We bought Pedi-Paws *long*

[Lola's Mom]

Now that we have a dremmel I am so scared to introduce it to Lola. She throws an absolute fit if she even sees a nail clipper and you would thing she is going to hyper-ventilate. She practically gasps for air she gets so worked up. She is so bad that the Vet can't even clip her nails. We are one step away from sedation. If I even squeeze her nails in the least bit (like you were going to clip them) she will almost nip me.

It would be great if you could share your ways of introducing the dremel.

I read about this clicker method on a website when I was googling. What are your thoughts on using the clicker this way?

One of our rescue collies, Lucy, absolutely hated having her toenails clipped. In fact, she would become not simply frightened but terrified if anyone touched her feet. Yet, her toenails were uncomfortably long. How to desensitize her to nail trimming and counter-condition her to love it?
I got out a clicker and touched one of her feet lightly. As soon as I touched her foot, I clicked and gave her a treat. The very first time I touched her foot, Lucy gave me a hard stare and a loud snarl, and made a move toward me like she was going to bite me. What did I do? I stuck to my plan: I clicked and then in the midst of her snarl, I popped a piece of steak into her mouth. Anyone watching me would think that I just reinforced the snarling and the snapping. If anything, I reinforced her not moving and not biting me when I touched her foot. In a way I used the clicker a little non-conventionally. I used it to mark something I did, and not really an action that she did--I clicked her for not reacting more than she did.
Proof that I did not reinforce her growling and snapping came rapidly. "Reinforce" in behavioral terms means that a behavior increases in frequency. The second time I touched her foot, clicked, and treated, she gave a half-hearted growl and did not snap or feign a movement toward me. The third time I touched her foot, actually now I picked it up by one toe, and then clicked and treated, she was silent. Instead, she had become very interested in how the foot touching predicted a piece of steak. By the fourth and fifth times--now I was grabbing her foot and holding on tight--she simply waited eagerly for her steak. I next placed the toenail dremel against her toe while I held her foot, clicked and treated a couple more times and quit for the day.
In the next session, the following week, we started where we left off. In about 6 more clicks I was dremeling her toenails. Eventually, when Lucy saw me get out the dremel, she would push herself in front of me and present me with her foot, holding it in the air, to insist that I trim her toenails first, before the other dogs.
I don't have room to describe the many more examples of NCR rescue dogs that we have rehabbed successfully using these desensitization and counter-conditioning methods. Please consider using a dog-friendly approach to solving dog behavioral problems of all kinds. While you can read many good books to learn these methods yourself, I urge you to find a professional to help you with any behavior in which your dog growls at you or threatens to bite you. These behaviors can be successfully addressed with well-informed positive methods, but consulting with a behaviorist ensures that you will succeed without anyone getting hurt. I would be happy to recommend a positive-reinforcement trainer near you. To learn more about positive reinforcement training, visit http://www.r-plusdogtraining.info.

[ayleash]

yessssss SLOW is the way to go...

and lots of yummies.. (even a whole meal if you can get Logan to leave you alone)


I often review using DoberDawn's notes (see the left of her page) and illustrations. http://homepages.udayton.edu/~merens...awn/index.html


good luck.

and do a little bit of work on it every day... I even HAND filed (with a human's emery board) in the eves as Captain and I cuddled for a while.

[Rosiepug]

A breeder from a show kennel who has a few dogs to do each week, told me they wrap their dogs in a towel or baby blanket ...head an all and just have the paws exposed. She said having the head covered seems to calm them.

[jwestoverpug]

Clicker training works great for this, I think what you posted is probably a bit sped up though for a dog who's very sensitive to having their feet/nails touched.

One thing I've always noticed is the more you try to restrain them the more they panic and fight, so it's nice when they will just sit on your lap and let you do what you need to do.

[ayleash]

so it's nice when they will just sit on your lap and let you do what you need to do.

My "man" Tigger lies on his back for this treatment... and veritably sleeps...

[jag]

smu was not so easy and still doesn't let me do her back paws with the dremel.... it took serveral weeks of work to be able to touch even one claw let alone the whole paw.... we now can do the front ones with her lying down on the counter with her little paws hanging over the edge and me holding a piece of chicken for her to nibble on while I do the dremeling..... it is quit the balancing act but it works for us.... the nail clipper thing was a nightmare with her...

[eclecticmk]

You know I consider myself a pretty savvy dog trainer but for some reason I never considered clicker training for nail trimming. All three of my dogs are very operant trained so I'll have to give this a go.

[Freddy'sMom]

Toby was a nightmare when clipping his nails. The first time I did it, I had no idea there was an issue and he bit me! I learned fast. We went to the two-man method, with my hubby holding him while I clipped. This resulted in Toby getting extremely worked up and upset. We tried letting the vet do it, until he decide to use a muzzle. I read about the Dremel and decided to give it a try. Toby is now a dream when Dremelling! We took it slow, though probably not weeks. He was given small pieces of cheese as encouragement. We can do all nails on all four paws in a session, with no turmoil for either of us!!

[shaynapug]

pick a treat that your pug only gets when it gets his/her nails done.

start the dremel and give a treat! give a treat after each nail.....

slowly build up to 2 nails...then 3...then a paw.

Mine get a treat after each paw...and then another piece of a treat when all the pugs are finished!