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In my unending quest to make nail trimming easier for me and my dogs, here's another way to get your dog used to the sound of the Dremel tool. In the last video, I used the clicker. In this video, I'm simply pairing high value treats (wet cat food) with the sound of the Dremel turning on. Dremel on = cat food appear. Dremel off = cat food disappears.
This is the fourth installment on nail trimming. The first, second and third installments are also posted on the blog.
I'm still working with Talos, getting him comfortable with my handling his feet. If he's not comfortable with me touching his feet, I'll never be able to trim his nails. It's a pretty simple process, getting a dog used to being handled. Here's the first step I posted earlier this week where I simply introduced touching Talos' feet for clicks and treats.
Here's the second step:
Those ridiculously large feet belong to Talos. Those things that look like talons? They're nails. They need to be trimmed.
But you can't just rush in, hold the dog down, trim the nails, and get out. Well, you can, but you'll be paying for it the rest of the dog's life. Do that and you're setting yourself (and your dog) up for a battle at nail-trim-time.
There isn't any reason a dog needs to be muzzled, sedated, or restrained for nail trimming. Especially if you've got a young dog and you can teach the dog to tolerate nail trims.
How do you teach that, you ask?
It's pretty easy, really. You'll need some really fantastic treats. This works regardless of the age of the dog. You can teach an old dog new tricks. (Note: If your dog growls at you when you work on this, stop immediately. Call a professional dog trainer who uses positive reinforcement – call me if you need a referral to a trainer in your area.)
Not dog food, Pupperoni's, or dog biscuits. Get the good stuff: steak, chicken, ham, salmon — real meat! You want your dog to look forward to your handling his feet, so make it worth his while by getting the best of the best treats.
You won't trim nails right away either. This is all about getting the dog comfortable with you handling his feet.
I'm working with Talos right now on this very thing. When he was a small pup, he accepted nail trims very easily. Sometime over the last three weeks (the last time I handled his feet) he's decided he's not a fan of it.
Not a problem.
We'll take a few steps back, remind him how much fun it is to have me handle his feet, then we'll move forward to nail trims again. Watch this video for the first step:
If you look closely, you can see Nemo’s nails as he wraps his paw around the empty water bottle. I posted previously that my latest project was to help Nemie become more comfortable (as well as myself!) with nail trims.
It’s time for an update, so I thought I’d post immediately after our latest training session.
I’ve decided that I want to use a Dremel tool to trim Nemo’s nails, as opposed to a guillotine-type trimmer. There are a couple of reasons behind that decision:
The advantages to the Dremel include: no apparent discomfort, impossible to quick the dog as you’re sanding the nail down, it’s quick, and clean up is easy. The disadvantage, though, is that it’s loud, it feels funny for the dog (or scary, depending on your perspective), and the smell of grinding nails might be aversive.
My goal was to practice each day with the dogs. Reality, though, is that I get to practice every other day. In a perfect world, I’d practice every day, two or three times each day (for about 5 minutes per session).
In an effort to make the Dremel tool a predictor of something good, I’ve been getting it out before I prepare the dog’s dinner. What I want is for them to associate the presence of the Dremel with something really good (like dinner).
In addition, I’m using a really high-valued treat as a reinforcer — wet cat food. It’s smelly, it’s delicious, and it’s a rare commodity.
This is how our sessions have progressed:
He’s still a bit stressed at this point with that last step, so we’ll spend a couple days at this point until he can handle it without any trouble.
Our next step will be to have the Dremel on while I hold his paw (no touching the Dremel to the nail yet). Once he’s comfortable with the Dremel on while I’m holding his paw, I’ll move the Dremel closer. When he’s calm and confident, I can then briefly (very briefly!) touch the Dremel to his nail while the Dremel tool is on it’s lowest setting.
It takes some time to do this – but look at it this way: Nemo will hopefully live 10 or 12 more years. Dedicating a few weeks now to help him become comfortable with nail trims for the rest of his life is a great investment.
Nemo's expression reflects my attitude toward nail trimming. I hate it. I don't enjoy it. I avoid it as much as I can.
But it's a necessary evil (actually it's not really evil, but that's how I feel about it!). And I need to teach myself and my dogs to tolerate it.
So today I worked with both Tango and Nemo on conditioning them to nail trims. Except we didn't jump right to nail trimming straight away.
There are lots of smaller steps we need to go through before a nail gets trimmed. And if we go too quickly or skip over a step, that will actually put our training back several steps. So what are those steps?
I worked with each dog individually and used super delicious treats that they don't normally get. For both dogs, I started out asking them for their paws. I didn't hold onto the paws, simply wanted them to volunteer their paws. Each time the dog volunteered a paw, they earned a click and treat (c/t).
Once the dog was offering his paw, I began to gently hold the paw for a second (and only a second!). For the 1 second hold, the dog earned a c/t. If they didn't offer their paw, I didn't force them to give me their paw and I didn't pick up their paw. They simply didn't earn a c/t.
It's important to go at your dog's pace. Cooperation cannot be forced or rushed. If the dog is stressed, I'm going to be stressed. And I'm already stressed because I'm doing something I don't necessarily like – nail trims! So I want each of us to be as happy and comfortable as possible. Cooperation is the only way to get there.
Nemo began to slow his paw offerings. Instead of waiting for him to offer the paw, I gently touched his paw. At the very moment I touched his paw, I also c/t. By doing this, I was keeping him engaged in the "game," and lowering my criteria. I lowered my criteria because he couldn't do what I was currently asking: give me his paw voluntarily. He was quite happy to let me touch his foot for a c/t, so that's where we stayed until he was again offering a paw.
I was able to quickly move through that step and could then begin touching Nemo's paw with the clippers. Initially, he was a bit unsure of this step. (In the past, I've trimmed a nail or two while he's been asleep in my husband's lap. He's growing wise to my tactic, though, which is why I decided I needed to teach this skill, step by step.) But with only a few reps, followed by yummy treats, he quickly discovered that having the nail trimmer touch his foot was actually a good thing!
It'll take awhile before the dogs are ready for me to trim a nail (and before I'm ready!), but we'll keep working dilligently, a few minutes each day until each of us are comfortable enough with the process. I'll update the Blog with our progress!
Do Labradors need to be groomed?Apparently they do. Who knew?! I’d always assumed that because my dogs had manageable coats that didn’t need trimming or that didn’t mat up, that I got to skip the groomer.
Every dog benefits from regular professional grooming. We visited Happy Dog Grooming in Mt. Airy, MD to learn a little bit more about dog grooming and why it’s so important.
We’re guilty of letting our dogs’ nails get so long that they tap, tap, tap on the floor. After hearing why this is so bad for the dog, we’ve resolved to go to the groomer weekly for nail trims until our guys’ nails are back in (short!) shape!
One of the things that surprised me about the grooming salon was how homey it felt. And that the dogs each had their own room (with a couch or chair — totally ok for the dog to get up on!) to reduce the stress on the dogs. These folks know how to do low-stress grooming! It’s not about sheer volume — dogs in, dogs out. It’s about ensuring the dog has as good a time grooming as possible. They go slowly if they need to, to help a dog get accustomed to the grooming table, shampoo tub, or dryers.
If you’re not in the local area, you can take all the information from the video (especially about the dander in your dog’s coat, as well as the nail information) to find a good, low-stress groomer in your area!
Here’s to a happy, clean, and good-smelling dog!