What should I do, my dog hates having his nails clipped?

Question

My Bulldog does not like having his nails clipped. I have my own clippers, but he will not hold still even when he just sees them. I have tried many times to get him comfortable with just the clippers being on his paw, but he gets very scared. He seems to be okay when the vet or groomer does it, but he does not like when I do it. I end up getting nervous, and he's already very nervous.

His nails are getting so long because its difficult to always be taking him to the groomer, and its something I want to do on my own. Should I buy a nail grinder?

What should I do?

Answer 1

so does my dog, you have to be firm with them and hold their paw away from their body very firmly.  when they wiggle, tap their nose and say 'no'. someday he will get used to it.  but a nail grinder is not a good idea.  if it's scared of a nail clipper, then a nail grinder will definately scare him more which could lead to you getting hurt.  

Answer 2

He knows that you get nervous and he can sense it and that is why you have such problems whereas he can sense that the vet or groomer does it they aren't nervous so that is why he lets them do it.  Just try to have confidence when doing it and the more you do it the better you will get at it and he will soon start having confidence in his parent too.

Answer 3

My dog is the same way and I use a small hand held (with a rechargable battery) drumel on him that I purchased at wal mart for about 20 bucks.  It is very quiet and does not rotate as fast as an electric one.  He just lays there and lets me file his nails with no problem.  

Answer 4

if he don't like them clipped he is not going to like the grinder take him to the vet they can give him something to make him not as nervous till he gets use to it

Answer 5

well there is this new grinder and it wont cause the nails to bleed and it also is low noise and all you doo is hold you dog and gently rub the thing on theyre nails. and every so often i would give him a treat to show him that he is speacil

Answer 6

Okay, this may seem a little off the wall, but try trimming just one claw and then stop and make a big fuss of the dog.  Later cut one more, and again make a big fuss.

If you keep doing this he might realize that there is nothing to be scared of.

Whereas at the moment when he realizes you are going to trim his claws he knows it is going to be a long job that will take ages!