How to Clip Dog Nails Safely, Correctly, and With Confidence
The majority of dogs do not enjoy having their nails trimmed. How strongly they object depends on the personality of the dog, past experience with nail trimming, and how calmly and correctly the process is handled.
Dogs tend to show their displeasure in a variety of ways: trying to pull or jerk the foot away, biting, twisting, throwing a complete fit, or requiring restraint for their safety and the safety of the person trimming the nails. The goal of this guide is to show you what to look for, where to cut, where not to cut, and how to understand the nail before you ever squeeze the trimmers.
Cut the Nail. Not the Quick.
Dog nails are not just dead material. The living quick runs through the center of the nail and contains blood vessels and sensitive nerve endings.
See What You’re Cutting
Learn what the quick looks like in light nails, dark nails, overgrown nails, and properly maintained nails.
Use the Right Tool
Understand guillotine trimmers, scissor trimmers, straight blades, curved blades, and when each style makes sense.
Stay Calm if You Hit the Quick
A quick bleed is unpleasant and messy, but it is usually manageable with styptic powder and a calm response.
If your dog is extremely fearful, aggressive, painful, medically fragile, badly overgrown, or has nails curling into the pad, do not force the process. A groomer, veterinarian, or veterinary technician may be the safer choice. Nail trimming should never turn into a dangerous wrestling match.
Without Restraining
If you are one of the fortunate individuals who has a dog that does not particularly mind the process, then trimming the nails will be a breeze. Get your tools, some treats, and choose a calm position. You can trim the dog’s nails either standing or lying down. Lying down is often preferable because there is less chance of the dog twisting or moving in a way that causes you to mis-cut and harm your dog.
Simply grasp a foot securely with one hand, using your fingers to separate the toes so you have good access to each individual nail. With the other hand, begin clipping while using a calm, soothing voice. Be mindful of the dog’s body language so you can tell if you cut too short or if they are becoming agitated with the process.
Restraining a Dog
The easiest and least combative way to restrain a dog for nail trimming is to place the dog on its side, feet pointing away from you, which places you behind the dog. Depending upon which side of your body the dog’s head is nearest, you determine which arm to use for grasping the front leg of the dog. The method below is when the dog’s head is nearest the left shoulder; if the dog is facing toward your right shoulder, simply reverse the method using your other arm.
At this point, you can snake your left arm forward to grasp the front left foot of the dog, ensuring that your arm stays in close contact with the dog’s body between the base of the skull and the dog’s shoulder. This should place your left forearm across the neck of the dog. While holding the left front foot of the dog, pull it out to a straightened position and hold it securely in place.
This essentially negates the dog’s ability to stand or roll to a prone or supine position. Use your chest and upper abdomen to place a little of your body weight on the area running between the middle of the rear hip and the middle of the dog’s front shoulder, encompassing the upper rib cage. This is for control, both to prevent the dog from hurting you and to prevent the dog from hurting themselves if they decide to struggle or become combative.
By controlling the neck with your left forearm, you are able to keep the dog’s head down, which helps prevent them from rising up and makes it much more difficult for them to turn their head into a position where they could bite you. Controlling the front underside foot and leg makes it nearly impossible for the dog to rise. Pulling the leg out into a straightened position helps straighten the shoulder and ensure that the dog remains fully on its side.
If you do not pull the leg out straight, the dog may have the ability to roll quickly, retracting the leg under its body while using it to rise up or struggle, potentially injuring you or the dog. Lastly, placing your body weight on the upper back and shoulders limits their ability to roll toward their feet and stand. It also gives you more control and maneuverability over the dog’s body as you trim the nails.
“Not a Happy Camper” — Calm Handling Matters
The key to completing a nail trim successfully is not to get excited. If the dog is scared or resistant, remain calm, secure the dog safely, and continue only if the process can be completed without panic, anger, or unnecessary force.
Do Not Add Emotion to the Struggle
Even though some dogs are not particularly fond of getting their nails clipped, the goal is that at the end they are no worse for wear. Do not add extra tension or emotion by becoming angry or frustrated with the dog. Dogs often react to anger and frustration by struggling or fighting more.
That makes the procedure more difficult for you and for the dog, and it can create a negative association that further reinforces the dog’s dislike of the procedure.
Tools You Need to Clip Dog Nails
Before beginning your nail clipping adventure, make sure you have a good set of nail trimmers, styptic powder to stop bleeding, and a muzzle if necessary.
Styptic Powder
Styptic powder, also called Quick Stop, is a simple item and a must-have if you intend on cutting your dog’s toenails. It is not expensive, and one container can provide enough product to last through a lifetime of nail trimming with your dog.
There are various forms of the product: some with applicators, some as a plain powder. The application is basically the same. Take either the applicator or a pinch of powder, hold it directly to the end of the affected nail, press it in, and count to three. Presto — the bleeding has stopped and you are ready to continue.
Dog Toenail Trimmers
There are two main styles of nail trimmers on the market today: the guillotine variety, which is fairly standard and has fewer variations, and the scissor type, which includes curved blade and straight blade variations.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each, and the best choice depends on your dog’s nail size, nail condition, your experience level, and how much control you need during the cut.
Straight Blade Trimmers
Straight blade trimmers can be an effective accessory to complement both the guillotine style and the curved blade scissor type. They have the strength advantages of scissor-type trimmers, with the added benefit of being able to handle small nails and nails that have curved badly.
Choosing the Right Nail Trimmer
The right tool makes the cut cleaner, faster, safer, and less stressful.
The Guillotine Type Trimmer
The main advantage to guillotine style nail trimmers is that they are easy to use. You can secure the nail in the clippers by applying moderate pressure prior to cutting, which works well for dogs that tend to struggle. Guillotine dog nail trimmers are good for small dogs up through medium-large dogs.
The main disadvantage is that this style does not work exceptionally well on large dogs with tough, thick toenails. I have, during one attempt to use these on a large Lab, bent the handles together without the blade cutting through the nail.
There is also the issue of nails that are in bad shape and have curved around like a ram’s horn. At that point, it becomes extremely difficult to get the nail trimmer to slide over the nail and cut properly. If you are able to slide the trimmers over and around the nail to the proper position, you may be forced to cut from the top of the nail down toward the quick, which applies a lot of pressure to the nail because you are cutting through the toughest portion first.
Lastly, there is the issue of quality. Many guillotine style nail trimmers are made of lower quality materials that wear out quickly or bend to the point of becoming unserviceable after a few battles with tough toenails. For beginners with small or medium-large dogs, up to about a Golden Retriever, with nails that just need maintenance trimming, these can be a good place to start building confidence.
The Scissor Type Trimmer
The curved blade scissor type is the best all-around choice for those who have some experience trimming dog toenails. One of the major benefits is longevity and strength. Most scissor type dog nail trimmers are made of higher quality steel, allowing them to cut through even thick, tough, unmaintained nails.
I have one set that has been used daily for the past two years and still cuts with ease, and we run a professional grooming salon in addition to our other services. I would estimate that roughly 81,000+ individual nails have been trimmed with this one set alone.
8 front nails + 2 dewclaws + 8 rear nails = 18 nails per dog
18 nails x 8 dogs per day = 144 nails per day
144 nails x 288 working days = 41,472 nails per year
41,472 x 2 years = 82,944 nails
The major disadvantage to the curved blade scissor type is that it can be difficult to cut the nails of smaller dogs and puppies, as well as nails that have curved around ram-horn style. Each side of the clipper is roughly 1/8 inch thick, making it difficult to slide back far enough to make an effective cut on very small nails.
The curvature of the blades can also prevent them from opening wide enough to simply slide over the nail on large dogs, meaning you may have to thread the nail through the clippers as you would with the guillotine style before making your cut.
Straight Blade Type Trimmer
The straight blade variation of the scissor type is an effective accessory to complement both the guillotine type and the curved blade scissor type. It has the same strength advantages as the curved type, with the added bonus of being able to easily handle small nails and nails that have curved badly.
With straight blades, you simply slide the clippers over the nail at the position where you want to cut. This allows you to cut from almost any angle, unlike curved and guillotine trimmers where you must first slide the nail through the center of the clippers and then work the nail into the correct position.
Recommended again for users who have some experience cutting nails.
Dog Toenail Anatomy: Understanding the Quick
Before taking your new knowledge of dog nail clippers and going to work, you first need to understand how dog toenails are actually put together.
Unlike human nails, which are essentially flat layers of keratin with a hidden blood supply, dog nails are living appendages with a blood supply and sensitive nerve endings that run directly down the center of the nail. This living center is called the quick.
The outer portion of the nail is hard and has no feeling because it has no nerve endings. The core of the nail — the quick — is comprised of small blood vessels and sensitive nerve endings. If, in a zealous quest to cut your dog’s nails, you hit the quick, it will not only be extremely uncomfortable for the dog and create a negative association with the process, it will bleed.
Ideally, all dogs would have transparent nails so you could easily distinguish exactly where the quick ends. In reality, many dogs have nails that are completely black, which totally obscures the location of the quick within the nail. Dog toenail color is generally determined by the color of the surrounding hair and skin. Dogs with dark hair around the nails generally have dark or black nails, while dogs with white or light colored hair around the nails tend to have more translucent nails.
Average Nail in Need of Trimming
The average dog toenail in need of trimming. The quick is represented as the grey shaded area in the drawing and as the pink area in the actual nail picture.
Excessively Long Nail
This nail is excessively long, to the point that the nail tip touches the ground as the dog walks, pushing the toes up and altering the way that the pads touch the ground. This can lead to a number of long-term problems, including permanent twisting of the toes, as well as hip, elbow, and shoulder problems.
The important thing to note is that the quick will grow out with the nail. When toenails reach this state, you need to be careful to avoid hitting the quick and causing the nail to bleed. To remedy the problem, cut the nails carefully about 2mm away from the quick every few days. As the dog walks and wears on the newly shortened nail, the quick will recede, and you cut again. This process is repeated until the nails are at a manageable length.
Properly Trimmed Nail
A properly trimmed and maintained dog toenail. Notice that the quick has receded to a point that the nail can be cut to a healthy and manageable length. The nail pictured here is roughly 1/2 inch long and attached to a 65 lb Golden Retriever mix. This shows that with proper maintenance trimming, even the nails of large dogs can be kept relatively short.
Cutting Dog Toenails
Now that we have covered the tools and the anatomy, let’s move on to the actual cut.
Remember that if you hit the quick as a first timer, it is not an emergency. It is unpleasant for the dog and messy because the quick inside the toenail can bleed a lot, but it is not a panic situation. I have trimmed thousands upon thousands of dog toenails in my time, and sometimes it just happens. Use styptic powder applied directly to the end of the affected nail and move on.
Always try to cut the nails to the ideal length, about 2mm away from the quick. Do not arbitrarily choose the length you want and cut away. In long toenails, the quick has more than likely grown out with the nail, so always use the quick as your reference for determining the depth of your cut.
Guillotine Style Nail Trimmers
With guillotine style nail trimmers, the nail is passed through the clippers so the clippers cut up from the bottom of the nail and away from the quick. Once the clippers are positioned properly, give one quick, hard squeeze to cut completely through the nail.
In the image, the red line represents the stopping point of the quick, and the yellow line is the line of cut. The nail in front has already been trimmed.
Scissor Style Nail Trimmers
With scissor style nail trimmers, the nail is either inserted through the top for smaller nails or passed through the center. The trimmer is then placed so the cutting surface is at a right angle to the bottom and top of the nail, allowing the blades to cut from bottom to top, not from side to side.
Once in position, give the trimmers one hard, firm squeeze to cut completely through the nail in one smooth motion. Dog toenails should not be pinched in and cut from the sides.
Black Toenails: Watch for the Grey Oval
For black toenails, cut a little at a time until you see a grey colored circle or oval starting to appear. This is the indication that you are close to the quick and should stop.
The perfect cut stops here. There is no need to go any further, as it will just cause undue stress and pain for the dog, resulting in a more difficult experience for both of you next time around.
When You Are Getting Too Close
The following images demonstrate the actual quick starting to appear. This is the point where you should most definitely stop.
The Quick Is Starting to Show
The fleshy protrusion in the center of the nail is the end of the quick. You may already have gone a bit too far. The dog may have some increased sensitivity when walking because the quick is now exposed and protruding past the end of the nail.
Stop Before the Bleed
Again, you can see the end of the quick as the small pink fleshy portion in the center of the nail. This will wear down over the following few days, eventually receding back into the nail.
Do not be surprised if the tip of the quick gets cut or torn off as the dog walks, causing it to bleed a little. This is typically not serious, though it may be messy, annoying, and uncomfortable for the dog. There is no need to get overzealous and try to push it by trimming more. If you are new, or even experienced, mistakes can happen. If you make an honest mistake and trim a little too close, do not panic. You still have more chances to get it right, and you have avoided actually trimming off the end of the quick and causing major discomfort and bleeding.
When the Nail Is Cut Too Short
These pictures show a dog toenail that was cut too short and actually cut into the quick, causing bleeding and unnecessary discomfort for the dog.
The quick will readily bleed if nails are cut too short.
Same scenario: a toenail cut back too far, causing the quick to bleed and discomfort for the dog.
Always be careful and take your time. There is no rush when it comes to cutting your dog’s nails. The key is to do it correctly and ensure that your dog’s feet and nails are well taken care of to prevent injuries or aggravations that can be caused by excessively long or unmaintained nails.
Why This Guide Works
This page was built from real grooming experience, real nail-trimming repetition, and the kind of detail pet parents need when they are trying to avoid hurting their dog.
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Reader comment“This is the best article I have seen providing tons of information. The pictures are great as well.”
Reader comment“I especially liked the bit about there being a grey oval in black nails that is a precursor to the quick.”
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