# Dog Behavior Change After Nail Clipping



## clintz8794 (Apr 11, 2011)

I have a corgi, and we've had his nails clipped before so it was nothing new to him. But 3 days ago we had his nails clipped. It had been awhile so they were long and i'm sure it hurt. But now he seems scared of us, he yelps when we walk close to him, and he won't even go outside to go to the bathroom(we have stairs he has to go up and down) this is nothing like he's ever been before. They said his paws would be sore, but he lets me pick them up and rub them without a sound. Help? Any reason why this would happen?


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Did they cut right through the quick and let it bleed? That's the only thing I can think of that would be sore after a trimming. When a dog's nails are allowed to grow long, the quick (nerve/blood vessel) also gets longer so you can only trim the tip of the nail and to shorten it you have to gradually let it recede by trimming the tip frequently.

Otherwise I don't know what would be causing pain, but I would call up your vet and ask about it. A dramatic change in behavior can indicate a health problem. I might also ask the groomer if anything happened while he was there that he might have found traumatic.


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## JessCowgirl88 (Mar 15, 2011)

I think Kafka's idea is a good one. I would say it sounds like they cut through the quick  Big hugs for your corgi!


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

JessCowgirl88 said:


> I think Kafka's idea is a good one. I would say it sounds like they cut through the quick


If they did I would be really upset with the groomer. That is NOT how a dog's nails should be trimmed, especially without anasthesia or antibiotics. But I guess it wasn't mentioned in the OP where the nails were trimmed at, so maybe it was at the vet? If you can give us some more information about the situation would can probably provide more help.


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## JessCowgirl88 (Mar 15, 2011)

me too  i could only imagine what that feel like makes my skin crawl thinking about it  poor guy. ah yeah could of been i know a local vet office here has grooming as well. I hope the poor guy is ok  yeah more info would help  though i just hope the poor guy is ok, the pain must be esh i cant even imagine the pain 

i would take him to the vet to have him checked  at least thats me, though im a worry wort when it comes to my pets and my son


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## clintz8794 (Apr 11, 2011)

i looked again at his nails after i read this. And it looks like that could be a BIG possiblity. How can i make him more comfortable? I feel so horrible cause its my fault for letting his nails grow so much! =[


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

clintz8794 said:


> i looked again at his nails after i read this. And it looks like that could be a BIG possiblity. How can i make him more comfortable? I feel so horrible cause its my fault for letting his nails grow so much! =[


Did you have them trimmed at the vet's or a groomer? And what do they look like that makes you think they cut the quick? Can you post a picture?


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## Active Dog (Jan 18, 2010)

Personally I don't feel its your fault at all. All groomers and most vet techs should know that cutting through the quick is very painful and unnecessary. Poor little guy I am sure with time he will warm back up, but I would either cut the nails myself or have someone who can be very careful when they do it and make it a good experience. 

Pictures would be very helpful =)


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## clintz8794 (Apr 11, 2011)

I added some pictures. not sure if they're any help. but it was the best i could get. taking pictures of nails isn't very easy!

the red dots are what makes me think they cut the quick. there are a few nails that don't have it, but the ones that were the longest are the ones that have the red dot on the end..


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## Purplex15 (May 28, 2007)

First off, i want to stress that normal, routine nail trims should NOT make your dogs feet sore. The first thing i thought when reading your thread was that they cut the quiks. I have never had to tell a client that their dog's feet would be sore from a nail trim. The only time the quik should be intentionally cut is when the dog is under anesthesia, under the care of a vet. not only that, but I have never quicked a dog and his nail look like what your dogs look like. When trimmed normally, there should be white dot in the middle of the nail (this is actually how you find a good stopping point on black nails). that white dot is replaced by red one on your dog. there is no reason for a groomer (at least an experienced one) to quik more than one nail, and it shouldnt be bad enough to see a red dot. if you arent sure there the quik end, then you take a little off at a time, so if you do end up getting the quik, you cut the end of it and cause as little discomfort to the dog as possible. 

If this was just a groomer you took the dog to, i would be LIVID. the pic you posted reminded me of a girl who worked in a daycare with me who had worked for a groomer. she claimed to have experience and all that. when i told her to do a golden's nails, it seemed to be taking her a long time, when i went over to check on her, i realized she had quiked every single nail she had done so far (which was only about 7). by the time the bleeding had stopped and the dog was done and dried, the tips of the nials had a red dot in the middle and actually kept opening up when she walked on hard groung (we had to send her home with quik stop).

Unfortunatly, there isnt much you can do to help the discomfort, except wait for the nail tips to grow out a little. hard ground will be the most uncomfortable for him (cement and asphault especially). you could probably fashion some type of padding for his feet for walks and such, like wrapping his foot in vet wrap. expect for them to possibly start bleeding, and to stop the bleeding you can use some corn starch and a cloth. 

i hope you call and figure out what happened, b/c what you described this person telliong you is not normal.


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

From your pictures and the description it does sound like the cut the quick. But in NO WAY is this your fault, because it is NOT normal practice to just cut right through the quick even if the nails are extremely long. I would go back and complain to them--who knows, maybe the person was new and their manager doesn't know they did this and they need to be taught the right way so they don't hurt any other dogs. If you don't get a very good explanation I would never return to that groomer/vet, whichever it was that did your dog's nails this time.


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## clintz8794 (Apr 11, 2011)

Thank you guys SO SO SO MUCH. this has helped me feel much better knowing it wasn't my fault. and i'm making sure to go in and tell them they messed up. again THANK YOU!


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## Geezer (Mar 29, 2007)

One thing you should also be aware of is that when the nails are clipped, groomers also often use clippers to trim the hair that grows between the pads. I have a very small battery-driven set of clippers for doing this myself, but sometimes big industrial clippers are used everywhere by impatient groomers. These can cause injury to these sensitive areas and one needs to be very careful when doing this. Perhaps you should check for cuts and scrapes (if your Corgi will let you).


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

Accidently cutting the quick happens. espeacially in dogs not used to having their nails trimed, such as your dog. If it was done on purpose, id be mad. but i doubt it was. I have cut many quicks on dogs. they move so quick sometimes, that the nail slips. Sometimes the quick looks much shorter then it really is.

Id suggest start working with your dog, and start cutting his nails more often. Dogs who have to have long nails, can and do get many joint issues due to the strain on the toes with long nails.



Geezer said:


> One thing you should also be aware of is that when the nails are clipped, groomers also often use clippers to trim the hair that grows between the pads. I have a very small battery-driven set of clippers for doing this myself, but sometimes big industrial clippers are used everywhere by impatient groomers. These can cause injury to these sensitive areas and one needs to be very careful when doing this. Perhaps you should check for cuts and scrapes (if your Corgi will let you).


 You can tell the dog never had clippers on his feet. they are very hair. if they used clippers on them, all the tuffs between his paw pads would be gone


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## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Tankstar said:


> Accidently cutting the quick happens. espeacially in dogs not used to having their nails trimed, such as your dog. If it was done on purpose, id be mad. but i doubt it was. I have cut many quicks on dogs. they move so quick sometimes, that the nail slips. Sometimes the quick looks much shorter then it really is.


Not saying this isn't true, but what gets me is it seems like EVERY single nail was quicked. You'd think if they started accidentally knicking the quick they would start to get more careful and only a couple would be like that. To me it looks like they decided to cut ALL of the nails the same length regardless of where the quick was.

But I do agree that acclimation to trimming and trimming more often will help in the future, once the dog starts feeling better. And btw, OP, how is he now that some time has passed?


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## amberly (Feb 6, 2011)

Did you take him to the vet or groomer?
If you took him to the vet they may have chopped them all! Which a lot of times results in a dog not letting anyone touch their lil toes with ease afterwards because of the pain even if meds are given. since you stated he hasn't been in for a bit if they were long and you did go to the vet they'd sadly some will chop them. otherwise you can take him in routinely if they get long and slowly get em back to a good length.
if you didn't take him to the vet, than you may have had a poor groomer who quicked way to many of his nails if he doesn't let you touch his feet which def shouldn't be the case. a dog may not like nail trims but usally they don't act like that towards their owners after because it shouldn't hurt or hurt at all to that point. you should call whoever did it and ask questions about what happened. it should be kept on some sorta record and they can ask the individual what they did to your dog and they should be truthful.
it'll def help you with figureing it all out.


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