When you bring a dog home and welcome your new canine companion into your family, you will soon learn that there are many learning curves on the horizon. This is especially true if this is your first time owning a dog.
As a dog owner, there are various things you’ll have to learn how to do, and one of those things is learning how to trim dog nails. Let’s talk about why you need to trim your dog’s nails, and then we’ll discuss the various tools you’ll need when trimming dog nails!
Why Do You Need to Trim Your Dog’s Nails?
Sometimes, first-time dog owners don’t realize that it’s important to trim a dog’s nails. But the truth of the matter is that it’s absolutely essential to trim your pup’s nails! Trimming dog nails fall into the category of grooming.
While dogs do groom themselves in a plethora of ways, there are specific grooming tactics that dogs cannot do for themselves or on their own. One of these grooming behaviors that dogs need help with is the trimming of their nails, so it’s up to pet owners or groomers to maintain the upkeep of dog nails.
The Tools You’ll Need to Trim Your Pup’s Nails
Just as there are nail clippers and nail files for us to use when cutting our own nails, dog nail clippers are a thing, too! There are specific tools intended to help you safely and effectively trim nails as well. Now, one option is to regularly take your dog to a groomer and have the professionals trim their nails.
This is a wonderful solution to trimming dog nails, but not everyone wants to pay groomers to trim their dogs’ nails. Whether it’s for financial reasons or personal preference, you don’t have to find a groomer near you and regularly take your dog to the groomer as long as you understand that you’ll need to carve out time to groom your pet’s nails yourself!
1. Nail Clippers
If you plan to trim your pup’s nails from home, there are a few different tools that you can use to cut your dog’s nails safely. The primary tool that you’ll need is, unsurprisingly, nail clippers! As you probably guess, nail clippers are an essential tool because they are used to perform the nails’ actual cutting.
When shopping for nail clippers that are safe to use with dog nails, you might notice that there are a few options for you to pick from! The three different styles of dog nail clippers are scissors, guillotine, and grinders. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be cutting the nails with ordinary scissors, actual grinders, or a miniature guillotine. Instead, they are just three styles of nail clippers.
Let’s take a look at the differences between these three styles of nail clippers!
2. Scissor Nail Clippers
Before you buy a pair of dog nail trimmers, you should look into the differences between the different kinds of nail clippers. Starting with the scissor style of trimmers, these are named for the way they move, just like scissors. Best used for the nails of bigger dogs, the scissor trimmers allow pet owners to trim with more power. They are great for trimming thick, long nails of large dog breeds.
3. Grinder Nail Clippers
Grinder trimmers for dogs quite literally grind down the nail instead of directly clipping the nails. Sometimes, trimming might not be the best plan of action for your dog. Grinder nail trimming tools offer an alternative to trimmers that clip the nail. Also, grinder tools can be less jarring for your dog as well.
Not all dogs take well to nail clippers, so grinder nail trimmers offer an alternative to clippers. If you think about it, having your nails clipped isn’t a pleasant experience, even when it’s tolerable. Since dogs don’t have the cognitive capacity to understand that they need to have their nails clipped, it’s essential to make it as comfortable as possible for them so that they feel safe with you.
If you notice your dog tends to pull away from you when you’re trying to trim their nails, grinder trimming tools might be more suitable for the situation. Using grinder trimmers do require more time because they aren’t as quick and to-the-point as other nail trimming tools, so you will need to have a lot of trust with your dog so that they sit still for the duration of the grinding process.
4. Guillotine Nail Clippers
Yet another style of dog nail trimmers are the guillotine style of clippers. They provide a straightforward way of clipping dog nails. Essentially, all you have to do is carefully place the nails into the space between the two blades of the guillotine-style trimmers.
When you press down on the guillotine trimmers, they will trim the nail so that the part of the nail that you stuck through the hole is cut off. Guillotine trimmers are very gentle, even though the name sounds really intimidating. They allow you to see precisely where the blades will trim the nail, which makes trimming dog nails more precise and easier for you!
