After all of our stressful and dog aggressive attempts at nail trimming, we finally decided to buy a muzzle. I took a look at 2 different kinds. I recommend the Basic Training Nylon Muzzle from PetCo.
This one seems much sturdier and secure than the Top Paw Mesh Muzzle that I found at PetSmart.
Before the session, I took him on a long walk in attempts to drain some energy. Loki never ever seems to run out of energy, but I'm sure a long walk did help.
We put him up on the bathroom counter, so he was high up and couldn't run away. We took our time putting the muzzle on him and adjusting the straps so that it fit him. As we took it on and off, we gave him treats.
Yun trimmed Loki's dew claws with clippers. They were so long that they were getting caught on everything - his toys and even his collar. Then I held him while Yun did a little bit of all his nails with the Dremel. The process is definitely a two person job. I made sure to hold his head tightly. I'm sure that Loki was bearing his teeth (I couldn't see his teeth from my angle), but he didn't lash out, scream, or struggle much when I restrained him.
Afterwards, he got a nice piece of pork and also a piece of chicken. Then we played fetch with him for awhile. We wanted to make sure that he had a really fun experience afterwards.
We will try to repeat this exercise a few times a week. It's a bit unfortunate that we have to use a muzzle, but it honestly is a good tool to use if you have to. Hopefully with time, trimming nails won't become a stressful ordeal for anyone anymore.
4 comments:
My Shiba, Boogie, hates getting her nails done. She screams at us when we try. We've been letting the vet do it, but we got brave and tried on our own again. We duplicated the vet's method with much success. One of us holds her body so her legs all hang straight down. Then the other can cut without her protesting too much. It's help that she can't see what your doing, and the position makes it harder for he to pull away.
Nails...hehe... I always do a little trim today and a little the next day, but sometimes all at once. Takes time but hopefully nail triming would be easier for you.
Until i learn how to use the dermal thingy right (they're going to show us in puppy classes soon), i just snip the ends off while he's sleeping on the couch XD
Man.. in order for me to get Mika tired, I have to go running with him for an hour and a half. @.@ ahh!!
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