I have known Angus for ten years of his fourteen years on this earth. He always has and always will hate having his nails trimmed. There has never been a time that he has not whined, yelped, and squirmed while being held down for a trimming. He is a perfect dog except for his completely hysterical overreaction to procedures involving his body. I expected the police to show up the last time I had him outside and was cutting his nails. He was THAT loud.
I trimmed his nails this weekend - they hadn't been trimmed since sometime in April, before he had his first "stroke". So I wrestled him down, minus the usual calming fluid, and began trimming. The first paw went fairly well. I have learned to take small clips, almost shavings, instead of one big clip on each nail. Small clips = much less whining and yelping. The first nail of the other front paw went well, until I clipped down too far and got into the quick. Angus hollered like never before and was bound and determined to get away from me. That's when I noticed the nail bleeding and I burst into tears. Remembering one of many helpful hints I've gathered over the years from dog email lists, I used some styptic powder on the nail and it stopped the bleeding. Angus wasn't too thrilled for me to finish the other paws, but it had to be done. When I let him up, he was quick to scoot as far away from me as possible.
He walked around with a little more spring in his step after the trimming, and I think we've both recovered. Next time, we will both get calming fluid.
