By Carrie Hyde | March 11, 2022

Frequent nail trimming is a vital part of your dog’s preventative health regimen. Not only does keeping your dog’s nails short reduce the chances of painful nail injuries, but it also helps keep their feet and joints healthier.

Dogs with overgrown nails develop unnatural gaits that can damage the muscles in the foot and put added strain on their joints. If your dog spends a lot of time licking their paws or has trouble moving the way they used to, poor nail care may be to blame.

The first step to developing a healthy nail care routine is to understand how to safely trim your dog’s nails. When done improperly, nail trimming can be stressful, painful, and make future nail trims nearly impossible to do yourself. But when done the right way, nail trimming is a painless process that your dog can learn to tolerate.

Why You Shouldn’t Use Nail Clippers

At the center of every dog nail is a bundle of nerves and blood vessels called a quick. Cutting this quick, or even applying pressure to the area around it, can cause your dog immense pain.

Some breeds, such as Shiba Inus, pugs, shepherds, labs, and bully breeds, seem to have exceptionally sensitive quicks. But this sensitivity can vary greatly between individuals. Often, it isn’t until you’ve hurt your dog during a nail trim that you’ll know just how sensitive they are.

Unfortunately, once your dog experiences pain during a nail trim, they are likely to develop a strong fear response to the process that can make future nail trims difficult. The more your dog fights nail trimming, the more likely you are to cut a nail too short and hit the quick. This endless cycle of increased stress can make nail trimming at home impossible.

One way you can break this cycle is by ditching the nail clippers.

It is incredibly difficult for an inexperienced owner to identify where their dog’s quick is before cutting. Nail clippers, which require you to cut off large chunks of the nail at a time, are very unforgiving to this fact. You won’t know if you’ve misjudged where your dog’s quick is until you’ve already sliced through it.

Additionally, dog nail clippers put an excessive amount of pressure on the nail as they cut. Even if you don’t hit the quick with the blades, this pressure can squeeze the quick, and cause tremendous pain.

The Benefits of Cutting Your Dog’s Nails with a Dremel

A nail dremel works differently from dog nail clippers. While this tool produces more noise and takes longer to complete the job, the benefits of it far outweigh the negatives.

Won’t Cause Pain

For one, when used correctly, dremels don’t cause any pain.

These motorized tools work by grinding down the nail from the end inward. This methodic process involves no pressure or squeezing, which means no pre-quick-contact pain.

Less Likely to Hit the Quick

By removing only a thin layer of the nail at a time, dremels allow you to constantly reassess where the quick is to avoid cutting too close to it. Unlike with nail clippers, there is no guesswork with a dremel. You simply begin grinding and look for the warning signs that the quick is close so you can stop well before causing your dog any pain.

Safer for Black Nails

This methodic process of deduction is especially important for dogs with black nails. With these darkly pigmented nails, it can be nearly impossible to determine where the quick is before you start cutting. A dremel allows you to slowly grind down the nail so you can stop short of hitting that hidden quick.

Fewer Triggers

Many people balk at dremels because they think their dog will struggle with the noise they make. But the truth is, nail clippers have a much more triggering sound. The “snap” noise made by clippers with each cut is far more triggering to dogs who have been injured during nail trims because of its close association with the act that caused the pain.

Additionally, the squeezing sensation of nail clippers is triggering to many dogs. Even if the squeeze doesn’t immediately cause pain, it will still trigger the dog’s natural instinct to pull away. This action immediately starts a tug of war over the foot between you and your dog that only increases the stress of the entire situation.

A nail dremel has a continuous sound that dogs can be easily acclimated to. And they don’t pull or squeeze the nail during use.

How to Safely Trim Your Dog’s Nails with a Dremel

Dremeling your dog’s nails may seem more intimidating than using clippers, but the fact is it is actually less stressful on both parties.

Whether you choose a standard power tool dremel with multiple speed settings or a pet-specific dremel, the process will be the same. Just be sure the tool you’re using has enough power to grind your pet’s nails without stalling.

Watch “Paw Care for Pet Parents” here.

1. Use Your Hand to Gently Separate Your Dog’s Toes

The first step to dremeling your dog’s nails is to gently separate the toes so you can easily access each nail without other nails or toes getting in the way. To do this, simply place your thumb between the pads on the bottom of your dog’s paw and use your fingers on the top of the paw to gently squish the toes apart.

If your dog is new to nail trimming or has a negative history with the process, it is worth desensitizing them to this kind of handling before introducing any tools.

2. Apply Steady Pressure with the Dremel Head

Apply firm, consistent pressure with the dremel head against the end of the nail. Moving the head slowly up and down can help grind the nail more evenly and allow you a better view of the surface you’re cutting.

If your dog is new to the dremel, spend some time desensitizing them to the sound before you use the tool on them. Turning the dremel on during their favorite game of fetch, during mealtime, or while giving them pets and treats, can help build a positive association with the sound. Repeat this process until you can turn the dremel on without your dog reacting to it.

3. Stop When You See the First Signs of the Quick

What makes dremeling safer than clipping is that you can see signs of the impending quick in advance. As you grind away layers, keep your eye on the center of the cut nail surface.

At first, this area will be uniformly white or gray, depending on the color of the nails. As you near the quick, you’ll notice a circle of brownish-pink or black begin to show in the center of the nail. Once you see this feature, stop trimming.

You may use the dremel to round out the outer edges of the nail, but do not cut any further into the center of the nail at this point.

If your dog is new to dremeling, start slowly. Don’t worry about getting the nails trimmed before you stop. Rather, focus on keeping your dog calm and ending the process before they begin to stress. As your dog gets used to the dremel, you’ll be able to do longer sessions and eventually finish the chore in one sitting.

Getting Your Dog’s Nails Trimmed at the Groomers

If your dog goes to the groomer to have their nails trimmed, make sure you ask them to use only the dremel on your pet.

While professional groomers are less likely to accidentally quick your dog than you are, it does happen. And, more importantly, even the best groomers can’t do anything to stop the pain caused by the squeezing sensation of the clippers.

By assuring your groomer uses only the dremel, you can greatly reduce the odds that your dog will experience pain or trauma during their nail trims.

Nail Trimming Should Always be a Positive Experience

The only way to get your dog to calmly accept nail trimming is to convince them that the process won’t hurt.

If you’re using nail clippers, there will always be some degree of pain that comes with nail trimming. A dremel, on the other hand, can be used to safely and comfortably trim your dog’s nails without causing pain.

By introducing the dremel slowly, stopping at the first sign of the quick, and working with your dog to make nail trims a positive experience, you can teach your dog to calmly accept the process. Once a dog’s nails can be trimmed without causing stress, you’ll be able to better maintain a proper nail length to avoid undue foot discomfort and joint strain.

By Carrie Hyde, The Spaw Pet Life Coach | March 11, 2022

Written for The Spaw by Sara Seitz, Professional Freelance Writer and Novelist with Pen and Post

Carrie Hyde is the founder, owner, and Pet Life Coach of The Spaw in Tustin, CA. Carrie’s extensive experience and understanding of pet nutrition and coaching enabled her to create The Spawdcast, a podcast dedicated to educating pet parents and pet industry professionals on ALL the options available to their pets. Her mission is to open pet-owner’s eyes to the questions they may not even know to ask, to shine a light on the many myths that have been part of pet care for decades and to offer whole solutions for their pets. Carrie Hyde is a certified pet nutritionist with the goal of helping pet parents & pet professionals with a new understanding of how to care for pets in a “whole and natural” way.