Can anyone recommend a good dog nail clipper?

I have pedi-paws and it works. Maybe she isn’t using it correctly?

The most effective clipper that I’ve worked with is the guillotine style – it makes a clean cut without shredding or crushing the nail. Make sure to replace the blade when dull.

I’ve had limited exposure to the pedipaw, but I understand it’s just a bit of sandpaper on a weak dremmel and most folks are not fond of it. If you want to go the grinder route, I would use an actual dremmel tool. Just be very careful to leave the grinder on the surface of the nail for very brief amounts of time to avoid overheating the nail.

@chyna my mom’s dogs are large, they have very thick nails. My mom said it took forever to get done, and went through a couple of the sandpaper things for each dog. Maybe since my dogs are smaller it could be worth a try.
@syz approximately how long will the blade last before needing sharpening? I have a guillotine style one and I’ve only used it maybe three or four times on my beagle.

You can tell when it’s time….the blade starts to drag, and sometimes compresses the nail (which hurts). I probably don’t change it as often as I should, but I only do it every year or so.

Does it matter which direction the blade comes from? I’ve been going from the up side of the nail down.

It shouldn’t, although I do it the opposite way (only because there’s a natural notch on the bottom of the nail that gives me a starting point).

My dog is too afraid of the sound of the pedi-paw so it was useless for him.. He’s small (6–8ish lb mini pin) and it just freaked him out too much, even after repeatedly trying to get him used to it, so that’s something to think about.

The Pedi-Paw is just a type of Dremel tool. Most professional groomers I know just use the Dremel. Quick, easy, and no bleeding.

i hate the guillotine clippers. but i just bought pedi-paws and i absolutely love it. i have two chihuahuas and one was an abused meth dog and it doesn’t scare her at all. it works great.

I called my mom and asked her to bring the pedi-paws thing over. I’m going to try it out.

If the nail is curled around into the flesh, a scissors type is the only thing that will work. If it is a normal nail then I would suggest guillotine. put your fingers on the nail at the depth you want the blade to go and then slide the clipper back against your fingers, that way you will not cut deeper than you want to go. Then squeeze with authority, if you are squeamish and just squeeze a little bit, it takes too long, the dog gets squirmy and it gets harder.

The end of the nail is soft and powdery inside so you may not be going back far enough.

The dremmel type get hot as blazes so you want to be fast with them or do it with short bursts. Takes too long for me, I would rather just do it and get it over with.

On small dogs like the mini pin, you can use a clipper for cats/small pets. The Guillotine cliper is ok you have to make sure to keep up with the blade when it gets dull it destroys nails. A dremel Is the best thing I use and is great on big dogs if they can stand the noise. Pedi paws sucks!! Also Clippers come in different sizes so for the really big nails there is a large clipper for that.

I should have added, always have something handy to clot the blood in case you go into the vein. There is a specific product called Quik Stop but if you don’t have that baby powder, talc, something like that will do the trick as well.

@elijah Let me know what you think of the pedi paws. I just used it today on my dog. She is used to it, so it’s no problem. I do use it about once a week to keep the nails down.

I tried it today. My dogs weren’t scared of the noise. They were a little nervous but they sat on my lap and patiently let me grind away. It takes hella long, but the nails are smooth. I had a couple issues with my littlest dog because her feet are so tiny it was hard to seperate her toes enough to get the bulky thing in there. Also I’m left handed, and it seems like it works better when you use your right hand. All in all I think it’s a good tool, but it takes a long time.

It does, but once they are where you want them to be, if you do it once a week, they are nice and smooth. They dont get caught in the carpet or scratch the hardwood floors.

i had a hard time with my toy chihuahua too but it was worth it. guillotine freaks her out.

Guillotine freaks me out.

I’ve seen a lot of bad reviews about Pedi paws catching on fire and burning up. Its a cheap knock off without sufficient power to do the job properly. They are 20.00 bucks and if the first one burns out on you and you have to buy a second one, well you wasted 20.00 bucks. Buy a quality product the first time.

I went to Target and for about 40.00 bought a dremel type tool, just not a Dremel brand. It works fantastic! You need something with variable speeds and this does it.

Sometimes I use the guillotine to trim the excess and then use the dremel. My one dog has all black nails and the other hates to have her nails trimmed so they get kinda long between trimmings.

If you use enough pressure and hold the nail firmly to the tip of the Dremel it goes much fast but you still have to be aware of how hot the nail is getting.

A Dremel is what my groomers use also.

Actually mine is called a Peticure and it was 59.00. Didn’t realize there was a difference.