How to Trim Your Small Dog’s Nails

Of course, living with a small dog means lots of travel, and sometimes making little furry balls go to the bathroom on the side of the road isn’t always the best idea. And if you have a small dog, the words “trimming its nails” probably conjure up images of someone laboriously yanking the small fuzzy thing off its belly to avoid a big poop fall, and that’s not how it’s done. Despite how it may sound, you can still trim your tiny pup’s nails — easily and reliably — simply by using these six steps.

Step 1: Remove the Fur

First off, take a nail clipper, nail clipper extension, or tweezers. Then, on the nail and clipper, carve out a chunk out of the hair by cutting it close to the little pink follicle at the base. This does the trick for the majority of Dachshunds, and you’re good to go on most of the other ones. You can do this for all the nails in a group (i.e., a group of Finches) — but don’t.

Step 2: Cut Off the Nails.

Once you’ve ripped out the hair at the base of the nail and clipper, hold the nail with the end of the tweezers, and make a cut down the nail. Repeat for the rest of the nails on the short side.

Start back at the base of the nail.

Step 3: Fuzz It Out

Now you’re ready to do it yourself. You can also get into applying glue or scraping it with a board, but the easiest way is to comb the nails back up at the base (i.e., the top) and apply about 15-20 inches of one-inch clear nail polish. The nail polish will dissolve over time and you’ll be able to smooth things out again without it clogging up the blood supply to the top of the claws.