Trimming your dog’s nails can be a little daunting if you’ve not done it before but it’s an essential grooming task that must be done regularly – most English Toy Terriers require their nails to be trimmed weekly.
Nails can be trimmed by a groomer but most English Toy Terriers need to have their nails trimmed weekly, and scheduling and travelling to grooming appointments can be time consuming – it generally works out better for you, your dog, and your pocket if you can do this essential grooming task at home each week.
In this section we will cover:
- How to spot when your dog’s nails are too long
- The anatomy of your dog’s nails
- How to trim your dog’s nails:
- Nail trimming equipment
- Why nail trimming is important
- Training your dog to have their nails trimmed
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How to spot when Your English Toy Terrier’s Nails Are Too Long
Note in the image above: on the left where the dog’s nails are too long, the foot rocks back onto the heel, but in the photo on the right where the nails are an ideal length, the dog’s weight is correctly on its toes. This illustrates how the length of the nails can affect and interfere with a dog’s natural posture and movement.
The “clickety-clack” of their little feet
Your dog’s nails will also tell you when they are too long – they make a clickety-clack sound on hard floors when your dog is walking. If you can hear your dog’s nails tapping on the floor when they walk, you know that the nails are already interfering with the natural movement of the foot and it’s time for a trim.
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The anatomy of your dog’s nails
Before trying to trim a dog’s nails it’s important to understand how they are made to avoid any painful accidents.
The outer part of the nail that you can see and touch is the shell which is made of keratin. The shell has a hard outer casing with a softer layer of shell underneath it, and there are no nerves in the shell. Inside the shell is the “quick” which is made up of blood vessels and nerves. Inside the quick is the bone that anchors the nail to the foot.
When trimming your English Toy Terrier’s nails, you want to trim the outer shell of the nail only – you do not want to cut into the quick as this can be painful for your dog and the quick can bleed profusely, and you certainly do not want to be cutting into bone.
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How to trim your ETT’s nails
Before trying to trim your dog’s nails, please make sure they feel comfortable with having their feet and toes handled. See: Training your Dog for Nail Trims.
To trim your English Toy Terrier’s nails, you will need to use clippers to cut them, or a Dremel (an electronic, rotary grinder) to file them down. Some people choose to cut nails with clippers and then smooth them off with a Dremel. Both clippers and Dremels work equally well, and which you choose is a personal decision based on what best suits you and your dog. The video below shows nail trimming with clippers and a Dremel with great tips on how to deal with the black nails of an English Toy Terrier.
The black nails of an English Toy Terrier mean you can only see the hard outer shell. This can make trimming English Toy Terrier nails slightly more daunting but simply go slow, taking off only a tiny bit off the end of each nail tip at a time to avoid cutting/grinding into the quick. When using a Dremel, use light pressure in short bursts.
As you continue to take tiny amounts off each nail and get closer to the quick (made up of nerves and blood vessels) your dog will become more sensitive to the clippers/Dremel so watch out for any signs of discomfort. You should also be able to see that when cut/ground down, the shell part of the nail reveals itself as whiter/chalky, with a growing black circle in the middle (looks a little like pencil lead) which is the quick as shown in the video.
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Nail trimming Equipment
You will need:
- Clippers or a Dremel
- Styptic Powder or Cornflour (cornstarch)
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Dog Nail Clippers
If using clippers, use good quality, stainless-steel, plier-style nail clippers – smaller handled versions are usually best for the small nails of an English Toy Terrier. The industry standard is the Miller’s Forge brand clippers (shown above with red handles) at usually £12-£14 a set. Whichever clippers you choose, they need to be good quality stainless steel and sharp – if the clippers are blunt, they effectively crush the nail which can be painful for your dog.
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Pet Nail Grinders / Dremels
Look for a Dremel that:
- Is cordless
- Has good quality, replaceable, solid grinding heads (not the kind wrapped with sandpaper)
- Has multiple speed settings (including a slow setting)
- Is as quiet as possible
- Has a built-in light
Some of the best value home use dremels available at the time of writing include the range by CASFUY, available on Amazon.
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Styptic Powder / Cornflour
Accidents can happen and if you accidentally cut or grind into your dog’s quick it is likely to bleed profusely because the quick contains blood vessels. To stop the bleeding, simply dip the nail into Styptic Powder or Cornflour.
Why nail trimming is Important
English Toy Terriers are particularly prone to issues with longer nails because, unlike other breeds that naturally scrape them down on the pavement when they walk, an ETT doesn’t walk that way: their front movement is such that they don’t scrape their nails, so all of their nail care has to come from you.
Overly long nails can:
- Catch and break – your dog is at risk of breaking a nail which is extremely painful, will bleed profusely, may need veterinary treatment, and will take a lot of care to prevent the wound from becoming infected.
- Cause your dog to start compensate by walking in a slightly different way to and this can lead to mis-alignment of the bones and problems with their tendons and ligaments.
- Grow to curl under the dog’s paw and ultimately pierce their paw pads.
Some dog owners avoid trimming nails because they’re afraid they might hurt their dog, but let’s be clear: if you don’t trim the nails regularly, then you put your dog at risk of the dangers above.
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Training your ETT to have their nails trimmed
The key is conditioning and taking things slowly to build positive associations with nail trimming.
Firstly, your dog needs to be trained to feel comfortable with you handling their feet and toes – see the video on training for basic handling on our Health Check page. Once they are happy with having their feet and paws handled then you can move on to conditioning them to be relaxed around nail clippers / dremels.
Remember, start slow – whether you have a puppy or an older dog, the key to desensitising your dog to a new regime of nailcare is to go at their pace and make it fun.
Looking after your ETT’s nails is one of the most important aspects of your dog’s health, so you can only go wrong by doing nothing. If you’re ever in doubt, just ask: any ETT Facebook group will be happy to give you support along the way, or you can email our health officer and welfare officers.
Nail care is one the essential grooming tasks required to ensure your dog’s health and well-being along with a regular health check, dental care, ear cleaning and coat-care and bathing.