How I brought out the demon dog

[charmingnancy]

Has anyone ever seen this product advertised on TV, or bought one and attempted to use it on your pet?

www.pedipaws.com/?directLoad&uid=A542629F89E0C15FB39B8148F17432A8

Me and my boyfriend (Evan) were at a department store yesterday and saw this on a shelf for $20, and decided to get it for Bo, as a safer alternative than those terrible looking nail clippers that can make your pet's nails bleed. Brought it home and looked at the manual that came with it. It gives you tips on how you should introduce it to your pet for the first time, like let your dog sniff it before you turn it on.

I let Bo sniff it, and since it doesn't have a smell, he wasn't interested. The thing claims to be "whisper quiet"... not really, but it's not too obnoxious. I turned it on and held it in front of Bo's face, and suprise suprise, he didn't care for it much. He had a "what is that" look on his face. We rubbed it on his back to get him used to the vibrations of it, and he didn't really mind that. I slowly picked up one of his paws, got it about 8 inches from one of his nails, and Bo yanked his paw away (again, big suprise .

The manual tells you that some dogs won't easily adapt to it the first few times (gasp), but you need to maintain your assertiveness, let the dog know who's boss. It even gives you a model of a man holding his dog down on the floor and using the filer. We tried holding Bo every which way, but he wasn't having it. He was fighting us like it was life or death. He wasn't being aggressive, no growling or bared teeth, but he was being difficult. Tried to con him with treats, again he wasn't going to volunteer to let us file a single nail.

Now, Bo's nails aren't very long, but they have sharp edges from scratching them on the concrete outside. He has white nails, which get worn down easier than black ones do from normal walking on hard surfaces. The vet told me that Bo shouldn't have to ever get his nails cut, which made me feel relieved, because I couldn't ever try to cut them myself and make him bleed. I wanted to file them down so he wouldn't accidently scratch someone with his jagged nails, which he does form time to time.

Anyway, after almost an hour after wrestling with this dog and not having any luck, we put Bo in his walking harness to be able to get a good hold on him, since he had already wiggled out of his collar once. Evan got behind him and made him stand on his back legs. I turned the filer back on, grabbed one of Bo's front paws, and filed a nail. This, in turn, made Bo goes nuts, growling and snarling like I've never heard before. He is usually the most timid dog, but filing his nails brought the demon out of him. I managed to get them all filed, with Evan holding on to Bo for dear life, and Bo growling, looking at me like he wanted to tear my face off. I know it wasn't hurting him, but that dog was pissed. It was easier to get his back paws, Evan scratched his back while I filed them, and Bo barely seemed to notice. We just couldn't get him to relax for me to do his front ones without a fight.

So, we figure the next time we try to use the file, we will give Bo a big rawhide or something like that for him to chew on, because he was going through the treats too fast for his attention to be taken off the filer.

[DogGoneGood]

First of all, I apologize Nancy, for not seeing this when you posted it. For some reason I didn't see the blue paw on the front page telling me there's a new post.

Second... I don't think I've ever heard of this product before. I feel like MAYBE once I've seen an infomercial for it, but I don't know. Usually when I watch those things I'm half asleep lol

It doesn't look like a bad product to me. Trimming nails can be tricky and a lot of pet owners get the vet or groomer to do it because they're scared of hitting the kwik (or worse, some don't trim their dogs nails at all!). There is a page on the forum about nail trimming too

If you want my advice:

Don't only use the trimmer (filer? Whatever it is...) when he needs his nails done. It will take you twice as long, if ever, to get him use to it.

Has he never had his nails trimmer ever? How is he with a regular file?

I started getting Coal use to the clippers when he was just a little puppy so now he's a dream to trim his nails (although a bit harder these days, with his arthritis). Linkin on the other hand, hadn't had his done until he came to me. It only took a few months to get him use to them though. Now he stands nicely and lets me do every toe.

What I did was every day (or every few days; as often as I could or remembered) I would lay him down and play with his feet. Pet his paws, spread his toes apart, gently tug on his nails. I kept at that until he was no longer squirming when I touched his paws (also taught him "shake a paw" so that he'd learn to offer me his paw and get use to me holding it). Once he was squiggle free with me touching him I brought out the clippers. I'd let him sniff them and once he lost interest in them I'd rub them on him (blades closed!). Starting at about halfway up his leg and down (with the fur) to the end of his toes. Kept doing this and all over his toes until again, he was squiggle free.

Once he could lay there with me playing with his toes and touching him with the clippers I got my mom to rub his belly (what dog ISN'T a sucker for a belly rub?!) while I started off with the regular routine of touching his feet with my hands and the clippers. I also kept some treats in my pocket. Then I went in for one nail. of course with the initial clip he got startled but I talked to him and calmed him down and then did another. The second he didn't pull away when being clipped I'd praise and give him a cookie. I didn't tell him no or anything if he pulled away, just talked to him and he didn't get praise and cookies for it.

In between times of needing his nails done I kept playing with his feet with my hands and clippers.

It took a few months before I could get him to lay down while I trimmed his nails without someone rubbing his belly. Eventually I moved him into a sit while I did it and then I stand (I personally find it easier to do when they're standing, but this is really how comfortable you feel).

The same method can be used with this Pedi Paws thing. Just be patient and work on it as much as you can. Praise good behavior and take it very slow (at his pace).

Pinning him down and forcing him to do it is only going to make matters worse. He won't eventually learn to tollerate it but instead learn of new ways to avoid you, and worse, you could get seriously bit. You don't want him to act aggressively towards you (that's completely un acceptable) and you don't want him running away every time you get this thing out. He's scared and doesn't understand it, so you have to slowly teach him that there's nothing to be scared of and that if he's a good boy he'll get a reward!

[charmingnancy]

Well, we went to the store and got him some rawhide to chew on, and tomorrow night I will try and see how he reacts to the filer being on while he has food to distract him. We need to get some new batteries for it, cause we bought some crappy ones last week that almost ran out after having the thing run for nearly an hour straight. I am more patient with Bo than my boyfriend is (I've had Bo longer than I've had Evan ), so maybe it just needs to be a me and Bo thing. He usually isn't too sensitive about his paws, he shakes on command, and totally loves getting petted and rubbed on all over his body. I guess it was just the unfamiliarity with the noise and vibration. I've never attempted to cut his nails before, and the vet said that they really didn't need cut when we went last April, and he said the same thing April 2007; that his nails are soft enough that they get filed down naturally when he walks on concrete. I got Bo when he was 13 months old, so I don't know if a previous owner tried to cut his nails, and who knows if he would have remembered it if they did.

[DogGoneGood]

Yeah, who knows...

Just be patient and work at his pace... Maybe try the thing without it even being on at first and see his reaction to just that, since his last experience with it wasn't really a sunshine parade. Maybe explain to your boyfriend that he is in fact, a dog and therefore he's allowed to have irrational fears lol it's how you DEAL with them that matters

I use to tell Jared "the dog's been around longer than you so she comes first" until I had to have her PTS and then I got Coal... so now technically Jared's been around longer than the dogs... but they still come first... because they're dogs and Jared's a big boy who can take care of himself

[charmingnancy]

Well, we went out and bought a big bone for Bo (it was a section of smoked cow leg bone.... yummy). I let him have the bone for a couple of minutes (had to get Dawber out of the room, he thought the bone was a present for him, too), then tried to use the filer on him. And.... no more success than we had last week. He dropped the bone and took off. I was able to con him back, gave him the bone, waited a minute. Turned the filer on, he dropped the bone and scampered away. There's no bribing that dog. Don't know what I'm going to do now, I think that thing is trash. I might just use some sand paper to smooth out the rough edges of his nails, he'll probably tolerate that better.

[DogGoneGood]

Again; work at HIS pace. Don't turn the thing on yet, just rub it on him while it's silent and motionless.