Stop cutting when you get close to the quick
As you are trimming small bits off the tip of the nail, keep an eye out for the area I call the “pre-quick.” It is a small black or pink dot on the cut surface of the nail. Think of it as your stop sign. Once you hit that spot, you are done cutting the nail. If you continue to trim, you will probably get into the quick.
My Dog Has a Broken Nail
Accidents do happen and are common when trimming dogs’ nails. On occasions where you may accidentally trim your dog’s nail too short, bleeding may occur, but there is no need to panic. Many accidents due to trimming nails are mostly nothing serious and can be treated at home.
To stop the bleeding due to nail-trimming accidents, using styptic powder helps control the bleeding since it has anti-hemorrhage agents that contract the small blood vessels in the affected area. It helps clot the blood to prevent harmful bacteria from getting into the bloodstream.
If you follow the instructions on how to use the powder, it should stop the bleeding in around 20 minutes. However, if the bleeding continues after that, contact your vet for advice.
Do All Dogs Have Five Toes?
Most dogs have five toes on each front foot and 4 toes on each rear foot. The front feet include four regular toes and one dewclaw, while the back feet each have four regular toes. This makes for 18 toes in total! However, there are some breeds of dogs that will have even more toes (or dewclaws) with either single or double dewclaws on their back legs or front legs. In some cases, vets or breeders will choose to remove a dog’s dewclaws altogether. Some people consider this to be unnecessary and cruel to the dogs, while others consider it to be helpful for the dog in the long run.
A dewclaw is a small, thumb-like toe with a nail that resides on the inside of a dog’s legs. This toe is higher up than all the others and doesn’t make contact with the ground like the other toes do. Some dogs will have front dewclaws while others with have rear ones and some dogs will have no dewclaws at all.
But if dogs descended from wolves and purebred wolves don’t have dewclaws, how did modern dogs obtain theirs? This is a good question and the answer likely lies in how humans interacted with their working dogs. It is very likely that humans helped encourage the growth and development of dewclaws as a way to help the earliest dogs perform their duties better.
The dogs needed to do things like climbing, digging, and making quick turns when running. Having the dewclaw likely gave these dogs an advantage which made them more likely to survive and go on to breed. Now, nearly all dogs are born with this trait.
Today, dogs use their dewclaws for various reasons. They may use it to grip and handle items such as bones or toys, dig into ice or other surfaces, use them to help pull themselves up out of the water, or even gently scratch an itchy eye. So if these extra toes are so helpful to dogs, why do some people choose to have them removed? Since dewclaws are located up higher on the dog’s leg, they run the potential risk of getting caught on things and ripped.
This could be incredibly painful for a dog, so some people have the dewclaw removed to prevent the chances of this happening. Sometimes shortly after a dog has been born, a breeder will have the dewclaws removed if they are going for a smoother look or if the dewclaws are not a part of the breed standard. In this case, the removal is simply for cosmetic purposes and some people are against it and see it as cruel.
7 FACTS About DOG PAWS Dog Paw Anatomy
When we talk of taking care of our dog’s health, this also involves taking care of the skin cells that protect their feet — their nails. As much as we want our dogs not to feel pain and discomfort from certain illnesses, we also want to make sure that their nails aren’t hurting them.
For us to take care of our dog’s nails, it helps to be aware of its anatomy. Let us get to know more about dogs’ toenails below.
Note from Dr. Vanderhoof: Most dogs actually have five toes/nails because of the dewclaw, unless they were removed. They can be easy to forget about since they dont touch the ground.
How to use dog nail clippers? What you want is to trim your dog’s toenails on the part before the quick, cutting just the tips of their nails. One piece of advice is this – when you look at your untrimmed dog’s nail on the side view, it will curve after the quick.
Here are the steps in trimming your dog’s nails including how to use dog nail clippers:
The next day, you can do the steps above on another paw. And when you’ve become more experienced, you can trim the nails on all four paws in one sitting. If you are worried, however, you can have your dog’s nails trimmed at the vet to be safe.