It is important for the overall health of your Papillon, or any other dog to trim his toenails.
If you hear your Pap's toenails clicking on an uncarpeted area, the nails are are too long.
Overgrown nails can easily tear, split, scratch you unpleasantly, even alter the gait of your dog, and inflict even more discomfort, and misalignment of his body.
Photos here are copied from Google images.
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| Nails are too long |
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| Nails are severely long |
We all know what an unpleasant task it is to clip our dogs nails. But it can be done.
I recommend especially to do this job right after a bath, where his nails are still moist, and softer.
Or after he had been out on a rainy day.
It will be more acceptable to him, especially if you turn a hair dryer on, and he will be preoccupied with his hair being blown all over the place.
Some dogs, if small, even do not mind to sit on your lap while their nails being trimmed.Use either a dog nail clipper for (small) dogs, or, as I do most often, a human foot nail clipper on adult Papillons, and a human finger nail clipper on puppies.
When you purchase a puppy, or a new dog touch his feet and toenails daily, for him to learn to accept your handling. Reward him after your touching session.
After a few sessions start clipping only one nail a day, and reward your dog that he put up with this operation!
I found this great chart on toenails, also under Goggle images. Click on the image to study it a little closer:
If your dog has dew claws (the nail on the side of the leg) and it seems to be embedded back into the dog's flesh, you may still cut the nail on the appropriate spot, and then try to pull the in-grown part of the nail right out of the flesh. If it is leaving a small wound treat the wound with a antibacterial dressing.
Of course you could grind the toenails with a dog toenail grinder.
