Fear is something that many dogs and puppies deal with regularly. Fear can develop for many reasons, but when it comes down to it, fear is probably about security. Just like humans, dogs and puppies need to be safe and feel safe. They need to know what to expect from their environment and that they are safe to operate the way they need to. When it comes to nail trims, this is not often the case. Many dogs and puppies feel unbalanced when people pick up a paw without asking them to hand it to them. They also deal with a history of being placed in uncomfortable positions and the potential for feeling pain when a nail is clipped too short. To help you understand why this is uncomfortable. Imagine a family member walking up to you, grabbing your hand, and then cutting your nail so short it started to bleed. Would you want them to grab your hand again? Probably not. Especially if you saw they had a nail clipper and if they came in and clipped your nail the first time without permission.
So, how do we address this problem? There is no guarantee that we won’t miss and clip the quick when trimming our puppies’ nails. However, there are two things you can do to help. First, teach your puppy to offer its paw for nail clipping. You should train this process over time and with all four paws. You can do this through paw targeting, and you need to make sure that it is always reinforced with something extremely yummy, especially when you bring in the nail clippers. The second thing you can do to help your puppy is do one nail daily. Rather than trying to get through all four paws in one sitting, trim one nail, then be done! Your puppy might be a bit surprised at first that it went so fast, but that’s a good thing! And you may see them begin to calm down after a while and not mind the event as much as they did before. This approach does two things. It can make the event shorter, and thus, your puppy will experience less stress. It also allows you to focus more on that one nail without feeling rushed and frustrated, lowering the chances of a clipped quick.
So next time you need to trim your puppy’s nails, take it one nail at a time, and use the paw targets you have trained your puppy in the past! Paw targets can be a bit tricky to train if you are new to training targeting behaviors. If you are new to targeting, leave a comment below, and we can get connected to get you started!
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