How to Dremel Nails

*This is for large breeds with non hairy feet* If you want to dremel a small breed you will need a smaller dremel and be vary careful about not getting the dog's fur caught in the dremel. It will rip the fur out in a blink of an eye.

Step 1. Buy a dremel. The ones made for dogs are worthless! They don't have enough power for the big nails. You can go with battery powered or corded. I've had both and prefer corded. The battery powered one didn't have as much power and it died too quickly. I bought the cheapest corded dremel from the hardware aisle in Walmart. It's not even on the same power chart as the dremels marketed for dogs.  I use a long 10ft extension cord so I'm fairly mobile with the dremel. You do not want to limit your movement with a short cord.

Step 2. ONLY USE A SAND PAPER ATTACHMENT. Never use any other attachments. They will heat up instantly and hurt your dog. Your dremel should come with at least 1 sand paper attachment. You can buy replacements at any hardware store. I actually found some at a farmers market priced at 10 for $2, so I'm set for years.

Step 3. Find a comfy spot to do the nails. If your dog has space issues using their dog bed night not be a good idea! You can do it standing and just lift up each foot. I'm lazy and found the easiest on my back is to have them hop on the couch and me sit on the floor. If you think your greyhound is going to react poorly, has half a chance to be nervous, or YOU are nervous; muzzle! You can spread peanut butter all along the inside of the muzzle which will instantly give your dog a awesome association with getting those nails done.

Step 4. It's recommended to use eye and breathing protection. I'm a rebel and am too lazy to get into all of that!

Step 5. Since you have the turbo charged dremel not made for dogs you will want to keep the setting on low- low/med.

Step 6. Make sure you support each toe as you do each nail. Never dremel for more than a second or so on each nail. I use quick swipes to quickly take the nail off. You don't have to press down at all just let it pass over the end of the nail. The friction will eventually heat the nail up and cause pain. Once you cause pain I would imagine it would be hard to convince the dog that this is a fun activity! It's much easier to do nails if your pup is relaxed and happy.

Step 7. Give cookies! The girls have special cookies that they only get for bathtime, ear cleaning, and nails.

If your dogs are nervous around the dremel at first, try just doing 1 nail a day and immediately giving a yummy cookie. I try to dremel the girls once a week. If your trying to get the quicks of the nail to recede you might want to dremel every 3 days and just take a teeny tiny bit off each time.

As you can see in the videos Rainy doesn't like her front legs done.  I just make sure to provide extra support on those toes and only use the dremel for 1/2 the time on each of those nails. I also won't start doing her nails until she relaxes about me holding her paw.

Nail Dremel Video #1

We didn't know about the flash option for this video...

Nail Dremel Video #2

Nail Dremel Video #3