Nail trim the doggie's way Part II
In the previous entry titled " Nail Trim the Doggie's way", I wrote about teaching your dogs to trim their nail on their own by scratching the nail trim board.
Here is an update working with Palette for nail trim board.
When we decided to try out the nail board project, we went to Lowe's and got a wooden board and non skid tape.
The wooden board was about $9 with 48"x 9.5"x0.75", and we asked the guy there to cut the board into half. So, we got 2 pieces that way.
Each wooden board we got was roughly about 24"x 9.5"x 0.75", and it is a good size board for Palette to use the board.
Along with the wooden board, what we got was non skid tape called "Skid Guard Anti-Slip Tape". It came with roll and container says it has about 96" long. It was about $6 per package.
The non skid tape has abrasive surface,and you can cut off the length you want and just peel off the tape on its back side. The non skid tape we got is about 2" width and, my husband taped the board nicely using 4 strips of tapes and stick it side by side as you can see in the picture below.
Palette's Nail Trim Board..
White color on non skid tape surface is from Palette's trimming action..
Now the question was if Palette understands how she uses it.
Despite my thought, she quickly got the idea within 5 minutes since the time we have placed the board on the floor.
Just like the lady with Corgi in the video from previous entry, I too used "shaping method" with clicker.
Day 1. Goal #1; Click the clicker whenever Palette's put her paw on the board
Palette was quick learner and she has figured out that she can make me click the clicker and she gets treats every time her paw touches the board
Lapsed time: 1 minutes
Goal #2; Click the clicker whenever Palette's paw touches the non skid tape surface
Palette has figured out what makes me click again
Lapsed time: 2 minutes
Goal #3; Click the clicker when Palette scratches the abrasive surface.
I let Palette choose which paw she scratches against the Nail trim board.
Lapsed time: 2 minutes
Since she was very quick to figure out, I taught her up to scratching part on the first day. My husband knows about clicker and, he was with us watching how she does with Nail trim board, he was wowed seeing Palette learning the behavior very quickly.
I did not want to overdo the session, and I stopped the training after she had about 3-5 good scratches on the abrasive surface.
For her, it is one other new game, and she enjoyed the Nail trim game very much. Every time she hears the click, she gets excited and runs for the treats to claim it.
To reset Palette, I tossed treats to floor every time I click. That way, she must move away from the board and start the behavior from zero again.
At the very end, I checked her nail and I did not see much grinding action going on the very first day, but as she got better scratching the Nail Trim board, I could see the white line all over the non skid tape,which I think is the nail dust
It is good to know it seems working.
Day 2 -3 Goal #1 Click the clicker only when she scratches on the abrasive surface
Palette got the idea that board is for scratching with paw but now and then, she has scratched non abrasive surface and she could not make me click the clicker but she has learned the trick to make me click by the Day 3.
She now started scratching better with paw on the abrasive surface,not non abrasive surface and, I let her do the good scratches about 6-10 times and stopped it.
The reason why I stopped after 6-10 scratches is that, too much scratching can actually grind too much and trim too close to her quick. Therefore, I let her do a little scratches and check the nail and quick and continued if I thought we can still be okay doing scratching without cutting the quick.
I say "Let me see your paw", and she puts her paw on my hand and I check her nail trim progress. I think it is important for you to check your dogs' paws now and then to make sure they are not scratching too much,too close to their quick.
Day 4 ~ Goal #1 Click the clicker only when Palette scratches on other side of paws
This was a little tricky for me because in Palette's head, she got me click the clicker with her right side paw and, she thinks she is right and tried with same side paw a couple of times, not the other side of paw.
Therefore, after seeing her trying with right side paw for a couple of times, I decided to give her a hint; pat her left side shoulder and tap the abrasive surface with my finger.
This hinting seemed working well and, now she started scratching with left side paw with my left shoulder tap.
Originally, I thought it cool if she could scratch like digging behavior, but I have changed my mind after noticing I needed to be careful of how much nail being ground.
So, my plan now is to give her a little tap on her left shoulder when I would like her to scratch left side paw and give her a cue for nail trim and, after about 6-10 scratches each side, I stop and check the paw.
Mom, camera ready?
Lets try with my left paw first.. 1,2,3..
*Sniff,sniff..*
It seems working,mom...
Palette: Mom,Did I get it right?
Mom: Yes,Palette.You are doing pawfect! Look at your nail!! Nicely done!
Last trim on my right paw..
Last trim on my left paw..
How much Nail trim board can grind your dogs' nail??
From Day 2 on, I started seeing the abrasive surface is making nice trimming for Palette's nail. It was not as smooth edge as it would have been if the nail were trimmed by Dremel, and her right paw nail were uneven trim line rather straight smooth edge grind, but it was grinding nail nicely.
Palette's left paw..
Palette's right paw..
I think this nail trim board is great. Especially, dogs would be stress-free if they are stressed with visual of nail clipper or dremel or groomers.
Originally,I was wondering if the scratching the nail with non skid board would scrape against her paw pad, but it seems that dogs scratch with paw in the form of like a cup and, only nails touch the board.
Downside is that it does not make smooth edge, rather sharp or uneven grind. So, you might need to smooth out the edge of the nail, with Dremel.However, I noticed the other day that if you do Nail trim before the daily walk and then, going to walk and come back home, the rough edge nail was smoothed out to some degree and, I did not need to use Dremel on her to smooth out the edges.
Maybe combination of Nail trim work and walk might do the trick.
On the side note, when your dogs scratch the Nail trim board, it will leave nail dust and stuff on the abrasive surface.
So, don't just pick up the board and put away. Bring it over to the trash bin without flipping the board over. Then, over the trash bin, flip the board over and pat the back of the board to get rid of any nail dust on them.
Also, make sure to put the board away if you are not using them to trim the nail. You do not want your dogs play with it enough to cut the quick in their nail.
Lastly, lets watch Palette in action with her Nail Trim board. As you can see, as she scratch the nail board, you see the white nail dust line on the nail trim board.. She likes this nail trim game and, I enjoy watching her getting excited for her nail trim time
Palette and Nail Trim Board right paw trim..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
Palette and Nail Trim Board left paw trim..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
You may wonder why Palette is drooling for Nail trim time.. Answer is nail trim treats,which happened to be Beef Dogitos (dehydrated grass-fed beef lung treats) pieces on that day. She gets excited and drool over my hands and trim board.
By the video time, she was getting the nail trim treats less frequently compared to her beginning phase session, and after a couple of practice time for video clip with Nail Trim board, I have put the treats far away from her and, I was going to praise her for good nail trimming,instead of giving treats every 3-4 scratches I normally do for nail trimming time.
However, she told me I was forgetting something, and she brought the treats bag to me. So,I decided to give her treats,and she got nice size beef lung treats after each video was taped.
Palette and Nail Trim board behind the scene..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
Did any of you have tried the Nail trim board?
Tell us how it went with your furriends!
Here is an update working with Palette for nail trim board.
When we decided to try out the nail board project, we went to Lowe's and got a wooden board and non skid tape.
The wooden board was about $9 with 48"x 9.5"x0.75", and we asked the guy there to cut the board into half. So, we got 2 pieces that way.
Each wooden board we got was roughly about 24"x 9.5"x 0.75", and it is a good size board for Palette to use the board.
Along with the wooden board, what we got was non skid tape called "Skid Guard Anti-Slip Tape". It came with roll and container says it has about 96" long. It was about $6 per package.
The non skid tape has abrasive surface,and you can cut off the length you want and just peel off the tape on its back side. The non skid tape we got is about 2" width and, my husband taped the board nicely using 4 strips of tapes and stick it side by side as you can see in the picture below.
Palette's Nail Trim Board..
White color on non skid tape surface is from Palette's trimming action..
Now the question was if Palette understands how she uses it.
Despite my thought, she quickly got the idea within 5 minutes since the time we have placed the board on the floor.
Just like the lady with Corgi in the video from previous entry, I too used "shaping method" with clicker.
Day 1. Goal #1; Click the clicker whenever Palette's put her paw on the board
Palette was quick learner and she has figured out that she can make me click the clicker and she gets treats every time her paw touches the board
Lapsed time: 1 minutes
Goal #2; Click the clicker whenever Palette's paw touches the non skid tape surface
Palette has figured out what makes me click again
Lapsed time: 2 minutes
Goal #3; Click the clicker when Palette scratches the abrasive surface.
I let Palette choose which paw she scratches against the Nail trim board.
Lapsed time: 2 minutes
Since she was very quick to figure out, I taught her up to scratching part on the first day. My husband knows about clicker and, he was with us watching how she does with Nail trim board, he was wowed seeing Palette learning the behavior very quickly.
I did not want to overdo the session, and I stopped the training after she had about 3-5 good scratches on the abrasive surface.
For her, it is one other new game, and she enjoyed the Nail trim game very much. Every time she hears the click, she gets excited and runs for the treats to claim it.
To reset Palette, I tossed treats to floor every time I click. That way, she must move away from the board and start the behavior from zero again.
At the very end, I checked her nail and I did not see much grinding action going on the very first day, but as she got better scratching the Nail Trim board, I could see the white line all over the non skid tape,which I think is the nail dust
It is good to know it seems working.Day 2 -3 Goal #1 Click the clicker only when she scratches on the abrasive surface
Palette got the idea that board is for scratching with paw but now and then, she has scratched non abrasive surface and she could not make me click the clicker but she has learned the trick to make me click by the Day 3.
She now started scratching better with paw on the abrasive surface,not non abrasive surface and, I let her do the good scratches about 6-10 times and stopped it.
The reason why I stopped after 6-10 scratches is that, too much scratching can actually grind too much and trim too close to her quick. Therefore, I let her do a little scratches and check the nail and quick and continued if I thought we can still be okay doing scratching without cutting the quick.
I say "Let me see your paw", and she puts her paw on my hand and I check her nail trim progress. I think it is important for you to check your dogs' paws now and then to make sure they are not scratching too much,too close to their quick.
Day 4 ~ Goal #1 Click the clicker only when Palette scratches on other side of paws
This was a little tricky for me because in Palette's head, she got me click the clicker with her right side paw and, she thinks she is right and tried with same side paw a couple of times, not the other side of paw.
Therefore, after seeing her trying with right side paw for a couple of times, I decided to give her a hint; pat her left side shoulder and tap the abrasive surface with my finger.
This hinting seemed working well and, now she started scratching with left side paw with my left shoulder tap.
Originally, I thought it cool if she could scratch like digging behavior, but I have changed my mind after noticing I needed to be careful of how much nail being ground.
So, my plan now is to give her a little tap on her left shoulder when I would like her to scratch left side paw and give her a cue for nail trim and, after about 6-10 scratches each side, I stop and check the paw.
Mom, camera ready?
Lets try with my left paw first.. 1,2,3..
*Sniff,sniff..*
It seems working,mom...
Palette: Mom,Did I get it right?
Mom: Yes,Palette.You are doing pawfect! Look at your nail!! Nicely done!
Last trim on my right paw..
Last trim on my left paw..
How much Nail trim board can grind your dogs' nail??
From Day 2 on, I started seeing the abrasive surface is making nice trimming for Palette's nail. It was not as smooth edge as it would have been if the nail were trimmed by Dremel, and her right paw nail were uneven trim line rather straight smooth edge grind, but it was grinding nail nicely.
Palette's left paw..
Palette's right paw..
I think this nail trim board is great. Especially, dogs would be stress-free if they are stressed with visual of nail clipper or dremel or groomers.
Originally,I was wondering if the scratching the nail with non skid board would scrape against her paw pad, but it seems that dogs scratch with paw in the form of like a cup and, only nails touch the board.
Downside is that it does not make smooth edge, rather sharp or uneven grind. So, you might need to smooth out the edge of the nail, with Dremel.However, I noticed the other day that if you do Nail trim before the daily walk and then, going to walk and come back home, the rough edge nail was smoothed out to some degree and, I did not need to use Dremel on her to smooth out the edges.
Maybe combination of Nail trim work and walk might do the trick.
On the side note, when your dogs scratch the Nail trim board, it will leave nail dust and stuff on the abrasive surface.
So, don't just pick up the board and put away. Bring it over to the trash bin without flipping the board over. Then, over the trash bin, flip the board over and pat the back of the board to get rid of any nail dust on them.
Also, make sure to put the board away if you are not using them to trim the nail. You do not want your dogs play with it enough to cut the quick in their nail.
Lastly, lets watch Palette in action with her Nail Trim board. As you can see, as she scratch the nail board, you see the white nail dust line on the nail trim board.. She likes this nail trim game and, I enjoy watching her getting excited for her nail trim time
Palette and Nail Trim Board right paw trim..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
Palette and Nail Trim Board left paw trim..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
You may wonder why Palette is drooling for Nail trim time.. Answer is nail trim treats,which happened to be Beef Dogitos (dehydrated grass-fed beef lung treats) pieces on that day. She gets excited and drool over my hands and trim board.
By the video time, she was getting the nail trim treats less frequently compared to her beginning phase session, and after a couple of practice time for video clip with Nail Trim board, I have put the treats far away from her and, I was going to praise her for good nail trimming,instead of giving treats every 3-4 scratches I normally do for nail trimming time.
However, she told me I was forgetting something, and she brought the treats bag to me. So,I decided to give her treats,and she got nice size beef lung treats after each video was taped.
Palette and Nail Trim board behind the scene..
If you were a blog subscriber or reading this from facebook, please click here to watch the video clip.
Did any of you have tried the Nail trim board?
Tell us how it went with your furriends!
Posted by yassy at 10/2/2011 2:10 PM 
Categories: Dog training
Tags: dogs nail clipping dog nail file clicker
Categories: Dog training
Tags: dogs nail clipping dog nail file clicker
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