[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Monty gets very very distressed if I go near his claws with clippers. I've tried treats but he's not interested. Tried creeping up when he's sleeping but he either wakes or pulls his paws under him. I've even let him watch me clip the kids nails then try the toenail clippers on him but he's having absolutely none of it!
He was a rescue dog (probably 6 months when we got him 2 years ago) and his reaction is so strong that I suspect something has happened to his paws in the past.
Anyway, are sedatives available that I could give him? The vet said no, but then as she was raking in £130 to knock him out and give him a pedicure, I guess she would say that!
Take him for runs (you on your bike) but on pavements, job done and you get out on the bike.
Our Border Terrier never needs his claws clipping
Our collie has never had his claws clipped.
All his running is off road. He does a lot of pavement walking with Mrs petrieboy but middle 2 claws on front paws seem to be resistant to wear.
Angle grinder?
We used to dispense ACP Tablets for clients to do this but the effectiveness varied.
The quote of £130 to sedate and clip its nails seems pricey though, where are you?
Our dog's the same. Our vet charges about £65 to sedate him and clip his claws. Personally, I don't think it's necessary, but her indoors says otherwise.
The quote of £130 to sedate and clip its nails seems pricey though, where are you?
North Hertfordshire.
Muzzle and two strong people! One to hold and one to cut.
Otherwise, I suggest you try and stroke his paws for a couple of minutes every day until he is comfortable with this. Then introduce the clippers slowly doing one claw at a time, one day at a time. If he lets you do one claw then give him a treat. Don't be tempted to carry on, better to do one claw each day.
there are websites that list uses of human meds that are also safe to use on animals, you can easily find them via google, I use the anti histamine diphenhydramine hydrochloride a.k.a nytol to chill my dog along with dap products, has worked well etc, cheap as chips if you buy it off ebay from the states(400 tabs for less than a fiver compared to 8-16 tabs here)
Partner works at a vets in Bucks and says should be about £60.
Have you tried taking him to the vets to see if the nurses can clip them without sedation?
you shouldn't have to sedate a dog unless it's absolutely necessary. I wouldn't consider nail clipping a good reason unless it affected the dog in other ways.
Can't see why it would cost that much. Were you having them painted and falsies added for that? Around £50-60 dependent on weight of the dog but 1st question would be 'do they really need clipping?'
They will grow back pretty quick and if they are not curling round then there may be little benefit in clipping them. Show us a piccie.
Hmmm my dog develops the strength of 10 Brian Jacks (the Superstars star and part time Olympic judoist) when I cut her claws. I try and get some one to hold her whilst I do it. Its pretty ardious stuff but there is a funny side to a 15kg staffie needing two 90kg blokes to pin her down.
EDIT as said above my Vet wont sedate her for claws - doesnt justify it in their opinion
Put his lead on and walk him round the doors. It will harden and toughen up his pads as well as trim his claws. Never had to trim a dogs claws. Is he only walking on soft ground? Any vets in? Is it a good idea to knock out any animal just to cut it's claws, doesn't anesthetic affect the heart and metabolism ?
If they get really long they are at risk of catching them and 1/2 pulling them off, cue blood, pain and often sedation to sort it out. Or sometimes they start to curl round on themselves, especially cats and can grow into the pad.
As well as the physical difficulty in trimming the nails of even a 15 kg dog who is doing his best Brian Jacks ( great comparison!) there is also the mental aspect. With an already nervous dog, pinning it down to do something it doesn't want done can mean they become more difficult to handle for even routine examination.
In short, sometimes it is worth it in healthy dogs. Controlled sedation (not random anti histamines from the States) is pretty safe in healthy pets with no real long term effect.
Like several people above - I wouldn't sedate for anything unless it was completely necessary. To the extent that I work very hard with mine to teach him to lie flat so he can have concious x-rays.
Not wishing to doubt your resolve with training him, but it should be possible to get him acustomed to it with enough time and effort. I wouldn't be grabbing him and holding him down, or creeping up on him to get it done as it will only make him more afraid of you. Take a very softly softly approach over several days.
With mine, he had a thorn in his eye recently, and after sugery to remove needed eye drops 6 times a day for 3 weeks. All fine except he hates eye drops with a vengance and it took 3 of us in the vets to administer the first time we tried. seriously - he seemed to think we were going to pour acid on his face the way he bucked like a loon. I helpfully went away for work for 3 days, leaving my wife to give him his drops by herself. She started out getting him in the kitchen and making him sit, then touching his snout before treating and sending him on his way - did this every 10 minutes or so for a few hours, then started introducing the bottle of eye drops near his face, treating and sending him on his way. After building this up and a few struggles, she had him running into the kitchen to sit calmly as she administered his drop and waiting patiently for his treat within about 2 days. He is a very food-driven dog, so that helps us. If Monty isn't food-driven can you try rewarding with a toy or favourite game?
I would give it a go again before resorting to sedatives. Start just rewarding when he lets you touch his paw, then build it up slowly, only introducing the clippers when he is desperate to give you his paw. Once you manage to get one claw trimmed, make a massive fuss, enjoy the victory and leave him alone for a while before trying again.
+1 for never trimmed or clipped.
Lots of running and walking. The dog normally trims her own claws on top of this. Maybe I'm just lucky.
The claws certainly arn't curling round or anything, it's just the 2 middle ones on the front paws seem to grow faster/wear slower than the others. They were done by the vet back in the spring so it's not like they don't get any wear. They just make a racket when he does run on Tarmac and I don't like to think they are hurting him. He's cut his pads a few times and never complains (I only notice when he leaves bloody paw prints on the floor) so if his claws hurt I won't know. I'll post pics tonight.
Re the training, that's exactly what I did to get to the point I can clean his eyes and ears. He was pretty nervous when we got him but rewarding with play (he's not especially food driver) got him round quite quickly. He just gets really really wound up where his paws are involved. He will give a paw, but give any hint of holding it and he pulls away and looks terrified.
Pinning him down is a non starter, he's a big lad so anything like that becomes quite dramatic and likely to set us back a bit.
@ Bruk, I have to disagree with your comment regarding the use of ' random ' anti histamines from the states ' they are from random [url= http://www.medi-vet.com/prod-Diphenhydramine_HCL__Compare_to_Benedryl__25_mg,_1000_MiniTabs-3792.aspx ]linky[/url] and I would never use any old drug on my pet, they are purely from the states because they are so much cheaper