During training the dog and I work on manners and mindset by teaching him HOW to sit calmly and politely for handling and nail trimming.
To do this, I break the experience down into tiny steps. I correct poor choices (biting my hands, jerking away, getting crazy) and I great choices (staying calm and relaxed as I touch his feet) with his kibble. We have lots of patterning and reps to do at all of these little steps before getting to the actual nail trimming.
What we DON’T want to do with a dog who resists the nail trim is to hold him down and force it in him… this teaches the dog to fight and work against the human and I can guarantee that it’ll be worse the next time.
What we DO want to do is use a balanced approach of ‘no, don’t do this naughty stuff’ and ‘yes, do this calm polite stuff’ to TEACH the do how to accept the nail trim calmly and confidently so that he wants to work with us rather than against us.
We have lots of grooming videos on YouTube if you want to check it out!
