7 month old afraid of nail clippers

[kelll06]

I have a 7 month old female who is completely terrified of getting her nails trimmed. The second she spots the nail clippers she starts to back away and look for a way out. I've tried bribing her with food, treats, peanut butter, etc. I'm only ever able to get a few claws trimmed before she decides these treats aren't worth it and freaks out. She will pull away, bite, growel, whine, etc. Does anyone have any ideas of how to calm her down and let her realize she is ok and not going to be hurt? Also, she is terrified of her brush as well. I promise I never hit her with either or did anything to make her think she was in trouble with them.

[Samson]

It sounds as though you have tried to do too much at once !

Start again with the treats and don't expect to do even one nail. Get her used to standing by the clippers to regain her confidence and don't rush it. When you have her confidence with the clipper then try one claw and don't forget lots and lots of praise then leave it for the day.

Exactly the same with the brush ! Let her sleep with it when you are in the room with her ( wouldn't want it chewed ) Brush her with your hands for a while and then replace your hand with the brush without her seeing it !

Slowly slowly regain her confidence - lots of patience required !

[HersheyK's Dad]

Similar to above, be happy with one nail a day for a couple weeks, then maybe 2 a day, then maybe one paw per day.

Have you ever cut into the quick? That hurts.

You could try a Dremel type tool,but I found I had to hold the nail behind the tip near the toe, to kill the vibration or that would get her going.

[BauersMom]

I agree with Colin, go slow and don't expect too much.

Bauer used to be fine with nail clipping, then all of a sudden (with no reason that I can come up with) he was terrified. I never cut him and I never hurt him (that I know of). He is now fine with nail clipping again, but it took a lot of work. I put his cone on him (for some reason he is a lot more submissive when wearing the cone), I spread a thin layer of peanut butter on a plate, and let him start licking the peanut butter, then I start clipping. The first time I did one nail, praised him like there was no tomorrow, and let him finish the peanut butter. The next day I did the same thing, one nail and didn't even try for another, heaped on the praise again. I repeated this daily until all nails were clipped. Then I started doing 2 nails at a time, but that's it. I never pushed him to the point that he was upset. Now I can do them all at once, but I think the important thing was never letting him get upset.

Bauer doesn't mind getting brushed, actually he loves it. With a regular brush he will let me brush him, but eventually walks away. With the Zoom Groom he will lay there and let me brush him until my arm falls off and he is sound asleep. Have you tried a Zoom Groom? It is made of rubber so it doesn't have the potential to hurt them like traditional brushes might.

Good luck!!

[kelll06]

When she was very little I did get too close and cut the quick on one of he toes. I felt horrible for her. Thanks all of you for your suggestions. I will be trying them and hopefully she'll calm back down.