Proper Nail Length And Care

I love well maintained dog nails. Their feet are as important to them as ours are to us. Failing to do their nails because you aren’t confident that you can or you don’t want to pay someone to do it is a complete disservice to your dog. It is not okay, at all, for your dog to have long nails. Improper length increases the chance of damage to the nails like breaking, especially for the dew claws. It causes the dog shift its weight further back than it normally would, thus changing the angles of every joint. Overtime, this may cause joint issues like arthritis. It also makes the nail bed sore because the constant contact from the ground is pushing that pressure right into the nail bed. This could contribute to a dog not likely when it’s feet are touched.

Humor me. Imagine if you had toe nails that were 3-4 inches long. Long enough that they touched the floor every second on the day, even when you are just standing or sitting. Do you think you would walk normally? You would likely be putting more stress on different parts of your body to compensate. Would it be uncomfortable and even painful? You would be at a higher risk to break one of those nails, right? I’m cringing just thinking about that. If that doesn’t sound like you would enjoy it then don’t let your dog go through it either. If it sounds fine to you, still don’t let your dog go through it. It’s not okay.

Dogs nails shouldn’t touch the floor while they’re standing. You also shouldn’t hear a clicking noise as the dog walks around on hard floors. Some dogs might always click based on their foot structure, but as a general rule you should get them shorter if they do. That is proper nail length.

Dew claws should be kept short and trimmed every time you do nails. If they are left long they are likely to get caught and tear results in a lot of damage and blood.

Left shows a good length with nails not touching the ground. Right shows dew claw length.

I usually use dog nail clippers to get near the quick and then follow with a dremel to file the nail to expose as much as the quick as I can. I prefer using the red handle Millers Forge clippers. The orange handle Millers Forge are also good. They are nice and sharp so they don’t squeeze the nail, which can be painful. For the dremel, I use Dremel model 8220. It’s kind of big so I recommend getting the Dremel Micro. Much smaller and easier to maneuver around the nail. Some dremels have a power cord so make sure you check and get whichever you prefer. I personally don’t like worrying about the cord so I get cordless. There are nail filers that are specifically made for dogs. They usually come with some type of “hood” over the part piece. I think it’s annoying and just gets in the way.

The conditioning process is pretty easy. You want your dog to be comfortable with nail trimming, but you also need to do their nails. The way I recommend is having some good treats and the clippers ready. Start out by just touching your dogs foot and rewarding with a treat. Foot touch = tasty treat. For each step you’ll want to do a lot of repetitions. Each dog is different so you maybe be able to move quickly or extremely slowly. Next you’ll move onto grabbing the foot and rewarding. Then grabbing the foot, holding one toe and rewarding. Then grabbing the foot, holding one toe , touching the clippers to the nail and rewarding. Then foot, toe, trim a small piece of nail and rewarding. Continuing to do that until you are able to trim every toe in one session.

Here is a great video by Sheena Neil that covers the layers of the nail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj7q9AH7Msk. To get the nails shorter you need to know what layers are in the nail. The quick is the blood supply in the nail. If it is long then the nail will be long. In order to convince the quick that it needs to reced you will need to keep it exposed. That means trimming or filing the nails very often. I dremel every other day to shorten the nail. I’m not removing a lot, but I’m keeping the quick exposed so it recedes.

Thanks to my great drawing skills we have an example. This shows the two cuts that you should make called the traditional and alternative cut lines. They cut the most nail to best expose the quick. The middle section is where you should dremel. Dremel the top, bottom and sides of the nail to expose the most of the quick. Then the finished product.

When trimming black nails go slowly and watch for a chalky, white layer. It’s softer than the surrounding nail. This is just before the quick. Carefully, trim a TINY bit more and you’ll be right where you need to.

To maintain current nail length, I recommend doing the nails weekly. This will keep the quick and nail from getting longer. Anything less frequently may allow the quick to become longer.