Cutting Fido's nails...

Start with the white nails and don't cut too close to the pink (which is what will make it bleed)You don't want to cut it that short anyway because it'll make it more sensitive..kind of like if you bite your nails and you bite them down to nothing..at a certain point it hurts. If he has black nails, then judge by what you cut off the white nails to know how much to cut off the black. If he has black nails, it's best to start by just cutting the very tip off until you get comfortable doing it and the dog gets comfortable with it. It's hard to judge with the black nails.

We have out pet to the groomers. But sometimes in between grooming appointment we trim them ourselves. You can buy a nail cutter at most shopping places. We bought ours at wal-mart.

I clip my cats all the time. It is too expensive for the groomer to do. And my vet doesn't do it. Each animal is different. One of my cats grow so fast, and I am doing it over in two weeks. The other can go six weeks. But, I do not cut it low, as it is painful if you hit the quick. I just to the tip to be safe. They hate it. My hubby must hold them, it's a two person job.

I cut my dogs nails myself, its quicker and easier. Just keep him calm and let him know thats it alright. I remember I had a Doberman that hated his nails being clipped. He was so strong, my hubby used to have to lay on him (not hurting him just to stabalise him) while I quickly cut his nails. It was so funny and the dog was such a sook. He loved the cuddles afterwards.

I use a cordless Dremel which is a small rotary sander. . kind of like an auto-nail filer. Once the dogs get used to it, its so much easier than using the nail clippers, plus its harder to cut the quick and bleed them. The sander will cauterize any cut it makes pretty quickly, before the dogs realize what's happened.

I trim my dogs nails myself, as well as grooming all my dogs too. I check ears and nails at least once a week. I keep a jar of kwik stop out whenever I'm trimming nails- thankfully I've rarely ever had to use any. Actually I think I've spilled more than I've ever used. The key with doing nails is to only take off a little at a time.