# The Dremel...it scares me



## AmandaN (Apr 15, 2013)

I want to get a dremel to do Nola's nail with, for a couple reasons. 1) being when I cut her nails they are _razor_ sharp, and 2) being I have essential tremors in my hands which makes (depending on the day) holding the clippers steady enough to avoid quicking her difficult. 

But the dremel scares me!:redface: How safe is it? Safer than clippers? Does it really live up to the hype?


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## Gally (Jan 11, 2012)

They are pretty safe. If you held it against your skin it could burn a bit but I have caught my own skin briefly before and it didn't leave a mark. As long as you follow the instructions it would be hard to hit the quick or cause your dog pain. It's good to keep their paw fur trimmed too as I have heard you could get longer fur caught in the dremel but I've never managed that.


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## WonderBreadDots (Jun 26, 2012)

I Dremel my dog's nails every Wednesday. I use the 60 grit and it takes longer to get the Dremel out and plug it in than it does to do the dog's nails. Takes a few times to get the hang of it but once you do nail trimming is super fast. 

The first time you do it you may only get one nail or paw done, but hang in there, give it a few tries, you will be a pro in no time. The only other thing is not having it going fast enough. The faster the better. Good luck!


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

They're very, very safe. It's effectively impossible to hurt a dog using one of those things on their nails, to be honest. I love mine; it's helped me get my dog's over grown nails under control and their quicks back to reasonable levels.

Bug (the Boston) sleeps through it. The rest don't LOVE it, but they don't mind, either.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Love my dremel. The only challenge with using a dremel in my opinion is getting your dog used to it to start. Depending on how comfortable your dog is with the sound and sensation of the dremel it isn't hard to acclimate them. Once they are comfortable with it it's very quick and easy to do their nails. Personally I have a bigger issue with remembering to charge mine and actually use it than anything else. I still haven't gotten Jubel's nails as short as I'd like simply because I forget to do his nails as often as I should to reduce his quicks. But the actual process of doing his nails only takes a couple minutes and is pain free for both of us.


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## wishiwas (Mar 3, 2008)

The great thing with the dremel is, even if you DO accidentally quick a nail, it will just be a nick of the vein rather than having potentially sliced a good portion of it. So the bleeding is very easy to stop, if it even needs help to stop at all. I use a Dremel Stylus, since I wanted adjustable speed and good power without being bulky. I can't stand the cheap mini mite types, way too slow for me. I could get by with one if I had to on my small dog, but it takes twice as long to do his nails with one.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

I greatly prefer the Dremel and it is very safe, especially if the dog doesn't have long foot hair. I've bumped the spinning sandpaper part against my hand and against the dog's foot before without leaving a mark. No sharp pointy parts, if the dog pulls his foot away it doesn't catch the nail like many nail clippers do and I've never quicked a nail on my dog's black, thick and hard nails.

I couldn't even get a regular nail clipper to clip through his giant claws, let alone do it safely without yanking them or hurting him.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

Shell said:


> I couldn't even get a regular nail clipper to clip through his giant claws, let alone do it safely without yanking them or hurting him.


Very much this!


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## amosmoses89 (Jun 19, 2011)

SO has one of the heavy duty Dremels and I found it to be a bit bulky to maneuver around the toes so I got an extension for it on Ebay for like $15-20 and I loooove it! Its the size of a field mouse and allows me to get in and get their nails done lickety split. 

Sydney could give a rat's behind about having her nails done, I'm touching her so she's happy lol. Chloe gets uncomfortable so we go slow and alternate between the two dogs foot by foot with lots of treats and happy voices and praise. So much better than clippers by a huge amount.


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## ramonapants (Jun 12, 2013)

As a groomer, I LOVE my dremmel--it is a life saver. I find that most dogs prefer the dremmel over clipping because it creates more of a tickling sensation over a pinching sensation which I imagine is rather painful. Although some dogs simply do not tolerate the dremmel most seem to do okay. I will always try to dremmel over trimming no matter what.


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## Maryanna (Jun 14, 2013)

I love my dremel; way better than the Oster dog grinder I have. The dremel I have is one I picked up in a hardware dept for $20-30 and the refills for the grinding wheel are inexpensive. It has two speeds and is quiet. I have more luck getting a dog to let me dremel their nails than clip them, even on ,many dogs who don't care too much for when I have a hair clipper on their bodies. The biggest thing to remember with a dremel is make sure you get any hair on the paw away from the dremel when you're using it, otherwise you can catch the hair in the shaft of the dremel. Also, don't simply put the dremel on the nail and press down; it can get warm which is uncomfortable for the dog. I use small, sliding movements of the dremel across the end of the nail; if the nails are really long I clip them first them dremel the rest. You can hit the quik with a dremel, but I've found it's much less likely to happen with a dremel than you can with a clipper.


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