wore them down on their own. I also believe a dog doesn't get enough exercise by just walking them on a leash.

[welsh]

Some dogs are going to need their nails clipped periodically regardless of regular walks.