How do I know when to clip his nails?

[epotapov]

Our puppy is about 3 months old and we haven't clipped his nails yet. They look a little long but I don't want to cut them too early because I don't want to cut into the quick. Any tips on how to tell when we should cut his nails?

 

[TossBranAbi]

Our puppy is about 3 months old and we haven't clipped his nails yet. They look a little long but I don't want to cut them too early because I don't want to cut into the quick. Any tips on how to tell when we should cut his nails?

I always clip them when they start to touch the floor. I try to do it frequently, even if I only have to clip a few millimeters off to keep the quick from growing out too far. If you don't clip them often enough, the quick will grow right out to the tip of the nail making it impossible to clip them without bleeding. You could also use a dremel to trim them without actually cutting (if that makes sense)

Keep some syptic powder/stick around in case you do cut the quick to stop bleeding. Also, as a last resort, you can use cobwebs to stop bleeding (old farm trick) in case you don't have syptic powder. I would recommending getting the syptic powder though

 

[Dham]

The sooner the better. I would at first cut often just to get them use to having them cut. So many dogs are so hard to handle with nail cutting cause they get away with it in the beginning. Don't let them scare you, cause at first it will be a struggle.
We started Diesel off early and never gave in to his struggles and now we have a more managable dog that I myself can cut his nails.
I think the key to cutting nails is
A) using a good nail cutter, popular brand is large orange handled, I would not use the gilitine(spelling?) kind. They are hard to control when you cut.
Then when you cut cut side to side , not straight across. This way you don't pinch the whole nail and you can cut small pieces easier without cutting to far up and hitting the quick.
Good Luck!
Baking soda is also good if you hit a bleeder.

 

[Jan]

I would clip them. The longer you wait the longer they get and the quick gets longer too. Just clip off a tiny bit to start. If your pup has any white nails, you can see the quick and this will give you an idea how long the other quicks are.

 

[Rocco's Mom]

I started cutting Rocco's nails right after we got him so would get used to it. He was really good about it for a while now he's a little more fussy. Now I try to get him at night when he's wiped out or the vet tech does it at least every 2 weeks.