Nail Trimming Hell

Thanks for the suggestions, folks.

As far as restraining her or telling her NO, believe me we've done all that. If she as much as sees the claw clippers near her foot she goes ballastic. I'm talking not even touching her claw, just near her foot. If you try to lift her foot, she freaks. Any other time she'll let me do anything with her but if she sees the clippers, it's game on.

My husband is a strong guy and we have tried to flip her and scruff her and every other way you can hold a dog. To keep her still you'd be dislocating a leg because she's flipping all 70 lbs around like you simply wouldn't believe.

We've tried letting her sniff and lick the clippers. Going gently with her, trying to do even one claw a day but even the one claw we got done today was a flat out war. I cannot imagine putting her up on a table since I figure she'll simply throw herself off in her struggle to get away and injure herself in the process.

I'm going to try the hot dog trick and see if that distracts her enough to at least get a claw or two done. I don't like to keep a dog with long claws, I've always been able to do this with my other dogs but Bella just will not tolerate it. I can sit on the couch with her and touch her feet. It's not that she's freaked about that, she just flat out hates having her nails trimmed for some reason.

We had a GSD years ago like this and we did end up having to take him to the vet, have him sedated and get his nails done. There was just no other way to convince a big male dog of over 100 lbs to allow it. I hope Bella isn't like this since it turns a simple thing into a big deal. :(

take her to a groomer let them deal with it, its not expensive.

I'd seriously hate to have any groomer have to deal with Bella's antics. I'm hoping we can get her to accept this even a bit better. If we used a groomer then, at least I'd feel better not worrying she might fear bite or try to flip herself off the grooming table (she seriously is that bad about this).

If I were you, I'd try the groomer. Tell them beforehand you'd like for them to try. Give the leash to them, and walk away. She might behave, she might freak out.
I've done a LOT of dogs that I was told "Takes 4 people and a backhoe to hold still enough to trim the nails" and I did them fairly easily.
If one person holds her by a sliplead in front of her, and you stand beside her, and reach down and pick up her leg(pulling it to the back, like the horse hoof idea), and pat her foot, then put it down. You said she freaks when she sees the nail trimmers, so she shouldn't object.
If that works without too much fussing, try to clip the nails, keeping the nail trimmers in your pocket, until you've picked up her foot a couple times, rubbing it and putting it down without trimming. With her face to the front, and you pulling the foot to the back, instead of the front, she might let you trim a few nails.

I've seen a few dogs like you describe, and either letting someone unrelated trim them without you there, or having them sedated, or working slowly but firmly with them is the way they beat it. Wish you were closer, I seem to have a way to get nails trimmed. In 17 years, I have had one I didn't trim, and that was only because the boss let go of him, and he slammed his head UP into my nose and snapped the cartlege in my nose. I was more mad at my boss, than thinking I couldn't trim the nails honestly.
Good luck.

I've found that dremeling has done wonders for nail-trimming sessions... my male Doberman actually falls asleep while having his nails done! I have the dogs trained to lie down on their sides for their "pedicures", it keeps them from losing their balance, and allows me to turn/twist the foot to the exact angle I need in order to get the nails perfect.

I have a link about how to dremel on my website:
http://www.freewebs.com/lhartlep/whyidremel.htm

Dremeling is HUGE in the show world, especially with shorthaired breeds that have to show off their feet (like dobes!). It's safer, and you'll get shorter nails with it. ;)

I don't know if this will be any help to you Jo, but my cats used to be about the equivalent of how you describe Bella being over getting their nails trimmed, it just happens to be a lot easier to clamp something that only weighs 12-15 pounds tightly in a blanket while you pull each foot out for clipping. Anyhow, I recently purchased a new pair of nail clippers as I felt mine were getting dull and I decided to try a different kind of clipper. You would not believe the difference! No screaming, no wild flailing, no nipping toward me (they KNOW better than to bite!), nothing--they just layed there quietly while I calmly snipped each nail with ease. Never in a million years would I have thought that would ever happen, so I don't know--maybe try a different nail trimmer and see what happens?

Good thoughts both of you on trying a few different tools. At this point we are working with Bella on just standing while my husband holds her head up (we use her Halti head collar for that) and feeding her tidbits while I lift her feet and touch them. No clipping, no tools around, just trying to get her used to the feeling of it. Once she's calmer with that, then I'll try doing one or two nails and see how that goes.

Is this just a problem for some dogs? As I said before, I've always done nail care for my dogs and I've never had a dog react this badly to it.

Yes, some dogs are just holy terrors when it comes to nails, though usually it follows certain breeds - pugs and miniature schnauzers come to mind.

Clipping a nail can be painful or uncomfortable, even if they don't bleed - there is a large nerve in the nail, try to imagine two pieces of hard steel pressing down on either side of that. If your nail clippers aren't sharp (or if you're using a guillotine-style nail clipper) the discomfort is even higher.

When I first got Ilsa, I was clipping nails. The only time she's ever tried to bite me was when I was clipping nails. Once we switched over to the Dremel, all bad behavior during nail trimming sessions stopped. :)

Yes, some dogs are just afraid of it. You can condition and train and work really hard at it and they will be a little more manageable. I think of it as a similar experience to mine at the dentist. I panic at the dentist's. I don't like it. Never will. I lay there and don't bite anyone :D but the anxiety will never go away. I think some dogs feel that way about nails.

I feel your pain, Jo. My bassett hates having his nails trimmed or his feet touched. In fact he hates it when I cut MY toenails or fingernails. :rolleye2: He cries and throws a little fit until Im done cutting my nails and put the clippers away. I finally gave up trying to cut his nails myself, I just take him to the vet. Its only ten dollars to have them trimmed and everyone is much happier that way.lol He tolerates it best if he is on the floor and you pull his foot back like the horse hoof idea. And he does even better if Im not in the room. I don't have any tips really but you have received many great ideas already anyways. The best of luck to you, Mike and Bella!