Trimming the paw pads, nails, and ear cleaning
The first two are just trimming the nails, for anyone new to dogs or who is unsure of doing this themselves... The first pic shows the pink area, which is the "quick" (a blood vessel in the nail), and the second pic shows where I line up the guillotine style clippers to cut it. 
Next are some pics of how I trim the fur between the paw pads. I don't actually trim really short right in between them, I first comb it out to make sure there are no mats forming, and then trim basically flush with the pads. I do this every week, but it only takes a couple of minutes and easier than waiting for it to get bad and then having a wiggly uncomfortable dog if I have to dig out mats or try to cut that sensitive area in there. The pics are in order from beginning to end.... sorry if there are too many LOL 
And last but not least, some pics of cleaning and plucking the hair from one ear. Panda has excessive ear hair, so I do this once a week as well, then I am only plucking a little bit, and not have to actually irritate the ear doing a lot at once. I also only use a baby oil gel to clean her ears, but every dog is different, some need a proper ear cleaning powder or liquid, or even an antifungal if they are prone to yeast infections in the ear. I use haemostats aka forceps to pluck the hair, but used to just use my fingers and that worked ok too. Using these things makes it easier though. 
Ok, so, sorry if I've bored you! LOL I do hope it's useful to someone though LOL |
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| That's a fine pictorial essay, Stacey!
Thank you! |
Great job and my those are some big feet she has.  |
| Great job! Thanks for posting the pictures.
What pretty feet she has  |
| Thank you so much! I've always been skiddish about all three things. The pics helped so much.
lol and i'm glad to see the large feet, was starting to think tuc's were freakishly big |
Fantastic step by step pictures and instructions stacy, my question is on the nails, still hate doing them. Brie has a few black ones so can't see where the quick is so cutting them terrifies me  In case you go in too close and it bleeds. Usually get the vet to do them when I am there.
Any suggestions as to knowing how far to trim those black nails. 
I am thinking of investing in a dremil (hope I spelt that right  ) for those black nails, anyone else use one of them? |
| Panda has a black nail or two as well, I usually judge by how much needed to be trimmed off the nail next to it, and then trim less. Then if you don't see the little dot in the middle indicating you are getting close to the quick, you can trim off another sliver at a time until you think you are close enough to see the dot in the middle , without actually cutting the quick. If you do nip the quick, just use a styptic pencil, or powder, cornstarch, or even just hold a papertowel to it to stop the bleeding.
As far as the dremel goes, I've never used them for nails, but I would think you'd have to be just as careful since those things file them down superfast and the tip of the nail would get hot as well from the friction. |
| Lisa, We have a dremel and it does work nicely however, if your dog has sensitive feet like Panda does, the dremel is more of a pain in the butt....quick and fast nail clipping is our way to go.....I love the sypic powder, it is much quicker than a pencil....I use that on myself after shaving my legs |
| Love the pictures! Will help a lot when i get a dog. Question about the haemostats though?
Does it hurt the dog or do they not care? I have read everywhere that you are supposed to do this to their ears but it scares me crazy! Is it pretty easy or hard to do? Do they stay still for it? |
| Thanks guys, will try clipping the black nails myself and be armed with Stypic pencil just in case Where do I get that from is it available at a Pharmacy or where?
The haemostats makes it easier to grasp the hair to pluck. Use with one of those ear powders as you are doing it, the ear powder sort of rots the hair at the roots and out it comes nice and easy without them really feeling it at all.  Bio-groom brand has a great ear powder for this.
They ususally stay still, well mine do, I think they enjoy it as they give a groan of delight when I am doing it. 
At the start if you have not done it before just go in easy for the first time, put the powder onto the hair wait a minute or two then start plucking and if the dog gets fidgety stop and do a little bit more later. As you go along they get use to it and it really is important to keep those ear canals free from hair, then you don't end up with a bunch of ear problems. |
| Nice photos Stacey!
I tried the Dremmel once to see if I would get less resistance doing the nails. Well, Frank flinched and his hair got caught in the dremmel and he kind of freaked. Now it's more difficult than ever to handle his one paw. I did find out after-the-fact that you're supposed to use an old sock with holes in it so that the nails just poke through with no hair.  |
| I LOVED the photos - they are sooooo helpful! It is so much easier to understand when you see it clearly in front of you - I loved seeing how the process works - especially with the pad trimming and nail trimming. THANK YOU |
| Great job with the pics!
We do the exact same thing. We never had a bit of trouble with plucking Oliver's (ATB) ear hairs. Bart is just getting ready to need his done, so I hope he is good too. He loves any type of grooming, even nail trims, so I don't anticipate too much trouble! |
crustybirds wrote: Love the pictures! Will help a lot when i get a dog. Question about the haemostats though?
Does it hurt the dog or do they not care? I have read everywhere that you are supposed to do this to their ears but it scares me crazy! Is it pretty easy or hard to do? Do they stay still for it? Or you can just ask the groomer to do it like we do! I'm squeamish about plucking too, although Clyde is really good for it. I also don't like cutting the nails even though I know what I'm doing. For some reason, the feeling of cutting the nails gives me the willies so every time I try, I get all tense and unsure of myself. The dogs can tell too so, of course, they get all squirmy. Cleaning the ears is no problem now that we found the presoaked Biogroom ear cleaning pads. My guys hate the drops but they don't mind the pads at all. |
Quote: Or you can just ask the groomer to do it like we do! I'm squeamish about plucking too, although Clyde is really good for it. I also don't like cutting the nails even though I know what I'm doing. For some reason, the feeling of cutting the nails gives me the willies so every time I try, I get all tense and unsure of myself. The dogs can tell too so, of course, they get all squirmy. Cleaning the ears is no problem now that we found the presoaked Biogroom ear cleaning pads. My guys hate the drops but they don't mind the pads at all.
Yes that was what i was thinking about doing. Just buying the ear cleaning products and then bring the dog in to have the ear hair plucking done at the groomers. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. I wanted to do all the grooming myself but this hair pulling out thing...I just dont know....... |
| So the actual hair you are plucking, is in the inside of the ear, the pink part?? Allie is just now 4 mths and HATES when I put the ear cleaner (in a squirt bottle) in her ears...I try to do it 2-3 times a week. She had an ear infection when she was 12 weeks old, so I try to keep up on the ear rinse.
Also, so far when ever I cut nails and trim paw and eye hair, I do it when she is sleeping. Any advice here?? I want her to enjoy the hair cutting, like the brushing but right now she moves to much, afraid I am going to stab her with the scissors! |
| Yes, the hair inside the ear is what needs to be plucked, it can get matted and cause infections due to no air circulation, and moisture buildup being a perfect environment for bacteria and fungi.
She is young yet, so probably doesn't have hardly any in there yet, but getting her used to it now is a good idea. I don't know if 2-3 times a week with the cleaner is necessary.... but each dog is different so I don't know about yours. If her ears seem particularily dirty even with that much cleaning I'd talk to the vet about it. I also really think a grooming table helps a lot. They learn that being on it means being groomed and especially if they get used to it young, they usually become very relaxed about it. |
| Yeah it's the hair on the floppy part of the ear, but it's really mainly the hair down and inside the ear the has to be pulled out. Frequently it will have lots of wax on it if you haven't been cleaning way down in there very regularly. |
| This is a great pictorial, Stacey!
I cut Beau's nails for the first time myself last week. I had tried on Gen once before, but cut too close and she cried...nearly broke my heart I felt so bad!! So, I was timid about trying it again, but was successful. Thanks for the tips! |
| Just another tidbit of info I found.... if your dog does not have any ear problems, it is best not to use any actual ear cleaners other than a bit of mineral oil or baby oil because other things will upset the ph balance in the ears and may actually cause problems.
Edit to include~ According to one site |
ccnwater wrote: Also, so far when ever I cut nails and trim paw and eye hair, I do it when she is sleeping. Any advice here?? I want her to enjoy the hair cutting, like the brushing but right now she moves to much, afraid I am going to stab her with the scissors!
What you need to do is get her into a relaxed stage. Best when sh eis tired, but not so tired sheis wired. If you can get her to lay down on her side, if you massage her firmly but gently she may go off into a lala land trace-like state. Get to the point where you are rubbing her feet, and then lighten-up on the rubbing while you sneak in a snip. Might be best to hold the foot fairly firmly, so not to tickle. But do NOT restrain the foot and get into a big struggle. If the foot pulls away the treat leaves. Get it? No holding or forcing the issue. What I also do to train a relaxed state for feet and nails, is to give a tiny treat (cheese or chicken) while they are lying nice and calm. Or a Kong with some cheeze-whiz in it. If the dog lifts his head (mostly Bosley ) the treat goes away, and the head has to lay down for the treat to return. Timing is everything. Make sure you reward them laying calmly, NOT when they squirm. At the beginning it may take two people, where one distracts the "calm" dog with the treats when calm, and the other trims. But always reward consistent behavior, so they know what to do...Head down and no moving. |
Willowsprite wrote: Just another tidbit of info I found.... if your dog does not have any ear problems, it is best not to use any actual ear cleaners other than a bit of mineral oil or baby oil because other things will upset the ph balance in the ears and may actually cause problems. That's news to me! What do you do about ears that have lots of wax in them? We are using a vet-supplied ear cleaning solution of some sort with cotton balls. |
| I found it on this site http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/ears.html
I'm still looking for more info to back it up. |
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