Let's do our nails!

Grace really needs her toenails clipped. This is not a fun activity for most dogs. So, in preparation, I need to get some treats ready. I will be giving Grace lots of treats while we trim her feet. This will help her associate good food with having her feet handled. It is called desensitization and counterconditioning. Eventually, she will not mind having her feet handled.

I use soft cat treats and meat jerky. I cut the jerky up in small pieces using scissors. Some trainers tear the treats up as they go along, but I find that it is faster and easier to do it this way. I store them in a plastic bag, since they dry out rather quickly. Hard treats really slow training down.

I then put the other dogs outside. I collect my nail trimmers and my scissors. I place some of the treats in an easily accessible bowl and sit in front of Grace's crate. Today, I just want to try to get one foot trimmed up.

I gave Grace about 10 treats for coming to the front of the crate. Then I gave her a few more for letting me hold her foot and take a picture of it. Her hair is really long!

Then I pushed back the hair and clipped each nail. After every nail, I gave her a few treats and made sure that she took them. If she refused the treats, then I would have set a bunch down in front of her and finished out session for the day. We got through one foot and I gave her a bunch of treats and took a picture.

Bear, one of my own dogs, laid quietly next to me while I did this. I think this may have helped Grace. She didn't want him to take her treats and she was also able to see how calm and unfrightened he was (Bear is a shy and deaf sheltie). Because she seemed to be doing very well, I decided to try the other front paw. And, she allowed me to trim that one, too!

I gave her a "jackpot" of treats afterwards - lots of treats and praise. Then, she was allowed outside to play with the others. We still need to do her back feet, but that will be at another time. For today, we did even better than I had hoped.