cutting black nails

[blessedwithboys]

i understand that if nails are not kept short enough, the quick will grow in length. is that right? my dog, who has black nails, came to me as an adult. her nails were kept longer than i would like. it seems like everytime either the groomer or i cut her nails, at least one bleeds.

so, if starting early trimming nails a wee bit shorter keeps the quick form getting too far down the nail, is the reverse true? if we trim them back a teeny bit farther each time, does the quick stay put as the nail grows?

i wont do anything that will cause her pain. i just cant stand seeing her pretty poodle feet all shaved up nice and neat and her nails being long enough to hit the ground and even go sideways, but i know if i cut them shorter as most of the other dogs i've ever had she will bleed.

[Ola_]

Have you tried a dremel? It lets you get closer to the quick without bleeding (plus you can dremel small bits at a time as you go). There's a website called DoberDawn who has instructions, she also has a neat diagram that shows you how to dremel the top at the right angle to get closer to the vein (thus causing it to retract a bit) without actually nicking it.
http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merens...el/dremel.html

I think the key to shortening over-long nails is to do small amounts more frequently, as opposed to cutting a larger amount less frequently.

[blessedwithboys]

awesome, thats what i needed to know, that i can "train" the vein to get shorter!

i have a generic pedipaws thingy but shes super defensive of her feet. both of her back knees luxate (toy poodle rescued from puppy mill) and one front leg i think was injured and healed funny bc she is protective of it. i definitely cant dremel her, but i will for sure pay a pro to do it.

thanks

[somegirl99]

Another vote for dremeling, doing nails has been far less traumatic around here since I started doing it years ago. I started off doing one nail, one treat per day, then eventually moved to doing a paw at a time, and now I can do 4 paws and dewclaws in one go (I treat for every paw done). With clippers, even if you don't nick the quick, you can sometimes pinch them which hurts. If you can do a little bit every week the quicks will move back.

[Asiago]

I dremmel also. Per the black nails, try working in front of a sunny window and you will see the quick, or have someone help you by shining a flashlight behind the nail.

[redveg]

I am another person who uses a dremmel