Cutting a dog's nails can be the bane of one's existence OR It could be another fun game you play with your pooch.
Check out this video of the final goal of this process. In it I successfully trim Tsunami's nails and she excitedly pays attention and enthusiastically pushes me to trim the next nail so she can earn another treat! In this post i'll outline the entire process, soup to nuts, of taking a dog who doesn't like having their feet touched...to one who can't wait for you to cut the next nail.
Using a high value reward, and very incremental steps towards the ultimate goal, anyone can get their pup to be comfortable having his/her nails handled and eventually trimmed in the context of play.
When I first got Tsu, she did NOT like having her feet touched. It was a journey, and a wonderful learning experience to teach her that the clippers don't mean pain.. they mean SWEET POTATO REWARDS!
I wrap a sweet potato in tin foil and bake it at 350 for about 30 minutes. When it's nice and soft i'll mix it with Tsu's kibble to turn a low value reward (kibble) into a high value reward (kibble + sweet potato)
Following are the steps I used to train Tsunami to let me cut her nails:
Paw: Now this behavior can be very easy to teach. Most dogs will naturally paw at you when they don't really know what you want. SO, either wait to capture that behavior by saying "YES!" when your dog offers you their paw, or if they aren't offering it, you can tap on their foot initially and they will usually lift up that paw. NOW. instead of JUST teaching the word paw, I would encourage you to pair a NUMBER (1, 2, 3, or 4) to each one of your dogs paws. This way you can be very specific with which paw you need when you are going to trim their nails. (i.e. Right front = 1 , Left front = 2, Right Rear = 3 Left Rear = 4 or whatever variation suits you best.)
In the following behavior chain sequence, when I say "paw" i'm referring to whichever paw you need. say "1" if you want them to give you their right front paw and so on and so forth...
- Paw with 5 seconds duration
- Paw with 10 seconds duration
- Paw with 5 seconds duration (add a little foot massage in)
- Paw for 10 seconds duration (with a foot massage)
- Paw and isolate each nail individually (on all feet, USE 1, 2, 3, or 4)
- Paw, isolate nail, tap the outside of the nail with a CLOSED nail clipper.
- Build up to asking for paw (1, 2, 3, or 4), and tapping on each nail three times with the closed nail clipper
- Paw, isolate nail, tap with nail clipper, position nail clipper over nail where you intend to cut (DO NOT CUT YET) just get a decent reward history (many repetitions of a marking a behavior (YES!) and delivering rewards)
FINALLY...
- Ask for Paw (1,2,3, or 4), isolate the nail, tap on it with the clipper, position the clipper at the VERY TIP (do NOT go for removing a lot of nail, just cut so you know you won't cut the quick (vessel in the nail), and CUT the nail.
Anticipate that your dog will likely jump back in surprise at the sensation of cutting the nail for the first time. Give an exuberant "YES!" as you clip the nail and deliver a large # of rewards (10 or 12) one at a time, while varying the pitch of your voice enthusiastically, and moving AWAY from your dog while delivering the rewards to add movement and excitement to the reward process.
Do this for each nail on each foot and you will have incorporated nail trimming into your daily play activity!
My best advice for this behavior is to go very slow, don't jump ahead. Make sure your dog is comfortable each step of the way and you'll be successful! If you find that your dog is NOT comfortable at one of the steps, move to whichever previous step they are comfortable with and proceed from there.
GO FORTH AND HAVE FUN TRIMMING NAILS!!!!
Once again here's a video of the final goal. Funny enough Tsu is in heat during this video so she leans around to sniff herself when I cut the nails on her left rear foot (#3). ALSO this video was taken during my first year of Vet school, the small kitchen area that we're in was the amount of space I had available to me to play with Tsu when I wasn't at the Working Dog Center! Just goes to show that positive reinforcement behavior training, and a good game of tug can all be performed with a limited amount of space!
Video: Cutting Tsunami's Nails-
ALTERNATIVELY since there are always multiple solutions to a problem...
Scratchboard training is a great option for dog's who really just can't get over having their feet handled. Check back for an upcoming post on Scratchboard Training!