How to Cut a Miniature Dachshund Dog's Nails

Regular nail trims are critical for the health and well-being of your miniature dachshund. Overgrown nails can make walking painful, reducing a dog's activity level and increasing the likelihood of obesity. Long nails also are prone to painful tearing and cracking, leading to infection. Severely overgrown nails cause debilitating foot problems such as splayed toes, arthritis and nails that grow into the foot pads. Dachshunds need to have their nails trimmed every other week, to keep them at the proper length. Frequent trimming reduces the likelihood you will cut the dog's quick, or blood vessel, which is painful and can bleed profusely. A properly trimmed nail is just short of touching the ground when the dog is standing on a hard surface.

Things You'll Need

  • Nail trimmers
  • Styptic powder
  • Soft, flavorful treats
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Instructions

    • 1

      Select your nail trimmer from the two available types. Plier trimmers have two contoured or flat blades that come together when you squeeze the handles, and cut the nail with scissor action. Some have a guard that protects your dachshund's nails from being trimmed too short. Guillotine trimmers have a metal ring at the top that you insert the dog's nail through. Squeezing the handle brings the blade up through the dog's nail. The blades on guillotine trimmers can be replaced when they dull. Plier trimmers need to be replaced when the blades dull.

    • 2

      Stand your dog on a nonslip surface that is a comfortable height for you, allowing you easy access to the paws. If your dog is anxious about being on an elevated surface, get an assistant to help -- cradling the dog in one arm, with the dog's chest toward the elbow and the belly over your assistant's hand.

    • 3
      Hold a dog's foot so the pads face the ceiling when trimming nails.

      Stand facing the dog's side, with his head to your left if you are right handed or to your right if you are left-handed. Lift the dog's front foot with your non-dominant hand, and bend it back at the pastern, or ankle, so the pads of the feet face the ceiling. Pull the leg back and slightly out, so the foot is held next to the body.

    • 4

      Start with the outside toe. If using guillotine trimmers, insert the very tip of the nail into the metal ring so the nail is at a right angle to the blade. Hold the handles pointing toward the floor or toward the ceiling, whichever is more comfortable for you. Firmly squeeze the handles in one quick motion.

      If you are using plier trimmers, slide the guard in place behind the trimmer's blades. Insert the nail between the blades so the nail tip touches the guard. If there is no guard, trim only the very tip of the nail. Squeeze the handle firmly in one quick motion to cut through the nail.

    • 5

      Look straight-on at the cut end of the nail for the quick, which will look like a grey or pink circle in the center. Keep trimming a small sliver of nail at a time until you begin see the quick. If the dog?s nails are light colored, you can see the pink quick through the nail. Insert the nail through the ring or blades 2 to 3 mm below the quick and trim. If you accidentally cut the quick, the dog may yelp and you will see a drop of blood forming on the nail tip. Dip the nail in the jar of styptic powder, to stop the bleeding and help prevent infection.

    • 6

      Trim the rest of the nails on the front feet using the same process, remembering the dew claws located on the insides of the legs just below the pasterns. Dew claws are attached to the skin and can be bent away from the leg for trimming. Because the dew claws are vestigial digits and are not functional in the dog, the quick usually does not grow very far down the nail, and they can be trimmed in longer chunks. Dew claws are particularly prone to tearing if overgrown.

    • 7
      Some dogs have dew claws on their hind feet.

      Grab the back leg above the pastern, and gently pull it up and back behind the dog -- so the foot pads are facing the ceiling and the leg is almost straight. Trim the nails, including the dew claws, if your dachshund has them on its hind feet.