Trimming dog's nails problem?

I have always used guillotine clippers but it doesn’t really matter as long as they are reasonably sharp. Often the end of the nail beyond where the blood vein reaches is brittle and powdery, that is probably what cracked. The vital part of the nail should not crack. If you look at the end of the nail if it is still white and powdery like you are fine and can go a little further, if it looks pinkish and like flesh then you have gone far enough.

If you do go too far and it bleeds, any powder will help it to coagulate, talcum powder, pepper which is a natural coagulant. No biggie really!

My dog is a Pom’ and also has black nails that are very brittle. We’ve taken to using a battery operated dremmel sander (for pets) that he likes better than the trimmers because he doesn’t feel the pressure of a grip, clamp and then the sliding thing that shaves off the nail. I always ended up filing smooth the splits and frays so this eliminates that. Wear a paper mask though because the nail dust grinding off stinks.

Your concern is understandable. Dogs’ black nails make it difficult to judge how far up to cut. I would take the dog to a professional groomer. Our local pet shop has one that we would make appointments with to have it done properly.

Another tip is to walk/run the dogs on concrete or asphalt as much as possible. They get naturally filed down by the hard surface.

I’m with the “sander” options – I use the Pedi Paws thing and it works brilliantly though the nail dust is a bit of a nuisance, it’s better than cutting the quick…that always makes me feel like a bad parent.

One of our dogs has solid black nails and all we dare do is clip off the “hook” on the end. He is the easy one to do. Our lab gets wincy when we do hers so I take her boulder hopping in the mountains and they wear down pretty well climbing on rocks. They get a round contour instead of that straight edgy cut that clippers make.

Thanks for the tips. I’ve clipped his nails many times before with no problems. It is strange that his nail split. I’ll try filing it down to get past the split.

I have tried the Pedi Paws and it did not work for me. It seemed to take forever and my pets were not interested in waiting that long. My black lab has black nails and I notice they can split. Don’t be put off by this, I believe the quick is all you need to be concerned with. The cats nails do the same thing and I notice they tend to do it on there own when scratching etc.