Claws & Paws: Top Nail Trimming Tips - Ep15

In this episode of the Bulldog Broadcast, we discover why keeping your Bulldog's nails short is vital to their overall health and well-being. We delve into:

• The Importance of Nail Care: This is a crucial aspect of Bulldog ownership. Learn why short nails are a hallmark of good Bulldog ownership, enhancing your dog's natural movement and preventing injuries. Discover the connection between nail length and foot health and why it matters for your Bulldog's posture and mobility.
• First Aid Tips for Broken Dewclaws: Get practical advice on handling nail trauma, especially broken dewclaws, with simple first aid techniques. This will ensure your Bulldog heals safely and comfortably, reassuring you that you're prepared for any situation.
• Creating a Positive Nail Care Routine: Understand the best methods to make nail trimming a stress-free experience for your Bulldog. Sara shares step-by-step guidance on introducing puppies to nail clipping and using tools like pet dremels for effective maintenance.

Join Sara as she navigates the complexities of Bulldog care, offering insights beyond the typical breed standards. Learn how to provide the best possible care for your Bulldog. Visit BulldogBroadcast.com for show notes, community discussions, and additional resources.

📝 Click to read Show Notes

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Ever wondered why keeping your Bulldog nails short is so crucial? In today's episode, we uncover why nails are the hallmark of good, caring ownership and how they enhance your dog's natural movement. Join me as I share tips for dealing with broken dewclaws, preventing injuries, and maintaining proper foot hygiene to avoid issues like interdigital cysts. Discover how to make nail trimming a fun, stress free experience for your Bulldog. Welcome to the Bulldog Broadcast, the Pure Talk Pedigree podcast. Join me Sara Lamont as we delve beyond the pedigree, propaganda and misinformation surrounding the beloved Bulldog breed. Together, we'll uncover the real life realities of Bulldogs, sharing insights with admirers, owners and breeders worldwide. In this episode, we are talking all about Bulldog fate. So once again, I'm going to read directly from the breed standard. And as I said, the breed standard is the blueprint of what a Bulldog should look like. So the breed standard states four feet straight and turning slightly outwards of medium size and moderately round hind feet should be round and compact. Toes compact and thick, well split up, making knuckles prominent and high. What is that ultimately saying? Front feet are allowed to turn slightly outwards. You'll see some dogs are dead straight some, but if the feet do turn out slightly outwards, that's a natural position, so that's fine. But we don't want Queen Anne where they're like, is it 10 to 2? And then they've got curvy forearms as well where their bone isn't straight. They should be of medium size.

[00:01:50] There shouldn't be big and they shouldn't be small. They should be appropriately sized and they should be round in shape. They should be compact and high knuckled. You kind of think if you were to clench your fist, you can see your knuckles. So that's kind of like the compactness and even actually where it says about split up, like that's where the toe should be well defined. But there'd be like short tidy toes and well knuckle. So you can see the actual knuckle joints of the toes. They're prominent and high. So basically you don't want a long flat foot. You want a nice compact, almost like a cat like compact foot. I mean, that's all well and good for a show dog, isn't it? But if you haven't got a show dog, what does it really matter? Well, there are issues of not keeping the foot as well maintained as you should. And so if your dog maybe doesn't have like, I don't know, maybe they do have slightly longer nails because they're slightly weaker in their pasterns, which is basically their wrists. So maybe they're not as straight up on them. They're a bit flexed on that. So it means their feet are a little bit longer, which means their nails are a little bit longer. It doesn't mean that you just go, well that's fine. They've got long nails. You should still try and keep their nails short because ultimately that's a better foot health for them. So what's the benefits of keeping particularly nails? I'm going to concentrate on nails, not just feet now.

[00:03:18] What's the benefits of keeping them well maintained and short? So one, they look good. It looks like you care for your dog, doesn't it? So seeing a well groomed, no different to women nowadays with all the fancy nails and stuff, it it shows that they've got pride in them. They've invested in their nails as a reflection of the care that they give themselves. Isn't it so in the presentation for themselves, I think animals are no different, and you can always spot a neglected animal a mile away because they will have long nails, curly nails, dirty nails. So if you want to give a good impression of your dog, keep the nails short. Having short nails means that the dog can move freely and naturally. So you think the longer your nails and you only have to see. I remember when I was younger, like the world's. What's the Guinness Book of Records? And had the photo of the woman on there with the longest nails, and they're all really thick and it gives me the ick personally. But were these really long nails that all curl over and they're all twisty and stuff? Well, that's all well and cool if you like long nails, but she ain't moving freely or naturally anywhere, is she? Like, I suppose she's got hand cramp by holding them in a certain position. She's not making no beds. She's not making a cup of tea.

[00:04:31] I don't even know how she eats, to be fair. So, realistically, it's all well and good. If long nails are desirable, it will impinge you at some point. And I think even nowadays, with all the acrylics and all that kind of stuff, I know nothing about nails, so I have to be really careful. I'm not a nail person, you know. You'll see women opening a can of coke with like a spoon or a knife, or they're altering or even the way that they type on a keyboard. They won't use the tips of their fingers. They're literally like using the pad bits further back because they know they're going to do their nails in. So they're they're not moving naturally and freely. They're already altering something that they do to accommodate for the fact that they've got long nails. And dogs will do that naturally because they have no choice if they've got long nails. So the shorter you keep their nails, the more likelihood that they're going to be able to move freely and naturally, and hopefully you'll keep them prevented your from injury, any potential injury. So having short nails also reduces pain. So like I said, having long nails. Just think like if you had trying to stand up and your feet can't sit as flat as they should. So that's going to travel back into the nail bed isn't it. That's also then going to impact the foot. It's going to impact the posture of how they hold them.

[00:05:52] And then it's going to impact the leg alignment. And, you know, to the point where I've seen curly nails growing into nail beds, I mean, that must be so painful. It's beyond belief. You're less likely to have injury because they're not going to get caught on stuff and split on stuff, and that could be really easy. Even a dog with a dewclaw, which is the little shorter one up their leg. Some dogs are naturally keep their nails short because of the surfaces that they're walking on. So, for instance, if you've got a dog that exercises on concrete or pavement quite a lot, the majority of their nails will probably be kept quite short. However, their dewclaws because they never actually touch any surfaces, they can grow quite long. And ultimately what that means is they can catch on things. Some breeds they remove the dewclaws because they would be out working and they would just catch on stuff and cause injury and trauma. For the majority of us, we don't need to be removing dewclaws, but we should be keeping them as short as possible to prevent injury. And I've had it in Bulldogs and other breeds where they do split, they catch them, they rip them, they split and they start bleeding. Now the best thing to do, if you do ever have that, the dog will be really super sensitive, especially when you see like the whole nails being ripped off. And it's just this exposed like stump of a bed bit and it's all a bit grim.

[00:07:09] And but what you don't want them is constantly licking at it and interfering with it. What you should do is, and this is where it's good to have a first animal first aid kit, lift up that dewclaw and pad behind it. So just put some like cotton swabbing behind it. Then equally put some cotton swabbing over the top of it. Obviously make sure it's clean and tidy and then literally bandage it down. So bandage it to the leg even if it's broken and half hanging off. Because ultimately what it'll do eventually just die and disconnect. And then when you take the bandage off, a is not as sensitive because it's already started healing and why it was bandaged up, they're not going to catch on anything. You've kept it just like a secure, safe feeling and they know they're not going to catch it. And so when you take it off then it's all like half dead and whatnot anyway. And then the sensitivity is gone. So then it's time to air it and let it do its thing naturally so you can monitor it. But on a first initial broken dewclaw, I'd always say pad it from behind, then pad it over the top and then just bandage it to a leg. And even if you leave it like that for 24 hours, that is a better way of treating it than leaving it be or it bleeding non-stop. So that's my little advice there on a bit of first aid trauma nail trauma.

[00:08:23] Obviously, long dogs on a nail can cause trauma to owners, so then jumping out and scraping all the way down your legs, or even if you've got other animals and they're playing with them and they're catching them all the time, it's just not really fair for you to be a victim or guests your house, to be a victim of your dog's long nails. And then finally, I would say just from a hygiene point of view, and particularly which I'm sure we'll cover in another episode, but bulldogs are prone to interdigital cysts. This is where they get sort of abscess between their toes. A lot of the time. That's because that the muck has acquired accumulated in their pads hasn't been cleaned out, and then that triggers into an abscess. So obviously having. Poor foot hygiene by having long nails that are going to harbour bacteria, you're increasing the risk of associated infections and problems. So again, that's another reason to keep nails nice and short. Now what is the best way of keeping nails short. So I've already said depending on where you're exercising your dog, if you're if you're a regular on soft areas. So grass for instance or sand or whatever, you're generally not going to file the nails down naturally because there's no resistance. So if you were to road walk your dog so, which I think a majority of Bulldogs are, does depend on their movement and their conformation to how they move.

[00:09:49] They tend to fold down or say their middle nails of their front paws. So generally it's only the outer ones that might need trimming. If you're road walking. As I said, it does depend on the shape of the paw if they've got longer toes or weaker pasterns which is like their wrists, then they're more likely to have longer nails, and you then are more likely to be looking after the nails more. Basically, then a dog that has a more correct compact foot that generally is going to look after itself a little bit longer and better. Like I said, it depends on the surfaces. Outer nails will probably still need doing dewclaws are always going to need doing. Bulldogs generally don't have back dewclaws as only a few breeds. I think I've come across that, but front dewclaws they do have and they will need. Maintaining what you want to do is start your puppy socialisation plan. You should be introducing them to nail clipping. When you get your puppy eight weeks from the breeder, you should be able to use standard toenail clippers like even if you buy the biggest chunkiest one, they will work for a significant amount of time I reckon until your pup's probably nearly three and a half four months, a toenail clipper would be fine. And so routinely. And I think this is what you got to remember. It's little and often don't think right. We need to trim the nails.

[00:11:03] We need to get all. I had this debate before didn't I? Should have counted. How many nails have they got? Ten. 20, maybe 22, I don't know, maybe 18, I don't know whatever that you then you basically don't think we have to get through all of these nails in one session, because that's when you're going to traumatise the dog. You need to remember to make it fun, enjoyable, light-hearted if it's part of your puppy socialisation, it should start with and it depends what routine you're taking. But if you're starting off with the toenail clippers and obviously have them on your lap, you know, give them a little bit first and all you're doing is just taking off the edges, even if they're too long for what you like. Little is better than more because if you catch the quick, then that's going to hurt the dog. And then they're not going to want to get near you, and then you're going to not want to be trimming their nails again. Always just take off less and do it more frequently. Then try and leave it. They get really long, hack them back, and then you're hacking off quicks and you can't get near the dog ever again. Make sure you treat them. Reward them after every time they've let you do something that you've needed to do. So even if you're not nail trimming as a puppy, just stopping them looking in their eyes, you know, they literally could just be walking past you.

[00:12:19] I just stopped mine. I look in their eyes, I look in their mouth, look in their ears. I touched all their paws and give them a treat and off they go again. If they just get used to being handled that way, then when it comes to nail trimming time, it's not going to be such a horrendous experience. Now, most people, if you're doing toenail clippers, then you'd naturally move on to pet guillotine clippers. Now, I'm not a massive fan of these, but the cheap and cheerful they do the job, and if you've done your socialisation good enough, then it shouldn't be a problem. My preference is actually to use a nail file, and I don't mean an old school emery board though. You can buy those for dogs and they would do the trick. So I prefer to use a powered file such as a pet dremel. Whether the file like a little dish just spins around, and then you just got to make contact with the nail and then obviously it's going to file it down. The pet dremels are quieter than a standard Dremel, but it's still a powered tool. So if that's the route you plan to go down, which I like because you can literally shape the nail, then you need to warm the puppy up to that. So that means you need to turn it on while they're in the room and just turn it off. I don't know, do that for a week, and then the next time you're going to turn on, you're going to show them it, and they can have a sniff and a look at it and whatnot, turn it off, give them a treat.

[00:13:35] And then the next time you're going to rub it on their body so they oh it vibrates. But that's fine. Like give them a treat. And then the next time you then actually probably gonna point it in the direction of a paw, maybe make contact with one nail and that's it. Give them a treat. And then you've got to slowly build up to it. So it could take like six weeks to get to a point where you can sit and trim nails in a half sensible fashion. But trust me, if you can nail that, the whole nail filing future will be easy peasy. I've got one dog here. As soon as she hears that dremel, she comes running more because she wants me to rub it all over her body because she obviously just likes that. But it does mean that I can get her nails done and she gets a treat afterwards. Easy peasy. She is a sound sensitive one because for whatever reason, if she hears you change the loo roll holder, she'll come running because I used to give her the inside cardboard bit until one day you went all claggy. She choked on it. Nope, we're not doing that anymore. But still, nearly two years later, if she hears the toilet roll being changed, she'll come run in and for whatever reason, she hears tin foil.

[00:14:40] She'll come running because I don't know, she thinks of me in it or something or other. She has all these weird connections to sounds, so it's quite easy to build that connection in a positive light. Like I say, she always comes running in. She thinks she's going to get something Positive from it. Bulldogs are sound sensitive, so I think these stages you probably need to take slower than some breeds, but in the long run it will be an absolute game changer. So hopefully you understand the importance of nails on dogs, the importance of keeping them short. You know how to deal with a split dewclaw you know my preferred methods of keeping nails short and the time scale that it takes to build up that confidence. So that's it. I'm done for another week. Again, if there's stuff that I'm missing or issues or points that you want me to cover that I haven't, then you need to come into the community and you need to tell me otherwise. I'm just going to keep going on with the list that I've got, which is huge list. But if you want me to head in a different direction, then you need to give me a heads up on what that might be. All right then, have a good week. Bye. Before you leave, make sure to visit BulldogBroadcast.com for immediate access to the show notes, community forum recommendations and episode extras.