Many dog owners are often anxious about how to cut black dog nails safely or how to cut puppy nails stress-free because they are apprehensive about cutting into the quick.

However, with careful cutting and adequate preparation, the nail clipping activity can be simple and stress-free for you as well as your dog.

Trimming your dog’s nails is important because it not only makes the dog look better, but it also helps prevent any breaking of the nails, which can be a painful experience and can quickly lead to serious infections.  Keeping your dog’s nails very long can also change the way she walks and can also lead to severe joint and bone issues.

Choosing the right dog trimmers is also so important. I will also share with you features that the best dog nail clippers should have when clipping your dog’s nails at home.

Here are some important tips for trimming dog’s nails that are too long:

1. Learn How To Properly Clip Nails First

Before diving straight in and clipping your dog’s nails, it is important you learn how to properly perform the task. Basically, if you clip nails too short, they will bleed. Therefore, it’s important to avoid accidents that might injure your dog in the process.  The diagram below thoroughly explains the correct angle and depth when trimming your dog’s nails yourself.

If your dog has never had her nails trimmed, slowly get her used to having her feet handled first. You can sit with her for a few minutes and just gently rub her legs and feet. When you realize your dog is comfortable with you gently touching and handling her feet, start moving the clippers to her nails.

It is very important that you use treats to keep your dog comfortable during the nail clipping process and give her a lot of praise.

3. Spread Your Dog’s Feet To Check For Dirt And Debris

You can do this by holding your dog in place and placing your arms and upper body over her while you clip the nails. When clipping the front nails, make sure to hold your forearm over your dog’s neck so as to prevent her from lifting her head. If your dog remains nervous or jumpy, simply lay her on her side and gently hold her down.

4. Choose A Quality Dog Nail Trimmer

You have a variety of options to choose from when looking for the best dog nail trimmer. Using inferior clippers may result in unclean cuts and pain for your dog and for this reason should be avoided.

The most common types of dog trimmers are like a pair of scissors and normally work in a similar manner. You then place the dog’s nail in between the blades and jointly grip the two handles.

The other type is a guillotine-style with a small gap where the nail is placed. If you grip the handles, the blade will slide up and cut the nail.

These dog trimmers are the number 1 bestseller and feature a safety guard and also a nail file to smooth out the nail after cutting.

5. Firmly But Gently Grasp Your Dog’s Leg In Your Hand

You need to do this in a good position that easily lets your hand face the same direction as the paw, typically towards the front side of your pet. Wrap your fingers softly under the pads; using the thumb to soothe along the paw that you’re working on. This usually works perfectly for front paws.

6. Carefully Check The Shape Of The Nail

The base of the dog’s nail is straight until it curves nearer to the nail tip.

7. Start Carefully Tipping Your Dog’s Nails

Gently hold the digit you want to trim and carefully cut a thin shave off the tip of the pet’s nail. Always make sure you do it in the day time or have a bright light behind you. This enables you to get closer to the quick without causing the nail to bleed. Remove the nail slices until you start seeing an oval-like figure on the cut surface or until you reach the desired length. At this point, you can stop cutting because you’re almost too close to the quick.

8. File The Nails

Once the nails are trimmed they obviously become rough along the edges. Use a file or an emery board to smooth out the nail edges after cutting them.  This dog trimmer includes a nail file.

9. Stop Any Bleeding

Accidents can occur when trimming nails and it’s important to stop dog nail bleeding as soon as you can. Once again, preparation is the key and it’s highly recommended that you have ​Nail-Safe Styptic Powder on hand for this purpose. Simply press the styptic powder on the nail until the bleeding dog nail completely stops. In most cases, you will have to continue pressing this powder onto the wounded nail for a couple of minutes. However, with some steady pressure, you will stop the bleeding quickly.

10. Be Sure To Reward Your Dog When The Job’s Done

Make sure you make a big fuss of your dog after you have trimmed their nails and reward them accordingly with a treat of some kind and some loving praise.