December 6, 2023 • 33 mins
Ever wrangled with a wriggly, stressed-out pet during grooming time and wished there was a better way? We're unlocking the secrets to a stress-free dog nail trimming routine in our new episode. Pet behavior expert and certified behavior consultant, Will Bangura, joins us to unveil a systematic, science-based approach to make grooming a breeze. Imagine turning your dog's nail trimming into an enjoyable activity, free of stress and fear. With Will's seven practical steps, soon you'll be grooming with confidence.
This is not just about nail trimming, but about building a deeper, more trusting bond with your furry companion. Intrigued by the idea of using high value food rewards, positive reinforcement, and patience to create positive associations with nail clipping? We break it all down for you. We're also diving deep into dog body language cues, to ensure your pet's comfort throughout the process. Whether you're a new pet parent or a seasoned dog owner struggling with grooming, join us on this journey. Get ready to transform nail trimming from a chore into a cherished bonding time.
If you need professional help please visit my Dog Behaviorist website.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Do you struggle with your dog about nail trimming?
You know it's a necessary partof a dog's grooming routine, but
for many pet parents it canquickly turn into a dreaded task
.
Whether it's the loud cries,the pulling away or the more
severe symptoms like growling orattempting to bite you, these
are signs of a dog who's fearful, stressed or potentially
(00:25):
aggressive.
This kind of situation not onlyjeopardizes the well-being of
your furry companion, but canalso make the grooming process
traumatic for everyone involved.
Today's episode of Pet TalkToday we're going to be talking
about the seven steps tomastering dog nail trimming.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Raised by wolves with canine DNA and is blood.
Having trained more than 24,000vets, helping you and your fur
babies thrive, Live in studiowith Will Bangura answering your
pet behavior and trainingquestions.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome your host and favorite
pet behavior expert, WillBangura.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Would you like to go on Walkies?
Good day pet lovers.
It's Will Bangura.
Thanks for joining me foranother episode of Dog Training
Today.
As I mentioned in the opener, alot of you struggle with
trimming your dog's nails andit's a necessary part of life,
(01:38):
but it can be very, verydifficult.
So today I want to go throughthe seven steps to mastering dog
nail trims.
Now, if you've got a dog thatyou're struggling with big time
clipping its nails, getting itsnails done, this is going to be
a great podcast for you.
Also, if you've got a new dog,basically a new puppy, the
(02:02):
things that we're doing here tohelp dogs that struggle with
nail clippings, these areproactive, preventative things
that you're going to want to dowith a new puppy to get them
ready for having their nailstrimmed.
Bottom line, what we're dealingwith are dogs that are fearful
(02:26):
and there are different fearfulevocating stimulus and that
could be the dremel, it could bethe nail clippers, it could be
walking to the room where thedrawer or the cabinet is where
you have your nail trimmers.
So there are different cuesthat you, as the pet parent,
(02:50):
give off to signal to the doghey, you're getting your nails
clipped, Obviously getting outthe nail clipper and showing
them the nail clipper.
That's one, but the stress, theanxiety could start before that
.
Let's say that you have aspecific drawer or cabinet in
your house just for dog stuffand maybe you've got a very
(03:13):
specific drawer or cabinet forgrooming items and walking
towards or opening that cabinetor drawer might signal to the
dog hey, I'm getting groomed andthat might be nail trimming and
that's scary as heck.
So our goal is to very slowlyand gradually get your dogs
(03:36):
desensitized to having theirnails trimmed and to take
something that is scary for yourdog and to try to turn that
into something that is positive.
Now the one thing you should dobefore beginning any behavior
(03:56):
modification program, you needto consult with your
veterinarian.
Rule out any medical issuesthat might be contributing to
your dog's discomfort or painduring nail trims Diseases like
arthritis or paw infections.
They can make the experiencepainful, intensifying the
(04:17):
negative associations with nailclipping.
So in most cases there's notgoing to be a medical
contributing factor, but therecan be, and it's important for
me to mention to you that youneed to consult your
veterinarian first.
All right Now if you're reallystruggling, I mean really
(04:37):
dealing with a severe case whereyour dog is very fearful of
getting their nails trimmed andthey become very aggressive, you
need to think about consultingwith a certified behavior
consultant or a certifiedbehaviorist.
Aggression is no laughingmatter, especially if they are
(04:59):
biting.
So if you have a dog that getsseverely aggressive when you
want to trim its nails, you needto be consulting with a
professional.
If you can't find somebody inyour area that's certified and
qualified to deal with that,then go to my website at
(05:19):
dogbehavioristcom and you cancontact me.
I'll either find somebody inyour area or we can work
together.
Also, if you go todogbehavioristcom and you go to
the menu and click on articles,you are going to see that this
(05:44):
is an article as well.
We've got a full article titledMastering Dog Nail Trims A
Science-Based Guide toDesensitization and
Counter-Conditioning your Dog.
I wrote that on November 1st,so that is on the website.
This podcast I'm going to embedwhen I'm finished with it.
I'm going to stick this in thearticle at the bottom.
(06:07):
So you've got the best of bothworlds You've got the article
and you've got the podcast.
Okay, so what is our first step?
Well, the first thing we needto do is we need to secure our
tools and very, very high-valuefood rewards.
Now listen, there's a lot ofdifferent nail clippers that are
(06:29):
out there.
I want to encourage you toinvest in a high-quality pair of
nail clippers that arespecifically designed for dogs.
I want you to make sure thatyou've got super high-value food
rewards that we can use duringthe desensitization.
(06:51):
You need to find what your dogabsolutely loves.
What is its favorite?
Is it chicken?
Is it cheese?
Is it little bite-sized piecesof beef?
But we want to make sure thatwe've got extremely high-value
food rewards, and typicallythat's going to be something
(07:12):
that they never get, likechicken or beef or something.
Now, when you use these foodrewards, they should be small.
You want to cut them up aboutthe size of a pea and make sure
that you have plenty on you, andyou should have this in a treat
pouch.
All right, now, before we begin,we want to choose a quiet,
(07:36):
non-distracting environment forthis training session.
It'll be a lot easier for yourdog to focus if you do this,
where there are no distractions.
To begin with.
Now we're going to start withstep one, and what that means in
step one is we're going tobegin to introduce or present
(07:56):
the nail clippers to your dog.
But we're going to do this at adistance far enough away from
your dog where he can see thenail clippers.
But it doesn't have a care inthe world.
It does not elicit stress, doesnot elicit panic.
Your dog's not trying to runaway or get aggressive.
(08:19):
There's a distance.
It might be two feet away fromthe dog, it might be five feet
away from the dog, it might be15 feet away from the dog.
But we need to start bypresenting the nail clippers at
a distance where your dog showsno signs of stress.
All right, you want to keep yourenergy calm.
(08:41):
You want to be positive.
Now, as soon as your dognotices the clippers and remains
relaxed, immediately offer ahigh value treat, offer a high
value food reward and give yourdog verbal praise.
Now, if you have someone in thehouse that can help you to be
(09:04):
able to keep your dog at thatdistance from the clipper,
because if you have the clipperin your hand and you're
rewarding, that potentiallycould be a problem.
If your dog is very scared,maybe it doesn't want to come to
you and get the treat, or youcould toss the treat to the dog.
All right, now, very, verygradually, very systematically,
(09:29):
you're going to reduce thatdistance between the clippers
and your dog, all right.
You need to be very careful,watch your dog.
You need to make sure that asyou get closer, your dog stays
calm, your dog stays relaxed,your dog is not stressed out.
(09:53):
What I like to do is at thatsafe distance where your dog
doesn't care when it sees theclippers, I like to present the
clippers as soon as your dogsees it feed, feed, feed, feed,
constantly and continuously forabout one to three seconds.
Then that clipper disappears.
It goes behind my back, it's nolonger in view, and when that
(10:16):
happens, the feeding stops andthen I start over.
I bring that clippers back intoview as soon as the dog sees it
.
I begin feeding, feed, feed,feed, feed, feed, high value
food rewards constantly andcontinuously for about one to
three seconds, and then again Iremove the clippers.
(10:39):
The clippers now is behind myback, it's out of sight.
As soon as it's out of sight,we stop feeding.
And when we stop feeding andwhen the clippers out of sight,
we're going to stay in thatstate for about again three to
five seconds.
Okay, now we're going to repeatthat process present the
(11:00):
clippers, feed, high value foodrewards.
We're repairing something verypositive to the nail clippers
that the dog doesn't like, butwe're starting it at a distance
where it doesn't matter to thedog.
The dog's not stressed outabout the nail clippers.
Now, the way dogs think, the waythey learn, the way they
process information, one of theways are by understanding very
(11:25):
black and white cause and effectassociations.
So our timing and presentationare very important.
The clippers appear, thenfeeding starts.
The whole time the clippers arein sight, feeding continues.
When the clippers go out ofsight, feeding stops.
We're going to do that over andover and over again and that
(11:50):
training session is going to beabout five to 10 minutes long
and that's all we're doing.
Presenting the nail clippers assoon as the dog sees it.
We begin by pairing positivereinforcement in this case high
value food rewards with thesight of the clippers.
And when the clippers go out ofsight, we stop feeding.
(12:12):
So the dog begins to getconditioned that those clippers
they don't do anything scary,they don't hurt me, they're not
scary.
Matter of fact, when I see theclippers, good things happen.
But again, you've got to startthat at a far distance.
Gradually, systematically, overa period of days or weeks, you
(12:38):
begin to get a little bit closer.
So let's say that I stayed atthat safe distance.
Now, when I'm doing my training, I need to commit to do this at
least five times a week.
It's not that they're longsessions, we're talking five or
10 minutes but you've got to dothis five times a week.
(13:01):
There's got to be enoughrepetition that we can counter
condition.
Right now, if you've got a dogthat is fearful of the nail
clippers or a Dremel, whateverit is that you use, your dog has
that negative association andwe need to condition the dog
(13:22):
because that's the dog'sconditioning.
The dog's been conditioned thatit's a negative, that it's
scary.
We've got to present, withenough repetition, a positive
experience with those nailclippers to get what we call
counter conditioning.
And when we're talking aboutconditioning we're talking about
(13:44):
enough repetition, wherethere's an automatic reflex, and
that takes a lot of repetition.
The work is not difficult, it'sjust inconvenient.
There are other things that youprobably would rather do, but
this is something that has to bedone.
So you take your five to 10minutes every day and you start
(14:05):
at a distance where your dog cansee the clippers but doesn't
have a care in the world becauseit's far enough away and as
soon as your dog sees it, youbegin pairing high value food
rewards.
Then all of a sudden theclippers go out of sight.
Your dog can't see it, feedingstops.
We do that over and over andover.
Now the other thing that I wantto do, because I want to make
(14:28):
sure that your dog understandsthe reason the good things are
happening are because theclippers and not something else.
So I may have other objectsperhaps in my back pocket, and
after I've presented the nailclipper at the distance and fed
(14:49):
the dog and again, this worksbest if you got two people, how
do you present the clippers at adistance and feed, because you
got to be pretty close to thedog typically to feed, right.
So hopefully you've got ahelper.
Now we've been presenting thoseclippers and it's been a
positive experience for the dogbecause the dog keeps getting
(15:10):
fed high value food rewards.
But again, like I said, I wantto make sure the dog understands
it's the clippers that causethe good things.
So let's say I have ascrewdriver in my back pocket
along with the clippers.
Well, I may present thescrewdriver for three to five
seconds and there will be nofeeding, and then the
(15:34):
screwdriver goes behind my backand nothing happens there, and I
may pull a wallet out of mypocket and show that no feeding,
whether it's being shown orwhether it gets put away.
Now here comes the nailclippers and feed, feed, feed,
feed, feed, constantly andcontinuously for one to five
(15:58):
seconds.
Make absolutely sure that yourdog understands that the reason
it's getting all the good stuffis because of the nail clippers.
Now remove the nail clipper outof your dog's sight.
Stop feeding, and we're goingto do that very slowly.
Gradually, you're going toreduce the distance between the
(16:20):
clippers and your dog, butyou're going to take a lot of
care to make sure that you'repaying attention to your dog's
comfort level.
Continue to offer treats andpraise as you reduce the
distance.
Now, one of the most importantthings that you can have to make
this be successful is patience,patience, patience, patience.
(16:44):
Don't rush the process.
If you go slow, you're going tohave success, but if you try to
rush the process, it's going totake you a lot longer.
So a slow start means a fastfinish.
A fast start usually means aslow finish because you're
(17:06):
working too fast and you'regoing too close with the
clippers before the dog is ready.
You've got to take your time tocondition something positive
with those clippers.
So you're going to do that very, very slowly, little by little,
over time you're going to getcloser and closer and closer and
(17:26):
closer to the dog.
All right, now we've done stepone, where we've done the
introduction of the clippers ata distance.
Now we're going to be lookingat step two.
Step two is about counterconditioning, associating the
(17:48):
clippers again with a positiveexperience.
All right.
So now that your dog toleratesthe sight of the clippers, it's
time to level up the positiveassociation with more counter
conditioning.
And again, counter conditioningthat's just a fancy word for
(18:10):
changing the conditioning thatyour dog already has.
Your dog is conditioned to notlike the nail clippers.
We're going to counter that bypresenting those clippers with
something very positive over andover.
Thus counter conditioning, allright.
So what I want you to do instep two, I want you to smear a
(18:31):
tiny bit of peanut butter on thehandle of the clippers and I
want you to allow your dog tolick it off.
The goal here is to make thedog associate the clippers with
the high value food reward inthis pleasant experience.
(18:52):
So I'm going to want you torepeat that several times, but
always keep an eye on your dog'sbody language.
Is your dog showing signs ofstress?
If your dog showing signs ofstress, you've gone too far too
soon.
You're working too fast.
You need to back it up a step.
(19:12):
Start introducing the clippersat a distance.
You've gotten too close toosoon, so go back to step one Now
.
As long as you've done step onereally well, step two should be
a breeze for your dog, becauseyour dog is licking some yummy
(19:34):
peanut butter off of the handleof the clippers.
All right, hey, it's temptingto push forward quickly in this
process, especially when you'remaking progress.
However, counter conditioning ismost effective when it's
practiced in very short butfrequent sessions.
(19:57):
So, again, your sessions.
Look at those sessions to befive to 10 minutes long, but
you've got to do those at leastfive days in a row.
What I would prefer.
If you really want to make thisgo quicker, do three sessions a
day.
I mean, we're talking, let'ssay, that they were 10 minutes
long, which would be the longversion.
(20:18):
Right, they're five to 10minutes long.
You do three 10 minute sessionsa day.
You've invested 30 minutes, atotal of 30 minutes for that day
.
That is something thateverybody can do.
All right, all right.
Step three let's get into it alittle bit further.
Now we're going to begin theprocess of desensitizing
(20:40):
handling your dog's paw beingtouched.
Okay, you want to begin bygently touching one of your
dog's paws for a second, withoutholding it?
Okay, immediately, offer a highvalue food reward and praise,
(21:02):
as long as your dog was calmwith you just touching the paw.
Again, all we're doing here iswe're gently touching one of
your dog's paws and we're doingthat for a second and we're not
holding it.
Remember, just one second andgive your dog a high value food
reward at the exact moment thatyou are touching the paw.
(21:26):
Okay, now, gradually, I wantyou to increase the duration for
which you're touching the pawand you're going to work up from
that one second touch to a fewseconds.
Okay, it's critical toconsistently reward every
(21:51):
positive interaction.
You want to make sure that thedog understands the association
between you handling the paw andpositive experiences, in this
case, food.
And again, all we're doing iswe're touching the paw for a
second feed, feed, feed, feed,feed.
Stop touching, stop feeding.
As a dog gets comfortable withone second, gradually,
(22:14):
systematically, slowly, overdays or weeks, we progress to
several seconds and while ourhand is on that paw for several
seconds let's say it's there forthree to five seconds we're
going to feed the entire time.
Then we take our hand off thepaw, we stop feeding.
All right, now step four we'regonna begin holding the paw.
(22:38):
Remember, in step three we werejust touching the paw.
Okay, let's talk about levelone holding.
Now, once your dog iscomfortable with you touching
its paw, the next thing youwanna do is go into holding the
paw for a brief second.
And when you're doing that,when you're holding the paw for
(23:02):
that brief second, you want toimmediately reward your dog with
the high value food rewards andgive it verbal praise.
Now, the first few times whenyou're holding the dog's paw, it
should be no more than a veryquick light grasp and release.
(23:22):
So the duration of holding thatpaw is nothing.
You're gonna pick up the paw,hold it, let it go.
You're gonna pick up the pawfeed, let it go stop feeding.
Pick up the paw feed, let it gostop feeding.
Pick up the paw feed, let it gostop feeding.
Holding the paw Now, as yourdog gets comfortable with that
(23:45):
and you've done some repetitionwith that you're gonna want to
extend the duration of the timethat you're holding the paw.
So increase the holding duration, but do that incrementally.
Make sure that you'recontinuing to offer high value
food rewards every single timeyou're holding your dog's paw
(24:08):
and your dog is comfortable.
The goal is to extend the timethat your dog allows its paw to
be held without your dog showingsigns of discomfort and fear.
Again, we're pairing somethingvery, very positive with holding
the paw and you need to takeyour time with that.
Again, there's gotta be enoughrepetition and conditioning that
(24:32):
your dog views its paw beingheld as something very, very
positive, because that's one ofthe parts, one of the aspects of
trimming your dog's nail isholding that paw and they've
gotta get comfortable with it.
All right, step five.
In step five, we're gonnaincorporate the clippers into
(24:57):
the equation.
We're gonna do a mock clipping.
All right, this is where therubber meets the road.
Now, with your high value foodrewards in your treat pouch, I
want you to touch the clipper toone of your dog's nails, but
don't clip the nail.
Remember this is a fake mockaction and this is gonna help
(25:21):
your dog get used to thesensation.
So, again, what do you wanna do?
You start in step five, you'regonna have your high value food
rewards.
All you're gonna do is touchthe clipper to one of your dog's
nails and feed, but you're notgonna clip the nail when you do
that.
This is something that's gottabe extremely, extremely positive
(25:46):
.
Okay, where then, as your doggets comfortable with that,
you're gonna do that over andover for days or for weeks and
you can choose each time totouch a different nail, but
you're not clipping it, you'rejust touching it with a nail
clip, with the clippers.
(26:06):
I mean Now, once your dog'scomfortable with the clippers
touching any of its nails and if, use that as something positive
because good things arehappening.
The clippers are touching a nail, the dog gets fed something.
The clipper stopped touchingthe nail.
No more feeding.
Clipper touches the nail.
Feed, feed, feed.
(26:27):
Stop touching the nail with theclipper, stop feeding, all
right.
So once your dog's comfortablewith that, now it's time to
attempt a real clip.
Right, we're gonna clip off thetiniest, tiniest little sliver
of one nail and that's it.
So we're gonna hold the paw,like we did in step four when we
(26:52):
were conditioning the dog toenjoy having its paw handled
because it was getting highvalue food rewards.
And then, in step five, all wedid was touch the clipper to the
nail and it's important for youto understand.
When you're in step five,you're holding that paw right.
Step four was getting the dogvery comfortable with holding
(27:15):
that paw.
But now in step five, we'reholding the paw, we're touching
Excuse me in step four, excuseme, step five, in the mock
clipping we're just touching theclipper to the nail, all right,
but we are going to we'll callit 5.5, step 5.5, step 5.5.
(27:38):
That's where we're actuallygoing to clip one nail.
But your dog has to be verycomfortable with you holding its
paw and the clippers touchingthe nails without clipping first
, okay.
And when we begin to do ourclipping of the nails, in this
process we are clipping one nailand the tiniest little sliver
(28:03):
of that one nail.
Now, if everything is goingwell and your dog is happy and
you're feeding again, whenyou're clipping, you're feeding,
okay.
Now one of the things you mightdo is like I've got a stainless
steel refrigerator.
I can put my dog in front ofthat refrigerator.
(28:24):
I put a little smear of peanutbutter on the refrigerator at
the dog's mouth level.
The dog's licking, licking,licking.
I'm picking up a paw while it'slicking peanut butter and I'm
clipping one nail and then Imove the dog away from where the
peanut butter is.
Then we go back and I clipanother little piece off of a
(28:49):
single nail and the dog'slicking peanut butter.
Now, the first day that I startthis, I might only be able to
clip one nail.
I might not be able to go tothe second and maybe I shouldn't
.
I need to be monitoring thedog's body language.
Maybe even the slightest littlebit, the slightest little
(29:11):
stress signal that you get fromthe dog, you need to slow down,
you need to back up a step.
You're going too quick.
You've got to work at the dog'space.
It's nice when the dog's paceis quick, but sometimes it's
going to take a little bitlonger.
Again, don't rush this process.
Patience and consistency andrepetition those are the three
(29:36):
pillars of great training.
The next step if we've beencutting a single nail and that's
going well, now we're going tostart doing multiple nails.
Maybe a training session lookslike hey, I'm picking up the paw
as I'm beginning to clip twonails.
(29:58):
The dog is eating high valuefood, rewards or licking peanut
butter or somebody's feeding thedog as I'm clipping two nails
and I'm done.
Then the next day I'm going torepeat that I'm going to clip
two more nails.
If that went well.
(30:18):
The next day I'm going to cliptwo more Again.
I'm pairing high value food,rewards and praise at the exact
moment those nails are beingclipped as you're doing this.
Notice I'm not clipping all thenails.
If I need to clip one nail aday until I get through all the
(30:43):
nails, that's okay.
As long as that's a positiveexperience for the dog, I'm
going to get to the point whereI can clip two.
As long as that's a positiveexperience for the dog, I'm
going to get to the point whereI can clip three nails, four
nails, five nails, on and on andso on.
You get the idea, but you've gotto be monitoring the body
(31:05):
language.
That's step six having greatobservation skills and making
adjustments as you need it.
It's okay to go back a step.
If your dog is showing signs ofstress during part of this
process, you need to take thatstep back.
Sometimes a little regressionis necessary for future
(31:32):
progression.
So there's nothing wrong withtaking a step back, but you've
got to be great at observingyour dog's body language.
You've got to understand whatstress signals are.
Make sure that your dog doesn'thave a care in the world when
we're doing this.
If it does, you've gone too fartoo soon.
Take a step back, all right Now.
(31:55):
Step number seven.
Step number seven ismaintenance in regular sessions
Consistency.
Like I said, it's crucial inmaintaining the positive
associations that you've built.
So you want to conduct regularnail trimming sessions, even if
it's just one or two nails at atime, and you're giving high
(32:17):
value food rewards to ensure thepositive associations are
reinforced.
So desensitizing a dog to nailtrimming can be a slow process
that requires a lot of patience,a lot of consistency and a lot
of positive reinforcement.
(32:37):
By adhering to a systematic,science-based approach, you can
transform nail trimming from astressful ordeal into a routine
grooming activity for your dogthat your dog loves.
Give it a try.
I'm gonna hear I'm just givinga dog a ball, just giving a dog
a ball.
Do you struggle with your dog about nail trimming?
You know it's a necessary partof a dog's grooming routine, but
for many pet parents it canquickly turn into a dreaded task
.
Whether it's the loud cries,the pulling away or the more
severe symptoms like growling orattempting to bite you, these
are signs of a dog who's fearful, stressed or potentially
(00:25):
aggressive.
This kind of situation not onlyjeopardizes the well-being of
your furry companion, but canalso make the grooming process
traumatic for everyone involved.
Today's episode of Pet TalkToday we're going to be talking
about the seven steps tomastering dog nail trimming.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Raised by wolves with canine DNA and is blood.
Having trained more than 24,000vets, helping you and your fur
babies thrive, Live in studiowith Will Bangura answering your
pet behavior and trainingquestions.
Ladies and gentlemen, pleasewelcome your host and favorite
pet behavior expert, WillBangura.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Would you like to go on Walkies?
Good day pet lovers.
It's Will Bangura.
Thanks for joining me foranother episode of Dog Training
Today.
As I mentioned in the opener, alot of you struggle with
trimming your dog's nails andit's a necessary part of life,
(01:38):
but it can be very, verydifficult.
So today I want to go throughthe seven steps to mastering dog
nail trims.
Now, if you've got a dog thatyou're struggling with big time
clipping its nails, getting itsnails done, this is going to be
a great podcast for you.
Also, if you've got a new dog,basically a new puppy, the
(02:02):
things that we're doing here tohelp dogs that struggle with
nail clippings, these areproactive, preventative things
that you're going to want to dowith a new puppy to get them
ready for having their nailstrimmed.
Bottom line, what we're dealingwith are dogs that are fearful
(02:26):
and there are different fearfulevocating stimulus and that
could be the dremel, it could bethe nail clippers, it could be
walking to the room where thedrawer or the cabinet is where
you have your nail trimmers.
So there are different cuesthat you, as the pet parent,
(02:50):
give off to signal to the doghey, you're getting your nails
clipped, Obviously getting outthe nail clipper and showing
them the nail clipper.
That's one, but the stress, theanxiety could start before that
.
Let's say that you have aspecific drawer or cabinet in
your house just for dog stuffand maybe you've got a very
(03:13):
specific drawer or cabinet forgrooming items and walking
towards or opening that cabinetor drawer might signal to the
dog hey, I'm getting groomed andthat might be nail trimming and
that's scary as heck.
So our goal is to very slowlyand gradually get your dogs
(03:36):
desensitized to having theirnails trimmed and to take
something that is scary for yourdog and to try to turn that
into something that is positive.
Now the one thing you should dobefore beginning any behavior
(03:56):
modification program, you needto consult with your
veterinarian.
Rule out any medical issuesthat might be contributing to
your dog's discomfort or painduring nail trims Diseases like
arthritis or paw infections.
They can make the experiencepainful, intensifying the
(04:17):
negative associations with nailclipping.
So in most cases there's notgoing to be a medical
contributing factor, but therecan be, and it's important for
me to mention to you that youneed to consult your
veterinarian first.
All right Now if you're reallystruggling, I mean really
(04:37):
dealing with a severe case whereyour dog is very fearful of
getting their nails trimmed andthey become very aggressive, you
need to think about consultingwith a certified behavior
consultant or a certifiedbehaviorist.
Aggression is no laughingmatter, especially if they are
(04:59):
biting.
So if you have a dog that getsseverely aggressive when you
want to trim its nails, you needto be consulting with a
professional.
If you can't find somebody inyour area that's certified and
qualified to deal with that,then go to my website at
(05:19):
dogbehavioristcom and you cancontact me.
I'll either find somebody inyour area or we can work
together.
Also, if you go todogbehavioristcom and you go to
the menu and click on articles,you are going to see that this
(05:44):
is an article as well.
We've got a full article titledMastering Dog Nail Trims A
Science-Based Guide toDesensitization and
Counter-Conditioning your Dog.
I wrote that on November 1st,so that is on the website.
This podcast I'm going to embedwhen I'm finished with it.
I'm going to stick this in thearticle at the bottom.
(06:07):
So you've got the best of bothworlds You've got the article
and you've got the podcast.
Okay, so what is our first step?
Well, the first thing we needto do is we need to secure our
tools and very, very high-valuefood rewards.
Now listen, there's a lot ofdifferent nail clippers that are
(06:29):
out there.
I want to encourage you toinvest in a high-quality pair of
nail clippers that arespecifically designed for dogs.
I want you to make sure thatyou've got super high-value food
rewards that we can use duringthe desensitization.
(06:51):
You need to find what your dogabsolutely loves.
What is its favorite?
Is it chicken?
Is it cheese?
Is it little bite-sized piecesof beef?
But we want to make sure thatwe've got extremely high-value
food rewards, and typicallythat's going to be something
(07:12):
that they never get, likechicken or beef or something.
Now, when you use these foodrewards, they should be small.
You want to cut them up aboutthe size of a pea and make sure
that you have plenty on you, andyou should have this in a treat
pouch.
All right, now, before we begin,we want to choose a quiet,
(07:36):
non-distracting environment forthis training session.
It'll be a lot easier for yourdog to focus if you do this,
where there are no distractions.
To begin with.
Now we're going to start withstep one, and what that means in
step one is we're going tobegin to introduce or present
(07:56):
the nail clippers to your dog.
But we're going to do this at adistance far enough away from
your dog where he can see thenail clippers.
But it doesn't have a care inthe world.
It does not elicit stress, doesnot elicit panic.
Your dog's not trying to runaway or get aggressive.
(08:19):
There's a distance.
It might be two feet away fromthe dog, it might be five feet
away from the dog, it might be15 feet away from the dog.
But we need to start bypresenting the nail clippers at
a distance where your dog showsno signs of stress.
All right, you want to keep yourenergy calm.
(08:41):
You want to be positive.
Now, as soon as your dognotices the clippers and remains
relaxed, immediately offer ahigh value treat, offer a high
value food reward and give yourdog verbal praise.
Now, if you have someone in thehouse that can help you to be
(09:04):
able to keep your dog at thatdistance from the clipper,
because if you have the clipperin your hand and you're
rewarding, that potentiallycould be a problem.
If your dog is very scared,maybe it doesn't want to come to
you and get the treat, or youcould toss the treat to the dog.
All right, now, very, verygradually, very systematically,
(09:29):
you're going to reduce thatdistance between the clippers
and your dog, all right.
You need to be very careful,watch your dog.
You need to make sure that asyou get closer, your dog stays
calm, your dog stays relaxed,your dog is not stressed out.
(09:53):
What I like to do is at thatsafe distance where your dog
doesn't care when it sees theclippers, I like to present the
clippers as soon as your dogsees it feed, feed, feed, feed,
constantly and continuously forabout one to three seconds.
Then that clipper disappears.
It goes behind my back, it's nolonger in view, and when that
(10:16):
happens, the feeding stops andthen I start over.
I bring that clippers back intoview as soon as the dog sees it
.
I begin feeding, feed, feed,feed, feed, feed, high value
food rewards constantly andcontinuously for about one to
three seconds, and then again Iremove the clippers.
(10:39):
The clippers now is behind myback, it's out of sight.
As soon as it's out of sight,we stop feeding.
And when we stop feeding andwhen the clippers out of sight,
we're going to stay in thatstate for about again three to
five seconds.
Okay, now we're going to repeatthat process present the
(11:00):
clippers, feed, high value foodrewards.
We're repairing something verypositive to the nail clippers
that the dog doesn't like, butwe're starting it at a distance
where it doesn't matter to thedog.
The dog's not stressed outabout the nail clippers.
Now, the way dogs think, the waythey learn, the way they
process information, one of theways are by understanding very
(11:25):
black and white cause and effectassociations.
So our timing and presentationare very important.
The clippers appear, thenfeeding starts.
The whole time the clippers arein sight, feeding continues.
When the clippers go out ofsight, feeding stops.
We're going to do that over andover and over again and that
(11:50):
training session is going to beabout five to 10 minutes long
and that's all we're doing.
Presenting the nail clippers assoon as the dog sees it.
We begin by pairing positivereinforcement in this case high
value food rewards with thesight of the clippers.
And when the clippers go out ofsight, we stop feeding.
(12:12):
So the dog begins to getconditioned that those clippers
they don't do anything scary,they don't hurt me, they're not
scary.
Matter of fact, when I see theclippers, good things happen.
But again, you've got to startthat at a far distance.
Gradually, systematically, overa period of days or weeks, you
(12:38):
begin to get a little bit closer.
So let's say that I stayed atthat safe distance.
Now, when I'm doing my training, I need to commit to do this at
least five times a week.
It's not that they're longsessions, we're talking five or
10 minutes but you've got to dothis five times a week.
(13:01):
There's got to be enoughrepetition that we can counter
condition.
Right now, if you've got a dogthat is fearful of the nail
clippers or a Dremel, whateverit is that you use, your dog has
that negative association andwe need to condition the dog
(13:22):
because that's the dog'sconditioning.
The dog's been conditioned thatit's a negative, that it's
scary.
We've got to present, withenough repetition, a positive
experience with those nailclippers to get what we call
counter conditioning.
And when we're talking aboutconditioning we're talking about
(13:44):
enough repetition, wherethere's an automatic reflex, and
that takes a lot of repetition.
The work is not difficult, it'sjust inconvenient.
There are other things that youprobably would rather do, but
this is something that has to bedone.
So you take your five to 10minutes every day and you start
(14:05):
at a distance where your dog cansee the clippers but doesn't
have a care in the world becauseit's far enough away and as
soon as your dog sees it, youbegin pairing high value food
rewards.
Then all of a sudden theclippers go out of sight.
Your dog can't see it, feedingstops.
We do that over and over andover.
Now the other thing that I wantto do, because I want to make
(14:28):
sure that your dog understandsthe reason the good things are
happening are because theclippers and not something else.
So I may have other objectsperhaps in my back pocket, and
after I've presented the nailclipper at the distance and fed
(14:49):
the dog and again, this worksbest if you got two people, how
do you present the clippers at adistance and feed, because you
got to be pretty close to thedog typically to feed, right.
So hopefully you've got ahelper.
Now we've been presenting thoseclippers and it's been a
positive experience for the dogbecause the dog keeps getting
(15:10):
fed high value food rewards.
But again, like I said, I wantto make sure the dog understands
it's the clippers that causethe good things.
So let's say I have ascrewdriver in my back pocket
along with the clippers.
Well, I may present thescrewdriver for three to five
seconds and there will be nofeeding, and then the
(15:34):
screwdriver goes behind my backand nothing happens there, and I
may pull a wallet out of mypocket and show that no feeding,
whether it's being shown orwhether it gets put away.
Now here comes the nailclippers and feed, feed, feed,
feed, feed, constantly andcontinuously for one to five
(15:58):
seconds.
Make absolutely sure that yourdog understands that the reason
it's getting all the good stuffis because of the nail clippers.
Now remove the nail clipper outof your dog's sight.
Stop feeding, and we're goingto do that very slowly.
Gradually, you're going toreduce the distance between the
(16:20):
clippers and your dog, butyou're going to take a lot of
care to make sure that you'repaying attention to your dog's
comfort level.
Continue to offer treats andpraise as you reduce the
distance.
Now, one of the most importantthings that you can have to make
this be successful is patience,patience, patience, patience.
(16:44):
Don't rush the process.
If you go slow, you're going tohave success, but if you try to
rush the process, it's going totake you a lot longer.
So a slow start means a fastfinish.
A fast start usually means aslow finish because you're
(17:06):
working too fast and you'regoing too close with the
clippers before the dog is ready.
You've got to take your time tocondition something positive
with those clippers.
So you're going to do that very, very slowly, little by little,
over time you're going to getcloser and closer and closer and
(17:26):
closer to the dog.
All right, now we've done stepone, where we've done the
introduction of the clippers ata distance.
Now we're going to be lookingat step two.
Step two is about counterconditioning, associating the
(17:48):
clippers again with a positiveexperience.
All right.
So now that your dog toleratesthe sight of the clippers, it's
time to level up the positiveassociation with more counter
conditioning.
And again, counter conditioningthat's just a fancy word for
(18:10):
changing the conditioning thatyour dog already has.
Your dog is conditioned to notlike the nail clippers.
We're going to counter that bypresenting those clippers with
something very positive over andover.
Thus counter conditioning, allright.
So what I want you to do instep two, I want you to smear a
(18:31):
tiny bit of peanut butter on thehandle of the clippers and I
want you to allow your dog tolick it off.
The goal here is to make thedog associate the clippers with
the high value food reward inthis pleasant experience.
(18:52):
So I'm going to want you torepeat that several times, but
always keep an eye on your dog'sbody language.
Is your dog showing signs ofstress?
If your dog showing signs ofstress, you've gone too far too
soon.
You're working too fast.
You need to back it up a step.
(19:12):
Start introducing the clippersat a distance.
You've gotten too close toosoon, so go back to step one Now
.
As long as you've done step onereally well, step two should be
a breeze for your dog, becauseyour dog is licking some yummy
(19:34):
peanut butter off of the handleof the clippers.
All right, hey, it's temptingto push forward quickly in this
process, especially when you'remaking progress.
However, counter conditioning ismost effective when it's
practiced in very short butfrequent sessions.
(19:57):
So, again, your sessions.
Look at those sessions to befive to 10 minutes long, but
you've got to do those at leastfive days in a row.
What I would prefer.
If you really want to make thisgo quicker, do three sessions a
day.
I mean, we're talking, let'ssay, that they were 10 minutes
long, which would be the longversion.
(20:18):
Right, they're five to 10minutes long.
You do three 10 minute sessionsa day.
You've invested 30 minutes, atotal of 30 minutes for that day
.
That is something thateverybody can do.
All right, all right.
Step three let's get into it alittle bit further.
Now we're going to begin theprocess of desensitizing
(20:40):
handling your dog's paw beingtouched.
Okay, you want to begin bygently touching one of your
dog's paws for a second, withoutholding it?
Okay, immediately, offer a highvalue food reward and praise,
(21:02):
as long as your dog was calmwith you just touching the paw.
Again, all we're doing here iswe're gently touching one of
your dog's paws and we're doingthat for a second and we're not
holding it.
Remember, just one second andgive your dog a high value food
reward at the exact moment thatyou are touching the paw.
(21:26):
Okay, now, gradually, I wantyou to increase the duration for
which you're touching the pawand you're going to work up from
that one second touch to a fewseconds.
Okay, it's critical toconsistently reward every
(21:51):
positive interaction.
You want to make sure that thedog understands the association
between you handling the paw andpositive experiences, in this
case, food.
And again, all we're doing iswe're touching the paw for a
second feed, feed, feed, feed,feed.
Stop touching, stop feeding.
As a dog gets comfortable withone second, gradually,
(22:14):
systematically, slowly, overdays or weeks, we progress to
several seconds and while ourhand is on that paw for several
seconds let's say it's there forthree to five seconds we're
going to feed the entire time.
Then we take our hand off thepaw, we stop feeding.
All right, now step four we'regonna begin holding the paw.
(22:38):
Remember, in step three we werejust touching the paw.
Okay, let's talk about levelone holding.
Now, once your dog iscomfortable with you touching
its paw, the next thing youwanna do is go into holding the
paw for a brief second.
And when you're doing that,when you're holding the paw for
(23:02):
that brief second, you want toimmediately reward your dog with
the high value food rewards andgive it verbal praise.
Now, the first few times whenyou're holding the dog's paw, it
should be no more than a veryquick light grasp and release.
(23:22):
So the duration of holding thatpaw is nothing.
You're gonna pick up the paw,hold it, let it go.
You're gonna pick up the pawfeed, let it go stop feeding.
Pick up the paw feed, let it gostop feeding.
Pick up the paw feed, let it gostop feeding.
Holding the paw Now, as yourdog gets comfortable with that
(23:45):
and you've done some repetitionwith that you're gonna want to
extend the duration of the timethat you're holding the paw.
So increase the holding duration, but do that incrementally.
Make sure that you'recontinuing to offer high value
food rewards every single timeyou're holding your dog's paw
(24:08):
and your dog is comfortable.
The goal is to extend the timethat your dog allows its paw to
be held without your dog showingsigns of discomfort and fear.
Again, we're pairing somethingvery, very positive with holding
the paw and you need to takeyour time with that.
Again, there's gotta be enoughrepetition and conditioning that
(24:32):
your dog views its paw beingheld as something very, very
positive, because that's one ofthe parts, one of the aspects of
trimming your dog's nail isholding that paw and they've
gotta get comfortable with it.
All right, step five.
In step five, we're gonnaincorporate the clippers into
(24:57):
the equation.
We're gonna do a mock clipping.
All right, this is where therubber meets the road.
Now, with your high value foodrewards in your treat pouch, I
want you to touch the clipper toone of your dog's nails, but
don't clip the nail.
Remember this is a fake mockaction and this is gonna help
(25:21):
your dog get used to thesensation.
So, again, what do you wanna do?
You start in step five, you'regonna have your high value food
rewards.
All you're gonna do is touchthe clipper to one of your dog's
nails and feed, but you're notgonna clip the nail when you do
that.
This is something that's gottabe extremely, extremely positive
(25:46):
.
Okay, where then, as your doggets comfortable with that,
you're gonna do that over andover for days or for weeks and
you can choose each time totouch a different nail, but
you're not clipping it, you'rejust touching it with a nail
clip, with the clippers.
(26:06):
I mean Now, once your dog'scomfortable with the clippers
touching any of its nails and if, use that as something positive
because good things arehappening.
The clippers are touching a nail, the dog gets fed something.
The clipper stopped touchingthe nail.
No more feeding.
Clipper touches the nail.
Feed, feed, feed.
(26:27):
Stop touching the nail with theclipper, stop feeding, all
right.
So once your dog's comfortablewith that, now it's time to
attempt a real clip.
Right, we're gonna clip off thetiniest, tiniest little sliver
of one nail and that's it.
So we're gonna hold the paw,like we did in step four when we
(26:52):
were conditioning the dog toenjoy having its paw handled
because it was getting highvalue food rewards.
And then, in step five, all wedid was touch the clipper to the
nail and it's important for youto understand.
When you're in step five,you're holding that paw right.
Step four was getting the dogvery comfortable with holding
(27:15):
that paw.
But now in step five, we'reholding the paw, we're touching
Excuse me in step four, excuseme, step five, in the mock
clipping we're just touching theclipper to the nail, all right,
but we are going to we'll callit 5.5, step 5.5, step 5.5.
(27:38):
That's where we're actuallygoing to clip one nail.
But your dog has to be verycomfortable with you holding its
paw and the clippers touchingthe nails without clipping first
, okay.
And when we begin to do ourclipping of the nails, in this
process we are clipping one nailand the tiniest little sliver
(28:03):
of that one nail.
Now, if everything is goingwell and your dog is happy and
you're feeding again, whenyou're clipping, you're feeding,
okay.
Now one of the things you mightdo is like I've got a stainless
steel refrigerator.
I can put my dog in front ofthat refrigerator.
(28:24):
I put a little smear of peanutbutter on the refrigerator at
the dog's mouth level.
The dog's licking, licking,licking.
I'm picking up a paw while it'slicking peanut butter and I'm
clipping one nail and then Imove the dog away from where the
peanut butter is.
Then we go back and I clipanother little piece off of a
(28:49):
single nail and the dog'slicking peanut butter.
Now, the first day that I startthis, I might only be able to
clip one nail.
I might not be able to go tothe second and maybe I shouldn't
.
I need to be monitoring thedog's body language.
Maybe even the slightest littlebit, the slightest little
(29:11):
stress signal that you get fromthe dog, you need to slow down,
you need to back up a step.
You're going too quick.
You've got to work at the dog'space.
It's nice when the dog's paceis quick, but sometimes it's
going to take a little bitlonger.
Again, don't rush this process.
Patience and consistency andrepetition those are the three
(29:36):
pillars of great training.
The next step if we've beencutting a single nail and that's
going well, now we're going tostart doing multiple nails.
Maybe a training session lookslike hey, I'm picking up the paw
as I'm beginning to clip twonails.
(29:58):
The dog is eating high valuefood, rewards or licking peanut
butter or somebody's feeding thedog as I'm clipping two nails
and I'm done.
Then the next day I'm going torepeat that I'm going to clip
two more nails.
If that went well.
(30:18):
The next day I'm going to cliptwo more Again.
I'm pairing high value food,rewards and praise at the exact
moment those nails are beingclipped as you're doing this.
Notice I'm not clipping all thenails.
If I need to clip one nail aday until I get through all the
(30:43):
nails, that's okay.
As long as that's a positiveexperience for the dog, I'm
going to get to the point whereI can clip two.
As long as that's a positiveexperience for the dog, I'm
going to get to the point whereI can clip three nails, four
nails, five nails, on and on andso on.
You get the idea, but you've gotto be monitoring the body
(31:05):
language.
That's step six having greatobservation skills and making
adjustments as you need it.
It's okay to go back a step.
If your dog is showing signs ofstress during part of this
process, you need to take thatstep back.
Sometimes a little regressionis necessary for future
(31:32):
progression.
So there's nothing wrong withtaking a step back, but you've
got to be great at observingyour dog's body language.
You've got to understand whatstress signals are.
Make sure that your dog doesn'thave a care in the world when
we're doing this.
If it does, you've gone too fartoo soon.
Take a step back, all right Now.
(31:55):
Step number seven.
Step number seven ismaintenance in regular sessions
Consistency.
Like I said, it's crucial inmaintaining the positive
associations that you've built.
So you want to conduct regularnail trimming sessions, even if
it's just one or two nails at atime, and you're giving high
(32:17):
value food rewards to ensure thepositive associations are
reinforced.
So desensitizing a dog to nailtrimming can be a slow process
that requires a lot of patience,a lot of consistency and a lot
of positive reinforcement.
(32:37):
By adhering to a systematic,science-based approach, you can
transform nail trimming from astressful ordeal into a routine
grooming activity for your dogthat your dog loves.
Give it a try.
I'm gonna hear I'm just givinga dog a ball, just giving a dog
a ball.
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