I don't know how well known this trick is so I wanted to share.
Obviously, cutting into the quick can be painful, which is why I don't like to quick dogs to make their quicks recede, even with black nailed dogs. But some dogs nails grow fast, some dogs don't live in areas where their nails get worn down naturally, some quicks go to the very ends of the nails (like my Ginger), you may get a new dog with long nails or they've gotten away from you, whatever. It happens.
Equipment: Get your nail grinder (bear with me). I HIGHLY recommend the Dremel Minimite. Got it off Amazon for around $25, I think. I didn't get the pet one, that's like a buck less and comes with fewer attachments but it doesn't make much of a difference if you just use it for dog nails. (If you groom professionally, get two battery packs.)
Why I like it: It's quiet on high but just about silent on low. If you catch hair, it stops spinning. It's powerful, yet light and easy to hold.
Training: Condition your dog to, if not enjoy it, at least tolerate it the grinder.
How to use it: Search Youtube on how to hold the paw and the Dremel if you need to.
Safety: I put long haired ears in socks and hold back hair around the paw, at the same time, I hold the paw firmly with my two fingers stabilizing the nail I'm working on to cut down on discomfort from vibrations.
The trick: Grind all the way around the nail, like you're sharpening a pencil. You don't have to grind away an even amount on all sides, and you probably won't be able to. Just get off as much as the nail as you can up until the desired length of nail that you want left. Last time I did this, I ground away a 1/4" length band around the nail.
You DO NOT have to grind away so much nail covering that you expose the quick in the first few sessions and it's actually better not to. By leaving a thin layer of nail around the quick, the quick will be semi-protected but will begin to shrivel up. I did this over a course of three sessions and removed the final layer on the fourth.
If you live in the city and the dog is walking on hard surfaces a lot, I'd be more patient and give the quick more time to recede in between sessions.
You'd think that it may be painful to SEMI-expose (remember, you don't lay the quick bare in one session) the quick but I haven't observed the dogs showing any signs of distress when walking or running, unlike when I see dogs having their quicks nicked.
That's pretty much it. The quick recedes VERY rapidly this way and since you're doing a band around the nail, it recedes quite a bit. Even if it looks funny for during the process. The nails resemble pencil points but they're not actually sharp, so don't worry about scratching.
Sure, you could dremel a little length off the tip of the nail every other day or so but I find this to be tedious and slow going for really stubborn quicks and if you slack off at this, you quickly lose progress.
The benefit is that with dark nails, you can easily see the quick. It's lighter than the actual nail. There's VERY little chance of bleeding it unless you're not paying attention and grind into it. The end goal is that the quicks shrivels up a lot and there's a good, dead length to it that the blood flow and feeling has left.
ONE other trick I've heard but haven't tried is soaking the nails in highly concentrated saline. I dunno if Osmosis will really have that much of an impact or if the dogs will stay still long enough for it. Might be worth trying though.
Hope this was easy to understand, sorry for my overly complicated instructions.
This is what I've found to really work but others might prefer another way but maybe this will help some people.
Obviously, cutting into the quick can be painful, which is why I don't like to quick dogs to make their quicks recede, even with black nailed dogs. But some dogs nails grow fast, some dogs don't live in areas where their nails get worn down naturally, some quicks go to the very ends of the nails (like my Ginger), you may get a new dog with long nails or they've gotten away from you, whatever. It happens.
Equipment: Get your nail grinder (bear with me). I HIGHLY recommend the Dremel Minimite. Got it off Amazon for around $25, I think. I didn't get the pet one, that's like a buck less and comes with fewer attachments but it doesn't make much of a difference if you just use it for dog nails. (If you groom professionally, get two battery packs.)
Why I like it: It's quiet on high but just about silent on low. If you catch hair, it stops spinning. It's powerful, yet light and easy to hold.
Training: Condition your dog to, if not enjoy it, at least tolerate it the grinder.
How to use it: Search Youtube on how to hold the paw and the Dremel if you need to.
Safety: I put long haired ears in socks and hold back hair around the paw, at the same time, I hold the paw firmly with my two fingers stabilizing the nail I'm working on to cut down on discomfort from vibrations.
The trick: Grind all the way around the nail, like you're sharpening a pencil. You don't have to grind away an even amount on all sides, and you probably won't be able to. Just get off as much as the nail as you can up until the desired length of nail that you want left. Last time I did this, I ground away a 1/4" length band around the nail.
You DO NOT have to grind away so much nail covering that you expose the quick in the first few sessions and it's actually better not to. By leaving a thin layer of nail around the quick, the quick will be semi-protected but will begin to shrivel up. I did this over a course of three sessions and removed the final layer on the fourth.
If you live in the city and the dog is walking on hard surfaces a lot, I'd be more patient and give the quick more time to recede in between sessions.
You'd think that it may be painful to SEMI-expose (remember, you don't lay the quick bare in one session) the quick but I haven't observed the dogs showing any signs of distress when walking or running, unlike when I see dogs having their quicks nicked.
That's pretty much it. The quick recedes VERY rapidly this way and since you're doing a band around the nail, it recedes quite a bit. Even if it looks funny for during the process. The nails resemble pencil points but they're not actually sharp, so don't worry about scratching.
Sure, you could dremel a little length off the tip of the nail every other day or so but I find this to be tedious and slow going for really stubborn quicks and if you slack off at this, you quickly lose progress.
The benefit is that with dark nails, you can easily see the quick. It's lighter than the actual nail. There's VERY little chance of bleeding it unless you're not paying attention and grind into it. The end goal is that the quicks shrivels up a lot and there's a good, dead length to it that the blood flow and feeling has left.
ONE other trick I've heard but haven't tried is soaking the nails in highly concentrated saline. I dunno if Osmosis will really have that much of an impact or if the dogs will stay still long enough for it. Might be worth trying though.
Hope this was easy to understand, sorry for my overly complicated instructions.
This is what I've found to really work but others might prefer another way but maybe this will help some people.
What was suggested works. See!
