How do I trim a dog's claws safely?

Nails that are too long change how a dog stands, put strain on the toes and joints, and eventually curl into the pad. Most dogs that walk regularly on pavement wear the front nails down and still need the dewclaws and the back nails doing. The reason people avoid this job is the quick, and the whole technique is built around the fact that you cannot always see it.

Safety

What you'll need

• Scissor-type or plier-type dog claw clippers, sharp
• Good light
• Styptic powder or a styptic pencil
• A grinder, as an alternative (optional)
• High-value food (optional)

Step by step

1. Check whether the nails actually need doing.With the dog standing on a hard floor, the nails should not touch the ground, and they should not click as the dog walks across it. If they do, they are long. Dewclaws, higher up the inside of the leg, never touch the ground and always need checking — they curl round into the leg if ignored.
2. Build tolerance before you cut anything.Handle the feet, hold each toe, touch the clippers to the nail, and pay for all of it with food, over several short sessions. A dog that has been hurt once by a bad trim can take months to get back, so the preparation is not optional if the dog is unsure.
3. Use sharp clippers of the right size.Blunt clippers crush and split the nail, which hurts and puts dogs off permanently. Scissor-type suits most dogs; guillotine types are easy to misjudge. Replace clippers when they start to crush rather than cut.
4. On pale claws, find the pink and stop short of it.Hold the nail up to the light: the pink quick is clearly visible inside. Cut across, two to three millimetres beyond where the pink ends. This is the easy case.
5. On black claws, take repeated thin slivers.You cannot see the quick, so remove the tip a sliver at a time and look at the cut face after every one. It starts chalky and white. When a small dark or greyish oval appears in the centre of the cut surface, the quick is immediately behind it — stop on that toe.
6. Cut at the angle the nail already sits at.Roughly following the existing tip, at about forty-five degrees to the floor, rather than straight down vertically. Cutting square across the tip of a curved nail takes off more than intended on the underside.
7. Do the dewclaws.The inner claw part-way up the leg, on the front legs of almost all dogs and the back legs of some. They wear on nothing, so they keep growing, curl and can grow into the leg. Check them every single time.
8. Stop the moment anything is unclear.Bad light, a dog that has pulled its foot away three times, a nail you cannot see the end of, a thickened or misshapen claw. Doing two toes today and two tomorrow is completely fine, and much better than one bad cut.
9. If you catch the quick, apply pressure and styptic powder.Pack styptic powder onto the end and hold firm pressure for a couple of minutes without keeping lifting off to look. Cornflour is a poor substitute but better than nothing. Keep the dog quiet afterwards, because running restarts it. Bleeding that continues after several minutes of pressure needs a vet.
10. Trim little and often.Every two to four weeks. Frequent small trims also make the quick recede over time, which is the only way to shorten a nail that has become overgrown — the quick grows with it, so an overgrown nail cannot simply be cut back to length in one go.

Tips

• A nail grinder removes material more slowly and makes it much harder to go too far, which suits people who find clippers frightening. It is noisy, so introduce it with the motor running at a distance for several sessions first.
• One nail per session, paid handsomely, is a perfectly good rate of progress for a nervous dog. Ten days later you have done both front feet with no fight.
• Book a vet nurse nail clinic if this is a battle. They are usually inexpensive, take a few minutes, and are far better than a monthly struggle at home.

Common mistakes

• Taking one big cut to get it over with — That is exactly how the quick gets cut. Thin slivers with a look at the cut face after each one is the only reliable method on a dark claw.
• Ignoring the dewclaws — They touch nothing, so they never wear down. Left alone they curl round and grow into the leg, which is painful and needs veterinary attention.
• Trying to shorten an overgrown nail in one session — The quick has grown out with the nail. It has to recede gradually through frequent small trims over weeks — or a vet can shorten them under sedation.
• Using blunt clippers — They crush the nail rather than cutting it. It hurts, it splits the nail, and a dog that experiences it usually refuses to have its feet handled afterwards.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask