mani-pedi

Well, the cutting of the claws went well yesterday, I think. It took me somewhere in the region of 30 minutes to do them all and I was only peed on three times. Result!

I think all the practice I got with the last litter must be paying off this time around, as I remember struggling very badly the first couple of times I tried with the last lot. I've learned to get them when their bellies are full & they're very sleepy! If I'm lucky I can get a firm-ish grip and give a very quick snip-snip-snip before the paw is snatched out from between my fingertips. I don't think I've ever managed all 4 (or 5) claws of one foot in one quick motion.

But it's a tricky operation. The puppies are, as usual, wiggly, some of them complain more vociferously than others (you know who you are, puppies!) and it's a matter of a millimetre. Or less. Tricky, as I said.

Luckily, these puppies all have white claws at the moment. Hopefully they will stay that way because white claws are much easier to trim than black ones.

For those of you whose toes curl up at the thought of having to trim your fully grown dog's nails, here are some before & after shots to illustrate the level of difficulty here. Unfortunately I couldn't get both photos from the same puppy, but all puppy paws are equally adorable.

Before:
















After:




















And what did I use to accomplish this feat of precision? A teeny-tiny pair of human nail clippers. And a magnifying glass. Nah, just kidding - nail clippers and my reading glasses.