Clipping Your Dog Nails

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Clipping your dog’s nails can be easy or difficult depending on how your dog acts. If you try holding your dog still and he keeps moving while you’re clippin his nails, you will probably need something to stop the bleeding if you cut too close to the vein which lies within the nail. If your dog is calm, you still may need something to help stop your dog’s nail from bleeding, but it will be much less likely to happen. Every once in a while your dog’s nails will need to be cut, and you will know if he keeps scratching you with them.

In a white or clear nail, you will see a pink area inside your dog’s nail. This is a vein with a nerve next to it (if you can see it inside the nail). This is a area not to cut. If you do this it will cause him to start bleeding if you cut it. If you can’t see the pink inside the nail because the nail is black, you should cut the nail just about where it begins to curve then you are less likely to cut that pink spot. You will see a little white dot if you look into the nail after you clip it. Once you see the white dot, stop clipping the nail or you will make the nail bleed.

There are couple different types of nail clipper for dogs. There are ones that are hand powered. Basically clippers that you control how far away, or how close you want it, and you clip it. These will have a higher chance of cutting too close to the vein, but can be a bit quicker if you use then right for cutting. The other types of nail cutters are the electronic type. One that will run usually on a battery as a power source, and have a lower chance of cutting too close to the vein. It takes a bit longer to cut your dog’s nails with this. It can also act like the hand operated ones with how close or far you want it, but the shorter you want the nail, the longer it takes.

It tends to take around four to six minutes to cut your dog’s nails if nothing goes wrong, and your dog behaves well. But if you happen to need your dog’s nails cut, get him a bath, and brushed, you could take him to you local groomer and save some time while your out working, or doing something else. This way you could get multiple things done, and you won’t have to deal with doing this yourself. And the groomer will usually do a better job because he has everything he needs there to groom your dog, and if anything goes wrong, he will be able to fix it usually with a powder called QuikStop. Even though it is a little extra cost, it is worth it to take your dog to a groomer.