I now can ‘sand’ Z’s nails with the Dremel. I am doing them more frequently than normal to reduce the length of the quick. Sometimes a do one paw, sometimes two, never four yet. I stopped doing just one as I would forget which one I did
. After the whole process there is much ‘good dog’ praising and ‘tail wagging’ and a half of a cookie.
I have learned a couple of things. The front paws are tougher for a dog that is nervous as their nose and eyes are closer. They can smell the ‘naildust’, see the Dremel. Physically restraining a dog is not the best method; it just makes everyone more nervous and a handler can never be frustrated or nervous. I am fortunate with the fact that I do not have to worry about any behavioral issues to humans <knock on wood>. My ‘knock on wood’ should not be taken to mean I think Z may have aggression issues to humans. I do not, she is a sweet girl. I just often add that in for my own superstition…
What does this process look like? I rely heavily on her other training and IMO this is critical to everything we work on. I use the commands come, sit, down and stay when doing the nails. It is not until Z is down and
somewhat relaxed that I get in position. Even before the process starts the Dremel is on. <IMO> This is not the time to comfort the dog by petting or saying things like "it's OK" and " do not worry". All the dog knows is that she is working on come, sit, down and stay and hopefully learning that nothing bad will ever happen while she is with me.</IMO>
I recently did her front paws. It was about noon, I was headed out to find out why my step mom’s cart only goes in reverse and on a whim, I decided to cut her nails. I am in the living room, I turn on the Dremel and set it on the floor. I call Z, ‘Z… come’… and she comes over. I tell her to sit and she does. Down takes a bit more convincing. I will repeat a command two or three times in a situation like this (but ordinarily I never like to repeat a command). She lays down and I move into position, I am trying to lay on my elbows with an elbow on each side of her and almost no weight on her. I do this and pick up the Dremel and she backs out. I do not try to stop her or restrain her. I set the Dremel down and we start all over. The second time she let me take her paw and almost start; the third time was the charm.
You get to the point when handling the same dog that you know the task at hand is going to happen. The dog may not know that but the handler must. It may take 10 times to start, but this is going to happen, even if it is only one nail. It is also not done until the handler says it is done. If she leaves it must restart, the handler must end it. As stated, this time it took three times before we started sanding. The fact that she comes back, sits, lays down is a huge deal and tells me she is becoming a darn good dog.
Once she is down, we start, if she moves I simply say ‘stay’. If she breaks stay, this is not the time to correct, I just start the whole process over. That day we did both front paws.
My best experience to date was doing her back paws. I was watching TV on the couch, she was lying near my feet. The Dremel is tucked under the end table. I turned on the Dremel and get off the couch to get next to her and she flees, not fast, just nonchalantly walks away like shes getting a drink. I call her, sit, down and this time I give her a light shove on her shoulder and say 'over' (she does not know this command yet). To my amazement she stayed there on her side. I moved in and started sanding; by the time I was done with her two back paws Z almost looked asleep. I looked at my wife who was in the kitchen and said wow, did you see that?
Next we need to get back to dog on dog work… my wife is visiting friends up north, so Z and I will be spending lots of time together…