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Trimming Your German Shepherd Dog’s Nails Conclusion

One of the most frustrating and difficult activities you may ever attempt with your German Shepherd Dog is trimming their nails if they resist or fight.  Today I am going to tell you how to train your German Shepherd Dog adolescent or adult to sit still while you trim their nails.

This training will take patience and persistence and will require you to perform theses exercises daily for a month or more.  However, the exercises only take 5 to 10 minutes and have a secondary benefit of bonding closer to your German Shepherd Dog.  Do not attempt to trim your German Shepherd Dog’s nail until they successfully complete the below exercises.

Every day as with the puppy, sit with your German Shepherd Dog adolescent or adult and rub and massage them to get them to relax. Once relaxed play with their feet.  If they become anxious stop and go back to rubbing and petting them. Continue daily with this exercise until you can hold their feet and spread their toes without resistance or anxiety.

Every day after you play with their feet, place your German Shepherd Dog adolescent on a grooming table.  Good quality grooming tables and neck harness can be purchased for approximately $100.00 to $140.00.  You need a grooming table if you own a German Shepherd Dog, therefore, invest in a good quality table that will last your lifetime.

German Shepherd Dog Grooming Table

Once on the grooming table place the lanyard over their neck and brush them out.  If they show anxiety reassure them.  Make the exercise of being on the grooming table a good experience for your German Shepherd Dog.  Once they have become comfortable being on the table lift their feet up in the air and spread your German Shepherd Dog’s toes. While playing with their feet on the table, groom them by brushing and using a shedding comb, and acclimate to the nail clippers by gently rubbing them on their body and around their feet.

After Your German Shepherd Dog adolescent or adult has become comfortable with the above exercises, you are ready to start trimming their nails.  If possible have another family member to help hold your German Shepherd Dog on the grooming table.  Confidently start trimming their nails.  You will likely clip two or three nails before they realize something is not the same.  Once your German Shepherd Dog realizes what you are doing they will become anxious and start resisting.  Back off from the nail trimming and reassure your German Shepherd Dog by brushing and petting.  Once they calm down start clipping their nails again.  Repeat the calming efforts as needed.  The first time that you do clip their nails it may take 30 minutes, but hang in there because it will get better each time you trim their nails.

The above method is the best method for training your German Shepherd Dog to sit calmly while you trim their nails.  However, you may speed up the process if you lack the patience for the above method and you have a strong assistant. This method requires laying the German Shepherd Dog on their side on the grooming table.  The assistant needs to hold the dog down distributing their weight on the neck and head and applying pressure to the rear legs.  Do this as calmly as possible and within two or three nail trimmings your assistant will be able to hold onto your German Shepherd Dog adolescent or adult in a sitting position while you trim the nails.  Eventually you will not need the assistant.

German Shepherd Dog Restrained on a Grooming Table

Trim your German Shepherd Dog’s nails on a regular basis and they will love you the more for it, and you will love having doors and door jams without scratch marks ,

Ask me a question and I will provide my opinion.

Sincerely,

KeystoneGermanShepherds