Nail-day!

I’m going to have a bit of a cop-out post today… we are having a CRAZY thunderstorm right (lightning RIGHT next to my house) and I am going to unplug Dewey (my computer) so he won’t get fried if we get a bad power surge (plus I had a crazy busy night of classes and am exhausted).
Have you checked out your dog’s nails recently?  Did you know that not clipping a dog’s nails can lead to some serious medical problems.  Dogs can get sores on their feet from the nail itself, their bone structure can actually start to morph to accommodate the nail, they can start getting sores on the pads of their feet from having to walk more on their ‘heel’ and less on their toes, and it can cause/worsen arthritis in the wrist/elbow/ankle/knee/hip/shoulder because the dog eventually has to compensate for the nails by changing their gait.
I think it’s really important to, at the least, keep an eye on your dog’s nails.  I can’t say how often I clip the nails in this house but it’s probably a weekly event for everyone during the winter (when they aren’t hitting the pavement as much) and every two weeks when we are out and about a lot.
It seems like, with all of the dogs in my house, that their back nails get filed down naturally much more easily than their front.  So, what’s a person to do if they dont know how to clip nails, don’t feel comfortable, don’t like, or have totally uncooperative dogs?  Here’s my super-duper secret hint…..
Teach your dog to file their own nails on the deck of a skateboard.  Skateboards have a very textured deck that acts like a giant emery board (nail file).   If you can teach them to file their own front nails and walk them on sidewalks/streets you should reduce the need for nail clipping except for the dew-claws  (and that can save you the $15 a pop that I recently heard it costs to have a groomer clip the nails!!).
So give your dog’s toes a gander and see if they need a clipping. It’s also motivation to do some counter conditioning work if your dog is fearful.  I honestly think one of the reasons I clip my dogs nails so regularly is that they have no problems getting their “nails did.”  It takes me all of 2 minutes to clip each dog and it’s over (even the cats don’t mind).
And now, like I always do, I shall distract you from my less than stellar post with a video of the bulldogs!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6pLDOMLxzA]