Give me back my paws

*Phenomenon: Dog lovers often like to greet their dogs in the human way, that is, shaking hands. But perhaps the more attentive have noticed that when you shake the bottom of a dog’s paw, there is most often little reaction; when you touch the top of the paw, it may flinch; if you break the dog’s toe seam, it will very clearly express its desire to be left alone for a while. This habit would not otherwise cause conflict, except when trimming toenails.

*Reason: Dogs have very tough foot pads, the tissue on the bottom is 1/4 inch thick, but the top and between the toes are covered with nerve ends that are very sensitive and therefore do not like to be fiddled with.

   

Countermeasures.

1. Place your dog on a higher platform, such as the lid of a washing machine, when clipping toenails. The slippery appearance makes the dog have to struggle to hold on to its body balance and cannot concentrate on fighting you.

2. If your dog can accept strangers, please do so after training strangers. The stranger’s coming and the change of environment will make it impossible to presume its purpose in confusion, easier to give up self-defense and accept the management.

3. Touch your dog’s paws frequently during its early years so that it changes its sense of paw maintenance as soon as possible.

4. usually put the clippers in the dog’s reach, rather than planning to trim the day before taking them out. Let the dog have the opportunity to approach this mysterious guy and gradually end the fear of clippers.

If cutting toenails is a painful disaster for your dog, just cut one paw a week instead of forcing him to trim four at a time.