Cutting Infant Puppy Toenails

EXPERT TIP

I have found over the years, that attention to detail really does have a strong flow-on effect, and sometimes the tiniest jobs are well worth ticking off your list in order for the breeding process to flow with ease and for your brood and pups to be at their best.

Snapshot

Cutting puppy toenails is something that scares many people I find, but it is an absolute “must do”. You really need to knuckle down and get this job done in the whelp box.

Let me explain why….

One of the first reasons that a lactating mother will start to shy away from the whelp box, or from making herself readily available, 24/7 to her pups, is due to her puppies nails becoming sharp. Have you ever felt them? They are like tiny needle hooks!!! Puppy nails are pressed against their mothers’ soft glands, paddling eagerly to stimulate milk “let down” all day long!

Secondly, breaks in the mammary glands, whether this be around the nipple or across the greater mammary gland tissue, can increase the risk of mastitis considerably by allowing bacteria to settle in a moist, vulnerable environment (microscopic, or sometimes significantly deep, puppy nail scratches) and flourish towards infection.

Why This Is Important?

Pups are born with soft nails, but they already have some length to them as they arrive into the world. Over the next 5 - 7 days they are dragging themselves towards and away from their mother to feed…hauling themselves over the other pups to gain better position, and generally gaining strength over the first week. As the first week progresses the pups really start to motor around the whelp box, especially if the nutrition they are getting from their mother is excellent and they are gaining nice levels of weight and energy from her nutrition.

Also, as they gain weight, their little legs are dragging increasingly greater weight around the whelp box on a daily basis…so more force is required.

As they are dragging themselves around in order to feed and rest, their nails are sharpening on the whelp box bedding – into the tiniest little needles! Around day 5 - 7 they are ready to have those little needle tips clipped to a blunt edge – so their darling, attentive mother can have some relief!

Imagine a litter of 10 pups - that’s 100 tiny needles (yes, the dew claws need cutting too!) digging into her soft glands if they are all feeding at once!! Ow right!? No wonder she hesitates at the thought of going back in the box☹)

The great news is, cutting infant puppy nails is super quick and easy!! Their nails give you a little road map at this young age to tell you exactly where to cut – no risk of cutting the quick (as long as you are not distracted while you are cutting).

Look for each tiny little hook and remove with a pair of children’s nail clippers – the same kind you buy at your local supermarket or chemist…nothing fancy required.

Just like this…

If you have a large litter, put aside some time to do it. Pop some nice relaxing music on. Have your puppy weight records on hand so you can pop a little mark next to them on that day to indicate that you trimmed their nails – this will help you track the date for the next scheduled nail trimming session – in about a weeks time.

I like to sit in the whelp box with the brood and pups so that I can choose to either cut their nails as they sleep, as they feed or if I need to hold them I only have a small distance to lift them carefully on to my lap if I am seated (if you are familiar with my teachings on litter rearing you will know that I work with my pups at ground level as much as I possibly can – but particularly in the first 4 weeks I like them to be grounded almost all of the time. No lifting puppies and gazing into their cute faces!! Ask yourself the question, are you doing that for yourself, or the puppy? I always see a sheepish smile emerge when I ask breeders that question😊 We all know the answer!

The first time I trim nails, I consciously do it as a separate exercise to any other activity. For example, I don’t weigh a pup and then trim its’ nails directly after. Yes, you could argue it’s time saving, but I like to isolate activities so I can observe whether a puppy is completely relaxed during an activity or shows a resistance to something. If I link new experiences together, I am not able to tell whether a puppy was restless having nails clipped because it felt uncertain during weighing, or whether it didn’t enjoy its feet being touched. Experiences and reactions can compound, and if your goal is to REALLY know your puppies and their natural behaviour trends, well…sometimes you need to allocate a little more time in your day to make quality observations😊

One last thing!! When you cut your puppy nails at 7 days of age, only cut the front feet😊 You are only wanting to soften their contact with their mother, but you want to leave the back toenails as they are so they develop strong mobility around the box and get nice traction on the whelp box floor when they try to stand up during the week ahead. Great right – only half the number of nails to trim…and pups, brood and breeder are all happy for the week ahead!

I always observe a sense of relief when my broods realise I have cut their puppies nails – it’s almost as if they are saying “Yay, we are back in business!”

Enjoy - happy nail trimming!!

Quick Tip:

Whether puppy nails are white, black, or any shade in between – the hooked tip that you need to remove at around 5-7 days will be shaded a lighter colour than the majority of the nail and easily identified. Where the nail begins to curve to the hook – this is where you need to place your nail clippers and cut. If your puppy is fidgeting – be sure you are not squeezing their little foot by accident as you concentrate on the nail…😊