johargis
01-06-2001, 04:14 PM
I Know, nobody likes the panic the doxies have when it is time to clip those nails but it must be done and done often. I was ignorant to the importance of this until I joined a Dachshund club 10 years ago and learned how important it is to the health of their feet. All doxie feet should look like a clenched fist with your knuckles on the desk. All doxies are born with strong tight little feet. If the foot is flat like your hand with the fingers spread flat on a table with your palm in the air the dog's foot has broken down and it certainly gives the dog pain and impairs their walking. What causes the foot to flatten out, you ask? Long nails. If the dog's nails click on the tile floor, the nails are too long. I know it is a bloody proposition to keep nails short if it is done infrequently but here's the good news. If you keep the nails short, the nerve recedes back into the nail so when they are cut short, even if there is a little blood, it won't hurt the dog when they are clipped. The blood can be stopped by using styptic powder that is available at every pet store. Comes in a container that looks like a 35mm film canister. The powder is yellow and will stain your clothes if it gets on them so we always cover our laps with a towel. It takes two of us to perform the clipping process. If you are not coupled, ask a friend to help you. Get this friend to agree to help every two weeks at a minimum. This is how we do it. Dave gets a small chair from the kitchen puts a towel across his lap and picks up the dog. He holds the dog as if they were sitting up on their hind legs with their back to his chest. This leaves their four little paws easily accessible for me to cut. I sit in a chair in facing him and the dog. He helps me by holding the leg with the paw being trimmed to steady it. I clip away and watch for any bleeders which I immediately dab with styptic powder. Sometimes they don't want to quit bleeding right away. We hold the dog until repeated applications of styptic powder do their work. I constantly talk to the dog and tell them in a reassuring voice that they are good babies, I go on an on talking in that tone we all use to reassure them I'm not out to hurt them. We are accustomed to using the clippers that have a ring sort of shape for a blade. We prefer these for control to the scissors type. Some people use grinders like Black and Decker's rotor tool but I find the noise upsets me and my bunch. If you cut them radically short once, then trim a little bit every week, the dog and you get used to it and it is less traumatic for them and you. While we are at it we always take the time to clean their ears by wrapping a small square 4"x4" of paper towel around a finger, moisten it with isopropyl alcohol and clean the area where all the flaps are and a little bit down into the canal. Never use Qtips or paper TP because it disintegrates too easily. It is smart to get your vet to show you the proper way to do this before you try it. If you are afraid to cut the nails, get trained...groomers and vets are happy to help. Some will charge a fee. We always reward the babies with a small biscuit after the nail cutting. I know this is good. My 10 year old doxie Cloud still has tight feet. They are big beautiful fists. I feel so guilty for all the doxies I had before who had broken down feet because I did not know how important it was to keep the nails short. I know first hand how much it hurts to have broken down feet because my arched collapsed a few years ago. The ligaments in my foot that are attached to the bottom of the heel tore when I was running. I could barely walk and saw the podiatrist frequently for steroid shots in my heels. The same thing happened to the babies whose nails I did not keep clipped. I hope this helps others. If you have any suggestions about how you deal with clipping nails, please share with us. Josie and her Doxies http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gifhttp://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/dog.gif