Able still spends most of his time in his ex-pen or out in the garden. One of the benefits of this is that he hasn’t been able to get into and chew up any of my stuff.
Until last week. Turns out he is getting very clever at moving his crate around on the floor by pushing at the bottom of it with his nose. And also very clever at somehow hooking stray objects through the bars -usually a dog toy or the ever-present roll of paper towels (this puppy pees with truly astonishing frequency) … but this time he found a new victim. A victim that I dumped in the corner of the office when I was unpacking some boxes, because it’s 2021 and I don’t actually need an alarm clock any more.
Centre: Several pieces of power cord off an alarm clock.
Right: My poor alarm clock is now officially retired.
The Importance of Nail Trimming
Long toenails increase the risk of arthritis in the toes, and also of the toenail getting caught in something and ripped. Keeping your dog’s nails short is one of the simplest things you can do to help them enjoy a sound, injury-free agility career. Once the quick of the nails grows longer it’s quite difficult to make it recede again, so it’s best to start with frequent nail trimming while your puppy is very young.
Personally I find nail trimming a bit stressful and I tend to put it off. I need my dogs to be very cooperative so that I can do their feet once a week and not turn it into a Big Deal.
There’s some great resources on the internet about how to trim your dog’s nails – particularly on Susan Garrett’s blog and the Nail Maintenance for Dogs Facebook library.
Able’s Daily Torture Sessions
My worst challenge with Able over the past few weeks has been trying to prepare him for nail trimming. This is the first time I’ve had to introduce a puppy to nail trimming while living alone, so I need to put in some work to get him to lie still for long enough for me to actually do it. I thought lying flat on his side would be the easiest position for me to do this, so a few weeks ago I started trying to build a short flat-on-side stay behaviour.
Alas, getting Able flat on his side proved to be very, very, very difficult. Any attempt to gently roll him over would lead to several minutes of frantic puppy struggling, and leave my arms covered in scratches. And as his nails grew longer, the scratches started bleeding.
I decided I had to get serious about this a couple of weeks ago, and we have been working on Able’s nail behaviour every single day. At this stage I have never even tried to come near him with the clippers – the only trims he’s had are at agility shows, where I could distract him while a friend did them.
I had a suspicion that all the tooth-and-claw theatrics were Able’s way of trying to play-wrestle with me, rather than because he was genuinely afraid. I tested this by seeing what would happen if I let go of him and ignored him briefly after every time he started kicking up a fuss. A scared puppy would use this opportunity to escape, and would increase the behaviour of scratching and biting on further attempts (because it was “working” to get them out of the situation). A frustrated playful puppy would hover hopefully near his owner, and his antics would reduce because he wasn’t getting what he wanted – play and attention from his owner.
Every day for the past two weeks I’ve sat down on the living room floor with a tuggy and my puppy’s lunch to work on this. I started with small approximations of what I wanted – could I get the puppy to lie still at all – and worked up to pushing him over onto one hip, and finally getting him to lie flat on his side. Once he’s in position I feed him several food rewards (trying to slowly build the duration that he lies before a treat), and then we tug for a bit so that Able can get what he really wants – some rough and tumble play.
The first couple of days were very rough, and the first minute or two always involves some puppy chaos, but I’ve been making good progress. This week I’ve focused on shaping him to lie flat on his side with his head on the ground, clicking at first for any head contact, and then increasing the duration that he can hold this position. He will now lie still long enough for me to pick his foot up and squeeze all of his toes out like I’m about to trim them, if I pop a reward into his mouth after each toe.
Next week I am going to actually trim Able’s nails solo for the first time – one paw per day, at the end of these sessions when he is calm enough. Fingers crossed it is a positive experience for both of us!