[ajbrown]

Kind words, thank you. Do not let my posts lead you to believe I am a dog trainer. I have read TOTV for years, there are many folks out here better than I.

I am OK at little stuff, e.g., come, heel, stay, etc., but pretty clueless with behavioral issues. I have learned quite a bit by how Cesar is around dogs, the way he stays calm and never gives up until the dog is calm... There are times I feel like I have no idea what to do...

Z's current challenge. Alan must cut her nails. For a 55 pound dog, she is like a slippery pig. I imagine she is, I have never held a slippery pig. If you try to hold her down and touch her nails, she will wriggle, try to get up, slip out from under you. She could be an all-state wrestler, I mean if they had dog wrestling. She is obviously scared of something.

I have never dealt with this. With past dogs, I said lay down, I put a little weight on them, enough so they could not pull away their paws and I 'Dremel'd' their nails. Caly would almost fall asleep. The Dremel was great. I used to use clippers, but no matter how I tried I would cut too much on one of them and then we had a bleeder ...

Z must not trust me enough, or I am not relaxed enough, or she is just too afraid. I can put her on her side and make her stay and pat her, I am working to be able to hold her there using some of my weight. This is progressing well. As soon as I touch a nail, we are back to slippery pig…

In addition I have started to make her stay near me while I touch her nails. Even using my fingernail to simulate a cut noise. This requires me holding her collar so she cannot flee. As we are just starting this whole session lasts a minute or so.

This could be a multi week process and I hope I am up for it.

Will let you know…