I have a 7 year old min pin. She's as sweet as can be and well-behaved. However, when I or anyone else tries to hold her paw in order to trim her nails, she flips out and starts fighting to get away. She hates having her paws messed with. No matter if I'm trying to clip her nails or wear them down with a nail file, she tries to pull away; I try to hold onto her, but she's got such tiny delicate paws that I can't hold on/pull back too much without fearing that I'm gonna hurt her.
What can I do to make her not fight me on this?
>>2160197
I have toy poodles.
I sit on them to clip their nails.
one leg over the doge's shoulder to hold it down and then clip away.
if they're really feisty I'll wrap them in a towel with only their face and one paw sticking out.
>>2160197
You need to train her to like it. Do you use a clicker? Start slowly, so...
> Touch paw for a second- click and treat
> Hold paw for a second - click and treat
> Touch nail for a second- click and treat
> Hold nail for a second- click and treat
> Get nail scissors out - click and treat if she even looks at them
> Hold nail scissors close- click and treat
> Place nail scissors near paws- click and treat
> Touch nail scissors to paw- click and treat
> Touch nail scissors to nail- click and treat.
And so on... Keep going until she practically wags her tail the moment the nail scissors comes out. You need to associate trimming her nails with good things. Just go slowly, don't expect her to change overnight.
>>2160206
My mother used to have to wrangle my grandmother's dachshund like that to clip her nails.
>>2160279
She's never been trained before, but I'll try that.
Question, though: can pets substitute treats? I know treats probably work best, but she's already a little overweight (we're working on it) and I don't want her to get too chunky off of treats.
>>2160559
Use her dinner then. Give her half her dinner normally and use the rest to train. Or, you could use small chunks of carrot for a treat.
