Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

By Jennifer Herne, LVT

Most dog owners know when their dogs need grooming. But did you know that trimming your dog's nails is just as important? Most people wait until nails become a problem for them and for the dog before getting them trimmed. Dog's nails continuously grow; the domesticated dog isn't out in the wild running over various terrains, which would naturally cause the nails to wear down. Instead, most of our dogs are living in the lap of luxury. Our dogs walk on tile or laminate floors. These surfaces don't provide any wearing down of nails. This can lead to overgrowth of the nails, in some cases the nail grows and curls back around and imbeds itself into the pad of the dog's foot. This can make walking for your dog awkward and extremely painful and can even cause and infection and/or bleeding of the pad in extreme cases.

How do you know if the nails need trimming? Well, if you have floors other than carpeting you can hear the nails clicking on the floor. In the cases of carpeting, the nails can get stuck and even rip right off, causing bleeding and pain. If you don't think you can trim your dog's nails or aren't sure if they need it, we would be happy to see your dog and give you our recommendation. If nails are very long, we will put you on a schedule to get those nails as short as possible and then you will only need to have maintenance of the nails which ranges from 3-5 weeks, depending on how much your dog wears the nails down. We also have a nail trim club card. If you purchase 5 nail trims you get the 6th one FREE! The more you trim the nails of your dog, the easier it gets. It is also a time for your dog to visit people and get a free treat from us!