Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Body Handling Issues - Nail Trimming

With many behavioral issues, we go back to the basic desensitization and counter conditioning "rules."  The "rules" can be found at the link below.


When working with a dog that dislikes having his nails trimmed, we start very slowly and use a very high value treat. Some dogs have learned to snap when a hand comes close to their feet, so we start at a safer spot, such as the shoulder area. If your dog has back-end handling issues, you can do the same steps as below, but start at the shoulder area and work very slowly to the hip area and then down the back leg. If, at any time, you feel unsafe, consult with a professional dog trainer!

Make your dog and yourself comfortable for this, since this should be enjoyable for both of you. A grooming table can be very useful or have the dog lie quietly on the couch while you sit beside him. If you already use a clicker or a marker word, it can be used during desensitization and counter conditioning. Or, you can just give the treat. Each session should be about 5 minutes long and you can do multiple sessions per day, but do not take the next step until the dog is completely comfortable during the current step.

Some dogs have become afraid of the clippers, so having them where the dog can see them can be helpful, but we will not pick them up at first.

Assuming the dog does not mind being touched at the shoulder, start by gently touching and patting the shoulder area. At the same time, click, if using the clicker, then give a treat. Repeat this: touch the shoulder area, click, and then give a treat.

When the dog is happily anticipating your touch at the shoulder area, move your hand to the elbow area. Touch, click and treat.

Here are the next areas: upper leg, ankle, foot. Remember to practice at each area until the dog becomes completely comfortable.

Signs that the dog is not comfortable: panting, lip flicking, tucked tail, shaking, looking away, snapping, or growling. Some other signs include pulling the paw away or running away during the training session. If any of these happen, then you need to back up at least one, if not two steps.

Signs that your dog is comfortable: tail wagging, looking for the treat, offering the paw, begging.

Once your hand is on or near the dog’s foot, try holding the foot gently in your hand for the count of one. Remember that we are still clicking and treating! Slowly build up duration (time) that the dog’s foot is in your hand by working on one second hold, then two second hold, then one second hold, then three second hold and so on.

We are not quite to the clipping stage yet! We still need to part the toes, touch the foot with the clipper, clip the clipper, and then clip the nails. For the first two steps, still click and treat as you do them.

The “clip the clipper” step is an important one. During this step, we will use an old set of clippers and some toothpicks. Every time you clip a toothpick, your dog will get a treat. Do this over and over until he becomes comfortable with the noise. Once comfortable with the noise, clip the toothpick while holding or touching the dog’s foot with your hand (this takes a little practice).

Once the dog is comfortable with the noise, it is time to pair the holding of the paw with the clipping of the clipper. If your dog is easygoing, you could try to clip one nail at this point. When first starting to clip, I give a treat before and after the clip. Two treats for each nail. Once the dog is completely comfortable with being clipped, then I phase out the beginning treats and give one after each nail.

To review the steps: shoulder, elbow, upper leg, ankle, foot, holding foot, parting toes, touch the foot with the clipper, clip the clipper, clip the nails.

To review the rules: do not proceed to the next step until your dog is completely comfortable with the step that you are working on. Some dogs can fly through all of the steps in one session, but this in the exception. Taking a week or more per step is not uncommon.

Body Handling Issues - An Overview


Socialization during puppyhood includes introduction and desensitization to a lot of new things. Most people think of socialization as meeting new people and dogs. It does mean this, but socialization also needs to include getting used to being gently handled (grooming, petting, etc), experiencing many different types of flooring, riding in cars, seeing other animals, and a whole host of other experiences that can help make a puppy confident in his or her environment.

Body handling issues happen when a dog has not been handled enough as a puppy, dislikes being handled in certain areas or has had a bad experience that causes fear of being handled. It can be interesting to speculate why a dog might not like being handled in certain ways, but no matter what the reason, we can help them become more comfortable with being handled.

This series of articles about Body Handling issues will alternate with the Fear Based Behaviors articles during 2012.

Not snowing yet, but we can not wait!