Puppy won’t let me trim nails or trim feet hair

[mf123]

Looking for tips for how to get a young puppy to sit still for nail trimming and for foot hair trimming.

I know you have to start the practice young so they get used to it but it’s newrly impossible to get him to hold still. Tried treats and toys as distractions. The only time I could trim the hair on the bottom of his feet was when he was sleeping. His nails are getting long now and need to be trimmed but he won’t let us do it I can only get about one nail at a time. Would a professional groomer have better luck? Thanks

 

[Calliesmom]

for the puppy, you do need to go slow. do that one nail and cookie. wait a little and do another nail. will take a while but once he gets used to it, you'll be able to do one paw at a time and eventually all four feet in one session. you can add trimming the hair around that one nail until you work up to the whole foot. it will take time but will be worth it.......

 

[Cindy]

i love my dremel

 

[Piper's mom]

i love my dremel

ME too! I also use a hair trimmer to trim fur around pads...much safer and quicker than scissors!

 

[Hanne]

I bought a cheaper version like a Dremel
spent half a day making Minnie comfortable with it.

I have cut so many nails on my GSD for 30 years without any problems.
But Minnie's little black nails I was scared to cut to much
- the sweat ran down me.
The grinder was our rescue

 

[mf123]

I bought a cheaper version like a Dremel
spent half a day making Minnie comfortable with it.

I have cut so many nails on my GSD for 30 years without any problems.
But Minnie's little black nails I was scared to cut to much
- the sweat ran down me.
The grinder was our rescue

I have a Dremel so mahbe I will try that approach. I’m sure it will take some time to get him used to the noise. Is that whag took half a day? How did you do it?

Thanks everyone. Looks like it takes a lot of baby steps to get there.

 

[ghggp]

Yep, I have to agree! Dremel is the way to go!
With Liam as a 10 month old I would just turn the Dremel on for a few minutes. It took a few days and he was not bothered by it. Then I waited until he was really tired... then I touched his paw and messaged it! He was accustomed to that from early on as I learned that from a training manual. Then I did one nail. At first he pulled away and then I tried again after messaging his paw again!

By the end of two weeks he let me do all four paws!!!

 

[Piper's mom]

I bought a cheaper version like a Dremel
spent half a day making Minnie comfortable with it.

I have cut so many nails on my GSD for 30 years without any problems.
But Minnie's little black nails I was scared to cut to much
- the sweat ran down me.
The grinder was our rescue

I agree Hanne...Piper and Finnie have many black nails! I never worry about them with the Dremel.

 

[Sandy in CT]

I've been playing with Brodie's feet daily, but the only time I have been successful with trimming nails is late at night when he is crashed. I have a dremel which I use on Kooper's nails, but Brodie gets all excited about the 'chew toy' when I get it out. I did get desperate one day and used a metal nail files on the sharp tips - he didn't try chewing that.

Not sure what is sharper - those tiny puppy nails or those tiny razor sharp teeth!

 

[Katie’s Mom]

I've been playing with Brodie's feet daily, but the only time I have been successful with trimming nails is late at night when he is crashed. I have a dremel which I use on Kooper's nails, but Brodie gets all excited about the 'chew toy' when I get it out. I did get desperate one day and used a metal nail files on the sharp tips - he didn't try chewing that.

Not sure what is sharper - those tiny puppy nails or those tiny razor sharp teeth!

I cut Katie's nails the day the day I brought her home...with my nail trimmer. The vet shaved her paws and backside a bit...she had absolutely no problem with it. At home I always use a hair trimmer...the same one I used on my boys!! The paws go so much quicker with the electric trimmer.