The Easy Way To Cut Your Dogs Nails

A few blog posts ago we wrote about how we cut Jacob & Bruno’s nails with a standard nail clipper. Like many dogs (especially dachshunds) it can be quite a traumatic experience and hard work for us owners! Luckily, the boys did allow us to cut their nails with the clippers, but it did take some time. A few months ago, we decided to try a different alternative, a nail grinder.

We were a little sceptical about purchasing a nail grinder as we knew nothing about them. We had only seen them online, this was about all we knew.

After searching for one online, we came across the WAHL Pet Nail Grinder. For only £30 we thought it was definitely worth a shot.

Naturally, we had some concerns as we thought that the nail grinder would be loud and could potentially spook the boys more. When we unpacked the grinder out of the box, we plugged it in and turned it on. Honestly, we did think it was a little loud and the boys both did look as if to say “what the hell is that” but we made sure we only made the noise a positive thing.

We got the boys used to the nail grinder by picking them up onto the sofa, turning it on and letting them sniff it and get used to us moving it around them. This was accompanied by lots of praise and also lots of treats! Very quickly, the boys got acclimatised to it and the noise didn’t bother them at all.

Next step was starting the grind their nails. The grinder comes with different attachments which all have different intensities for grinding. We started with the least intense attachment. Bruno has always been more worried about getting his nails clipped, but we thought we would try it with him first to see his reaction. We laid him on his back and made sure he was supported and then started with the grinding. Whilst giving him lots of praise, we gently pressed the nail grinder against his nail. Apart from him jolting a little on the first attempt (he wasn’t expecting it) we had to say we were extremely impressed on how he reacted. In one sitting, we were able to grind all of his nails on his front paws.

We couldn’t believe it! A process that normally would take up to half an hour, took only about 5 minutes to do.

The process did take slightly longer with Jacob (which was surprising as he usually is fine with the clippers) but  10 minutes in to grinding, he too laid there on his back and was happy to have it done.

We now use the nail grinder weekly and the boys are absolutely fine. They are much more relaxed and it is also easier for us to use as it is easier to tell when you are close to the quick. Unlike clippers, you have one shot, with the grinder, it grinds the nail down gradually and you can see when the dogs start to feel it more, so we stop.

All in all, we were really impressed with the grinder and would recommend it to anyone to try if they have problems clipping their dogs nails currently. We did upload a video to the dogs Instagram account of Bruno having his nails grinded, if you want to see it in action!

Thanks for reading

Oli & Jay