Pet owners and enthusiasts alike understand that grooming is vital for keeping your pet healthy and comfortable, as well as keeping them good-looking. One method of grooming that needs to be done on a regular basis is clipping your dog’s nails. Keeping your dog’s nails trimmed is imperative to maintaining their comfort. Here is how to sharpen dog nail clippers quickly and easily.
Why Is It Important To Clip Your Dog’s Nails?
When you let your dog’s nails grow too long, they can encounter some severe problems and pain. This is generally not an issue for more active dogs that run around on hard surfaces often, as they naturally wear down their nails. However, it is essential to trim the nails of those dogs who spend most of their time indoors and do not run around often.
Nails that are too long run the risk of being torn off if they get caught on a carpet or another piece of furniture. This can, of course, lead to some serious injuries that may need professional veterinary attention. Dogs with long nails also have a hard time walking around comfortably.
This is because more pressure is being applied to the nail bed when their nails touch the floor, causing discomfort that forces your dog to shift their weight unnaturally as they walk.
Sharpening Dog Nail Clippers
Like most products, dog nail clippers can become dull over time with repeated use, and will inevitably require sharpening. There are a number of types of dog nail clippers, each with different purposes suited for different dog sizes, but most of them can be sharpened with relative ease.
You will need to start by taking the clippers apart. If your dog nail clippers have an actuating design, ensure that you remove the lever first. This can be done by pressing the two parts of the nail clippers together using something like pliers. Once the pin has been removed, you can separate the blades.
There are a few tools you can use to sharpen your dog nail clippers, such as a grindstone, sharpening stone, or ceramic rod. You can use any of these; it all depends on availability and preference. A good grindstone or flat sharpening stone will do an adequate job most of the time. Clippers do have a lifespan, however, so sharpening may not be a permanent fix.
The more worn out your dog nail clippers are, the more difficult they will be to sharpen, and after a while, you will need to replace them.
After you have separated the blades, you can proceed to sharpen them, then put the clippers back together using the same steps you used to separate them.
How To Trim Your Dog’s Nails
Like we said before, unless you own a dog that runs around on rough surfaces often, you will need to trim their nails every week or so. A good way to gauge whether or not your dog’s nails need to be clipped is if you can hear them tapping when they walk. If you can, they need to be cut.
A lot of dogs do not enjoy having their paws handled, and tend to resist having them touched, so trimming can be quite arduous. Getting them used to having their nails cut and to grooming in general, is essential from an early age.
To start trimming, hold your dog’s foot gently and steadily. Clip off a small piece at the end of each nail. Do not cut any part of the nail that feels spongy. This is known as the quick and provides the blood supply to the nail. If you do end up cutting the quick, you’ll have to deal with a lot of blood very quickly.
You will need a nail cauterizer or a styptic powder that you are able to apply with a cotton swab. Keep a damp cloth handy to clean the powder up as necessary.
Alternative Methods For Trimming
There are several tools available to help you clip your dog’s nails. Conventional dog nail clippers are available in a variety of models, so you will need to find the one that works best for your dog. Be sure to pick out the right size clipper as well – anything too big, and you risk cutting your dog’s quick, and anything too small will not fit around your dog’s nails.
Small dog nail grinders offer a more convenient solution to dog nail trimming, though they do require caution when in use. These grinders have the added benefit of letting you smooth the edges of the nail for a softer finish rather than some of the sharper edges traditional clippers leave behind.
Grinders also reduce the risk of damaging the nail quick, which, as we mentioned before, is something you want to avoid doing. However, you should not hold the grinder to the nail for any length of time, but instead, use a tapping motion to file the nails down gradually.
Final Thoughts
Sharpening your dog nail clippers is not as tricky as it sounds and can make a huge difference in their effectiveness, thus boosting your dog’s health and comfort. Just remember that sharpening your clippers is not a permanent fix, and you will need to replace them eventually.