Im trying to clip my chi's nails and she won't calm down, she's being viscious. What should I do?

My chihuahua did the same thing. A groomer and 2 vets offices wouldn't clip his nails because he was so bad, even with a muzzle. He rolled, wrestled, and twisted so hard they all thought they would break a leg holding him down.





Here's what I did:


I got him into what the Dog Whisperer would call calm, submissive behavior before starting. I put him on the floor and rolled him on his back until he was comfortable in that position.





Then, I would hold him and clip one nail, making absolutely sure not to cut too short and thus validate his need to fight.





I did this for a few months, one nail a week. It sounds like a pain, but doing one nail at a time is only a few minutes. Then I was able to do a couple nails, and now, I can do all of them without issue.





The key here is to get the nail clipped before your pooch works himself up into that frenzy again; that reinforces that response. And getting them on the floor, on their backs for a few moments before you start tells the dog you are the leader of the pack, and he needs to trust you. And as long as you repeatedly don't hurt him when doing so, he does get that message.





Good luck.Im trying to clip my chi's nails and she won't calm down, she's being viscious. What should I do?
You could be hurting her. Stop and take her to the vet and let them do it for you.Im trying to clip my chi's nails and she won't calm down, she's being viscious. What should I do?
Have somebody else hold her, and block her vision of the clippers.





A lot of chihuahuas hate their nails trimmed. You may be better off having it done at a grooming salon. Sometimes the dogs are better when somebody else besides their owner is doing it.
Some dogs are just mental when it comes to claw clipping. I used to have one who freaked out and we had to take her to the vet's to get them done and even then it was a wrestling match with her being pinned down on the floor with someone actually sitting on her !


How are you holding her ? Some dogs don't like to be pinned down or constricted - it makes them panic, have you tried getting her to sit then holding one paw ?


Or getting a friend to hold her while you do the claws, muzzle her if she's being evil.


If all else fails go to the vet.
You have to be careful when cutting nails- they aren't like human's nails. If you cut the nail too far down, it will bleed and severly hurt the dog. You really should take her to a proffessional groomer or the vet- it isn't expensive and that way you can assure it is done correctly.
Take her to the vet or a groomers to have them do it professionally
You could try holding her around the chest with her legs dangling down and clip her front nails. Then you might need someone else to hold her the same way so you can do the back ones. This position makes them unable to wiggle around. My breeder told me this trick and it works on my shih tzu. It gets easier each time you do it as the dog realizes it is not going to hurt. Good luck.
You could take her for walks on cement. Cement is a natural dog nail clipper! It will wear the nails down so you don't have to clip them!