Grooming your dog is very important, no matter what breed they are. If your dog has a shorter coat, or a longer coat that simply needs a brush once a week, it can be very easy to believe that that is where your dog’s grooming needs stop. However, this isn’t the case.
Even if your dog’s coat needs barely any grooming, there are other parts of their body that should be included in their grooming routine. In particular, their nails.
Trimming your dog’s nails isn’t something that you will have to do all the time, but it is something that you should keep on top of.
Failure to do this could cause your dog harm. But, how do you know when your dog’s nails need to be cut? And more importantly, how do you cut black dog nails?
Keep on reading to find out!
Table of Contents:
Why Do You Need to Cut Your Dog’s Nails?
First things first, let’s take a look at why you need to cut your dog’s nails. As we have mentioned, trimming your dog’s nails is very important as if your dog’s nails grow too long they could become harmful to your dog.
Long nails can cause discomfort, and in the long run, they can cause damage to your dog’s feet.
Regularly trimming your dog’s nails will ensure that they do not grow too long. This will mean that your dog will be able to comfortably walk around, without their nails hurting their feet. However, how often you will need to trim their nails will depend on a number of factors.
The main factor that will influence how frequently you need to cut your dog’s nails, depends on how easily they wear it. If your dog gets a lot of exercise, then you might find that you rarely have to cut their nails, simply because they wear away when your dog runs.
But, other factors, such as your dog’s breed will influence how regularly you have to trim their nails. So, let’s take a look at how to know when your dog’s nails need to be trimmed.
How To Know If Your Dog’s Nails Need To Be Trimmed
So, we have established that your dog’s nails need to be trimmed regularly to prevent them from growing too long. However, we haven’t spoken about how to know when your dog’s nails need to be trimmed. So, let’s take a look.
Well, the best way to know if your dog’s nails require a trim is to listen to your dog walking around.
If you have laminated or hardwood flooring in your home, then you have probably grown familiar with the horrible tip-tapping noise that you hear when your dog is walking around. If you hear this noise, this is actually a sign that your dog’s nails need to be trimmed.
When your dog walks around, you shouldn’t be able to hear their nails on the floor. So, if you do, this is a sign that you should pull out the clippers.
But how do you clip your black dog’s nails? We’ll be taking a look at that shortly, but first, let’s take a quick look at why clipping black nails is different.
Why Is Cutting Black Dog Nails Different?
Dogs generally have either pale nails, or black nails. When you are trimming your dog’s nails, it is very important that you avoid cutting them too short, as this could cause your dog to bleed.
If your dog has pale nails, you can actually see where you should stop cutting. But, when your dog has black nails, you can’t actually see this. So, you have to take extra care when trimming their nails. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how to cut black dog nails.
How To Cut Black Dog Nails
So, how do you cut black dog nails? Well this actually isn’t that difficult. Firstly, you will need either a guillotine-style nail clipper or a scissors-style nail clipper. The best style of nail clippers for the job is the guillotine-style, so we’re going to tell you how to use them.
With your nail clippers in hand, you want to get your dog comfortable for the task at hand. This can be quite tricky, especially if your dog is young and excitable. So, we would recommend completing this job when your dog is calm and relaxed.
Take your nail clippers, and slowly position them so that your dog’s claw is between the clippers from top to bottom. Hold your dog’s paw firmly, but gently, and slowly trim a very small length of the nail. It is best to do this slowly, so remove around one 16th of the nail at a time.
Once you have trimmed your first length of the nail, take a moment and look at your dog’s nail. If the nail still appears whitish when faced head on, it is safe to continue trimming. You can carry on doing this, moving slowly but steadily, for as long as the nail still appears whitish.
Every time that you make a trim, you should aim to remove the smallest amount possible, this will ensure that you do not cut your dog’s nail down to the quick.
When you approach the quick of the nail, your dog’s nail will begin to appear black, or even pink, when faced head-on. When the color changes, and you notice either black or pink, you should stop clipping immediately.
Once you have finished one nail, you should then move on to another until you have trimmed all of your dog’s nails.
As we have said, cutting black dog nails seems more scary than it actually is. As long as you proceed with caution, and take the process slowly, then it will be fine. However, if you are very nervous about doing this, you should consider taking your dog to a groomer to have their nails trimmed instead.
Summary
So, as you can see, cutting your dog’s black nails isn’t as scary as it first seems. As long as you follow the guide above, and take your time, you should be able to trim your dog’s nails without issue.
However, if you are feeling very nervous about doing this, then you should consider taking your dog to a groomer instead.
Thank you for reading!
