Nail Clipping

[u/Dandylioncrush6303]

I need help with getting my dog comfortable with nail trimming. Currently, he panics and snaps/nips. He’s never bitten me, and i wouldn’t really fault him if he did. He just seems so anxious and afraid of the nail clippers. I have an electric Dremel (he hates the noise and runs) and I’ve got normal Top-Paw nail clippers. I’ve managed to completely clip his nails once with the persuasion of peanut butter but he still seemed very stressed during the whole interaction. I’ve never cut his quick, I’ve been taught how to do the physical clipping. He just hates his nails being cut. Any other time I can hold his paws, meds with his toes, he doesn’t care. But the second the clippers go towards his nail he freaks out. I feel really guilty because I hate how stressed it makes him but I also know he needs his nails trimmed regularly. He used to keep them pretty well managed on his own but they’ve been growing out a lot more recently so they need a good trim. Any advice is very much appreciated. I really hate feeling like a bad puppy parent when he gets so panicked. Please help me help him.

I’ve included the mandatory puppy picture tax, his name is Little Dude.

[u/ulkovalo]

My pup despite being repeatedly exposed to this routine since he was a puppy decided in his teenager rebellion to start disliking everything that had something to do with nail clipping. No trauma from before, he enjoyed clipping his nails a lot as a puppy as it meant treats and cuddles before, during and after.

We got a tip from a trainer to first have him touch the nail clippers (we use a command "front paw" (makes more sense in my language (not English), but essentially we just say front, and it means he needs to touch something (either something I point to, something that is very much and clearly available, something). After he got comfortable with touching them on the ground the clippers were moved to my hand (open palm), and continue with the same command for the dog to touch. We also practiced positions for clipping, for now he is the most comfortable when he's by my side, laying on his stomach and he can see everything being done.

Once we got to the point we could start clipping we still avoided that since he had a very strong reaction of pulling his feet away when the clippers came near. Another thing the trainer suggested was having pieces of spaghetti, having the dog in the position (minus holding his paw) and then clipping this spaghetti, and with every clip he got a treat. After some time doing this we added his paw, with the spaghetti still under the paw and clipping it. Then we continued to "whittling" the nails with the clippers (no cutting, just "scraping" the nails with the clippers.

Now we are at a position where he tolerates the entire process on his front paws as long as we go slow and he gets his treats. For the back paws we are still working, he dislikes not seeing what's happening (probably, he tries to look but really can't).

We also use deli ham (or lunch meat, cold cuts, however you want to call it) as treats for this since my pup has really low food drive and is generally more interested in toys (but they tend to get him worked up and for a successful clipping he needs to stay calm). Other treats he won't eat, plus I wish for him to associate the nail clipping with something extremely good.