# Dremel vs clippers



## BostonDan (Dec 29, 2014)

Are there advantages/disadvantages to using Dremel over clippers and vice versa?


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## Hector4 (Sep 16, 2013)

Depends on the dog and the person using it:

Dremel pros that I know: harder to quick the dog so you can grind more of the nail off and do this more often than using clippers, speed (some claim it is faster than clippers), easier to shape the nail, some dogs are more accepting of dremel than clippers

cons: can catch on toes with long fur, a lot of dogs are bothered by the noise/vibration, you can burn the dog if you leave it on nail for too long, nail dust, some cheap ones are very weak = taking longer to do nails, it is a power tool, pricey

Clippers pros: for me it's very fast and easy, no buzzing/vibration, don't need to worry about charging or plug in

cons: easy to quick a dog if you don't have experience, also easy to not take enough dead nail off, bad/poorly made clippers will leave jagged edges and put more pressure on a nail and makes dog uncomfortable or fearful, 

It depends on what you and your dog is comfortable with. My big dog is fine with both, but I really don't like using a dremel. A good pair of clippers gets the job done fast. My old dog hated having her nails done. I got her to a point where she accepts it. Some say if the dog fears the clippers they may be okay with a dremel, that was not the case here.


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

I do both. Clip first to take most of the extra nail off, then dremel to finish.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

My dog does NOT like clippers so I got a dremel. I did have to acclimate him to the dremel but it went really quickly. I really like the control you have with a dremel to shape the nails and get pretty close to the quick. Only issue for me is not being lazy and doing his nails frequently enough, but that is a lazy issue for me and would be true with a dremel or clippers.


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## BostonDan (Dec 29, 2014)

Thanks for the responses. I appreciate the insight you've all shared.
I already have dremel and plan on trying that the next time Lincoln needs a trim - hopefully she won't flip out. I hadn't even thought of the hair catching in the dremel, thanks for that warning. She is afraid of everything. I'm going to introduce the noise and vibration of the tool to her first to get her comfortable with it and then will slowly work towards contact with her nails.


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## Remaru (Mar 16, 2014)

I clip the underside of my dogs' paws (gives them better traction and keeps them from tracking dirt) helps with the fur getting caught but even with Blue who has longer hair the biggest issue I've had is difficultly seeing her nails under her fur, I've never have her coat get stuck in the dremel. I always use a dremel, I don't like nail clippers. I used clippers on my dogs when I was young, I've had dogs most of my life, a dremel is just easier and I feel like my dogs' nails are shorter and better groomed. I've only had one dog who wouldn't accept the dremel and he also wouldn't tolerate clippers, luckily it didn't matter because he didn't need his nails done, he wore them down I guess his nails were always short.


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

The only hair I've ever had get caught in a dremel was my own. I have a lot more hair than any of the dogs. I imagine of mine the only one with long enough hair to get wrapped up that way would be Kylie, and that's just her tail. Which isn't near her feet. 

(As an aside, my hair in the dremel was *AWFUL*)


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

CptJack said:


> The only hair I've ever had get caught in a dremel was my own. I have a lot more hair than any of the dogs. I imagine of mine the only one with long enough hair to get wrapped up that way would be Kylie, and that's just her tail. Which isn't near her feet.
> 
> (As an aside, my hair in the dremel was *AWFUL*)


Yeah, I can't really imagine fur on the paw getting caught in a dremel, unless you have a something like a Cav groomed for show where you leave the long foot fur and call it "slippers". Watson's feet get pretty shaggy in between trims and it's still not nearly long enough that it could get wrapped around anything.

I have heard of using an old pair of stockings and pushing the nails through it so you can see better, though I'm find just pushing his hair out of the way.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I caught Maxwell's long tail and leg feathers in the dremel many times. He freaked out but he did that all the time about almost anything anyway. The dremel stalled out and just hung tangled in his fuzz. I could remove the burr from the tool and then unwind and tear or cut the hair off. Since it was tail and leg fur a sock would be less than helpful. He could grow the best furry hobbit feet but that was regularly trimmed off before I dremeled his nails.

Start working on the training now. One great thing about using a dremel is you can always just smooth a nail. You don't need to do all the nails at one time or even shorten them to a proper length at first.

Maybe I am good at getting dogs used to it but more likely Ginger is an awesome dog as I was able to use the dremel on her for real inside a week of daily putting her in position, handling her feet and toes, touching the tool when off then when on. That was 2 years ago and she was estimated to be 5 years old at that point. Have been saying 5 year old dogs are the best for 15 years! I always offer tiny treats for awesome behavior and was having to stop to treat her as she was positively floppy last week and I could have gone through all 18 nails without any treats. Now I put her upside down on my lap with her tail and all its furry glory between my legs out of danger, back then she was standing on a table and I held her tail feathers out of the way, much chancier. Her leg feathers aren't long enough to tangle in the dremel, don't have that to worry about.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Kathyy said:


> I caught Maxwell's long tail and leg feathers in the dremel many times. He freaked out but he did that all the time about almost anything anyway. The dremel stalled out and just hung tangled in his fuzz. I could remove the burr from the tool and then unwind and tear or cut the hair off. Since it was tail and leg fur a sock would be less than helpful. He could grow the best furry hobbit feet but that was regularly trimmed off before I dremeled his nails.


I didn't consider that. Watson has a ton of long leg feathers and he would never let me come near him again with the dremel if I got them caught. A long enough stocking could still be helpful for the front leg feathers though.


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## BellaPup (Jul 7, 2007)

I can't use clippers. Bella is okay with them, but I hit her quick once. She got over it, but trying to clip her black nails turns me into a bundle of nerves. I never want to hear her scream like that again!


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## SamiSaysRawr (May 26, 2012)

I use a nail grinder on Rosie because she does not like nail clippers (after I quicked her once), but I use clippers on Bran because he's not keen on the noise of the grinder.


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## aliceisalive (Dec 10, 2012)

I recommend both! Tip the ends of the nails with nail clippers, then dremel them smooth. Only tipping the ends of the nails will reduce the chance of you quicking your dog, and with the dremel it is much easier to see when you are getting close to the quick. Also, tipping the ends first will lessen the time it will take to dremel the nails down. This is what I recommend doing to get nice short nails, but all dogs are different and some prefer only nail clippers and some prefer only dremels! Whatever your dog is comfortable with!

-Dog Groomer


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I just dremeled Watson's nails for real yesterday and I already love it! I clipped first and then was able to get much more off with the dremel.

Question for those who use it - it seemed to jump or "skip" on the nail a lot. Is it just that I wasn't using enough pressure and need to get the hang of it? Is that normal? That was the only part that bothered Watson at all (other than the noise at first).


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## Hector4 (Sep 16, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> I just dremeled Watson's nails for real yesterday and I already love it! I clipped first and then was able to get much more off with the dremel.
> 
> Question for those who use it - it seemed to jump or "skip" on the nail a lot. Is it just that I wasn't using enough pressure and need to get the hang of it? Is that normal? That was the only part that bothered Watson at all (other than the noise at first).


Is the drum rotating into the nail or away from it? The grit might also be too low and you may not be applying enough pressure, but the direction of rotation matters also.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Hector4 said:


> Is the drum rotating into the nail or away from it? The grit might also be too low and you may not be applying enough pressure, but the direction of rotation matters also.


Hmm. Isn't it always rotating into the nail and then away from it? I guess I don't understand the question. I think it's doing counter clockwise and I was holding it in my right hand with his paw in my left, if that helps. 

It's possible that the grit is not correct. We rarely use our dremel and the sanding drums we had already weren't labelled, so we picked the finest one. I should get some that I know is the correct grit.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

I believe you want a coarser grit compared to a finer grit. You want firm pressure on the nail but not too hard and certainly not staying in one spot for too long. I try to be constantly stroking along the nail never staying in the same spot. A few strokes along the bottom of the nail, quick pressure on the tip (maybe stroking up it a few times depends on how long since I last did his nails), then some shaping along the top and front edge of the nail in strokes.


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## kdawnk (Mar 26, 2014)

I've never used a dremel, so I have a question too

How does using a dremel make it less likely you'll hit the quick?

At least with using clippers you can see the tell-tale sign of the quick approaching, the dremel wouldn't enable you to see that, right? 
Is it just because you're going slower and sanding off littler portions at a time?

My dog has all black nails except one white one on either of her back feet. So I have no problem with the back ones, it's mostly the front nails that I struggle with.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

dagwall said:


> I believe you want a coarser grit compared to a finer grit. You want firm pressure on the nail but not too hard and certainly not staying in one spot for too long. I try to be constantly stroking along the nail never staying in the same spot. A few strokes along the bottom of the nail, quick pressure on the tip (maybe stroking up it a few times depends on how long since I last did his nails), then some shaping along the top and front edge of the nail in strokes.


The website I read recommended 120, which is usually labelled "fine" (but she said it depends on the brand). I would guess that I was using about an 80 grit.

I think it was bouncing because I was trying not to stay in one spot too long. So I would just touch the nail, then pull back a little, and it would kind of bounce.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

kdawnk said:


> I've never used a dremel, so I have a question too
> 
> How does using a dremel make it less likely you'll hit the quick?
> 
> ...


The dremel allows you to see the quick much more easily. Apparently you can grind back to the point where you see a speck of blood from the quick and most dogs don't mind. And you can take off tiny incremental amounts and watch how the nail shape changes. With clippers you kind of get a hunk of nail, but it's not super accurate especially if the dog is pulling their foot away. 

Also, the action of the clippers can hurt the dog when you aren't even that close to the quick, just because of the squeezing action. Watson has yelped a couple times and I've never quicked him.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

kdawnk said:


> I've never used a dremel, so I have a question too
> 
> How does using a dremel make it less likely you'll hit the quick?
> 
> ...


My dog has all dark brown nails, there is no visualizing the quick on his nails. As elrohwen said you gradually approach the quick when you are grinding away the nail. You can see a change in the tip of the nail as you get closer to the quick, the more hands on experience you have with the dremel the better you know what you are looking for. Do a little grinding on each nail, take a good look at the nails and decide if and how much more you need to take off. Rinse and repeat until you're done.


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## BellaPup (Jul 7, 2007)

dagwall said:


> My dog has all dark brown nails, there is no visualizing the quick on his nails. As elrohwen said you gradually approach the quick when you are grinding away the nail. You can see a change in the tip of the nail as you get closer to the quick, the more hands on experience you have with the dremel the better you know what you are looking for. Do a little grinding on each nail, take a good look at the nails and decide if and how much more you need to take off. Rinse and repeat until you're done.


And if anything like Bella, the dog will probably let you know when getting too close. Also, be sure to stop after a few passes (I do like 4-5 passes, pause and rub the nail a little then start again) ....that sucker gets hot and must hurt after a while!


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

BellaPup said:


> And if anything like Bella, the dog will probably let you know when getting too close. Also, be sure to stop after a few passes (I do like 4-5 passes, pause and rub the nail a little then start again) ....that sucker gets hot and must hurt after a while!


Yep when he starts pulling away I'll usually stop on the nail for the day. I don't ever stick with the same nail for very long though. Couple strokes on a nail, on to the next nail, on to the other foot, get a good look at the nails and usually do another pass on all nails. Then to the back feet repeating the same process. Check front nails again, maybe a final pass on all the nails, back to the back feet.


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