Do you find that when you’re trying to clip your dog’s nails, they’re always sliding out of the clippers and the nails just won’t be cut? Have you maybe injured your dog because your nail cutter got stuck halfway down the nail or it pinched your dog?
If so, then it might be time to think about sharpening (or at least checking) your dog nail clippers for performance, and getting some tips on how best to use those sharpen clippers.
If you’ve been wondering how to sharpen dog nail clippers, then look no further. Here is a quick tutorial on dog nail clipper sharpening for dog owners.
Dog Nail Clippers: A How-To Guide for Sharpening and Maintenance
As dog owners, we all know that dog nails grow constantly, but very often it can be difficult to get your dog to sit still long enough to cut them. This is when well-sharpened dog nail clippers come in handy! But if you find yourself with dulled scissor clippers or guillotine style clippers, the clipping is going to take an eternity and you may even harm your dog. Here’s how to avoid that.
First things first, make sure you have the right size of dog nail clippers in hand for the type of dog you own. You don’t want those nail clippers too big or too small, because if they’re either bigger or smaller than your dog’s nails, they won’t work. Too small a clipper and you could end up hurting your dog by not cutting the nail all the way through, which defeats the point in the first place! But too large a nail clipper will cause you to take much longer to cut through all those claws while you find the right angle of attack for each, and the excess force may pinch and bruise your small dog’s toes.
How Do You Find The Right Size Dog Nail Clipper to Begin With?
Here are some tips: If you’re looking for an easy way out of getting over those thick nails, then always go for dog nail clippers that fit well within your hands comfortably. That should be pretty basic. If you cannot comfortably grip clippers with a single hand, they won’t suit your dog’s paws either. The best dog nail clippers will tend to fit a dog breed’s paws as well your own!
So, also measure how much nail your dog fills inside the nail clippers and see if the dog nail clippers fit the size of each dog nail.
If this sounds like it will be a bother or a chore to find a dog nail clipper that fits both you and your dog best, then don’t worry.
There are plenty of dog nail clippers for different breeds of dogs and professionals know this. It’s only a matter of finding one who suits you and has the right tools to do the work for you. So, whether you’ve got a King Charles Spaniel, Bulldog Mix, Chihuahua, Rottweiler or any other dog breed in between (or even mix breeds), there are all sorts of shapes and sizes of dog nail clippers that will suit whatever size dog you have, and professional groomers likely have them all. Just be patient looking for the ideal clippers or groomer and learn when it’s time to trim your dog’s nails.
What Kind of Maintenance Dog Nail Clippers Require?
Each dog nail clipper has its own maintenance requirements. Generally, however you want dog nail clippers that are easy to clean, maybe using a small brush with soapy water, because dog nails are dirty. You also want to keep your clippers dry because the cheaper ones can easily rust.
What about lubrication? Some dog owners like to put olive oil or other lubricants on their dog’s paw pads before clipping the dog’s nails to make them easier to clip.
But what about oiling the dog nail clippers and not the dog?
Dog nail clippers may need to be oiled if they are made of metal that rub each other as with scissor style nail clippers. Some dog owners tend to neglect dog nail trimmer maintenance because the clippers are usually on their dog for such a short time. But dog nail clipper maintenance is necessary because dog nail clipping can be uncomfortable to do. Why make it harder using a tool that keeps getting stuck?
Dog Nail Clippers: How to Keep Them Sharp
While dog owners are looking for the dog nail clippers that suit their dog best, there is one more big problem with dog nail clippers. Let’s say you purchase a dog nail clipper that seems to fit your dog well, then you go ahead and start clipping away with it. You can almost always tell when clippers are getting dull by how difficult they become to use, and how the dog progressively begins to hate them.
When dog nail clippers get dull (or even if they never were very sharp in the first place), it takes much longer to penetrate a dog’s nail to clip it. The dog nail clipper won’t grip the surface of the nail very well. Guillotine nail clippers in particular will not close all the way around the dog nails if they are too dull, leaving the job halfway done.
Besides if your dog is not used to having its nails trimmed, then things are going to get very difficult for both of you. Scissors style clippers that get dull will almost feel like they are pinching your dog’s nails and slipping off because even if they’re still able to cut the nails by sheer force, it won’t be a smooth cut. You’ll either need dog bandages after the nail clipping for your dog or yourself after the dog bites you from the pain.
Some dog nail clipper designers use stainless steel blades that never get dull or need replacement blades. Others make their extra income selling you replacement blades. If you’ve got dog nail clipper replacement blades for your dog trimmers, make sure they’re actually sharp by placing them against a piece of paper and checking if they cut through without need for too much pressure (guillotine style dog nail clippers work particularly well here because of how simple it is to check if their blades are still sharp).
Using Sandpaper or Emery Stone on a Dull Dog Nail Trimmer
If the dog nail clippers don’t allow for blade replacement, however, and don’t easily slice through paper under easy pressure, then it’s time to replace the dog nail trimmers. But if you don’t want to get new clippers, don’t worry because it’s really easy to sharpen dog nail clippers with a few simple household items if you’re willing to put the extra effort.
For trimmers made of metal, you should put them in the freezer for an hour before sharpening them to make them a bit more brittle. Take them back out after they’ve defrosted a bit to comfortably hold in your hand and sharpen them with a series of sandpaper strips of varying grit quality. You could also use a sharpening stone or grinding stone, a diamond-tapered rod or a ceramic rod. But for this example, we will discuss grinding down your metal nail trimmer with sandpaper.
The first goal is to produce deep scratches on the stainless steel using a medium scale grit to start with a more rugged blade surface. Then, you file with a smaller grit to begin to polish the metal to a more fine finish at its cutting edge. You could also use an emery stone instead of sandpaper. Emery is a rock called conrundite turned to powder, bound and molded into an abrasive material against which to sharpen metal without moistening the surface. But nothing quite gives as polished a result as using both coarse and fine grits together to pull a razor’s edge.
Using a Metal Sharpening File for Best Dog Nail Clippers Sharpness
- Hold dog nail clippers upright so you can see the blades clearly.
- Carefully slide the dog nail clippers along each edge of the metal file. Do it several times in the same direction on each side until the clipper edges are sharp enough easily and smoothly to cut your dog’s nails without any resistance or catching.
- Please note that after using your sharp dog nail clippers, you may want to examine your dog’s nails closely for nicks, by shining a flashlight through the dog’s nails to verify the clipper are not leaving tiny stainless steel blades fragments in your dog’s nails or an uneven cut.
If the whole idea of having to sharpen even the best dog nail clippers is not appealing to you, consider using a dog nail grinder instead to take care of your dog’s nails. Stainless steel blades will always dull after extended use, especially if you’re dealing with thick nails or tough nails.
Sharp Professional Pet Nail Clippers to Know About
Some name brand products require little sharpening. The Boshel Dog Nail Clippers are an example. They stay sharp for a dog’s lifetime without special maintenance. Safari Professional nail trimmers are another example. You can use them for years before needing to replace the dog clippers blades and some come even with e-book instructions on how to use them.
Professional dog nail trimmers, however, come at a much higher price than less expensive dog nail trimmers. But they’re often the best dog nail clippers available because dog groomers need clippers that don’t easily break down or require replacement parts.
Intensity dog clippers are also heavy-duty trimmers that lessen the need to constantly replace your dog’s nail clipper set. Sharpening these can be done at home by following their owner’s manual instructions. Millers Forge nail clippers need oiling and sharpening once in a while. Instructions on how to do so come with the tool.
Seki Edge dog nail clippers are similar to Millers Forge dog nail clippers in that they need sharpening from time to time. These dog nail clippers will last long and stay sharp if you follow their owner’s manual instructions. Gopets nail clippers and Zen clipper dog nail clippers also need sharpening when they get dull.
Preparing The Nails for Cutting With A Sharpen Tool
Cleaning the dog’s nails before cutting them helps prevent damage to dog nails. But so does cleaning the cutting blades. So, clean your dog’s unruly nails by using dog nail grinder. The Dremel 7300-PT 4 is a dog nail grinder that works well for dog’s with strong nails. It can groom dog’s nails without damaging dog’s nails or producing sharp stainless steel dog nail clipper fragments in dog’s nails.
Once you have cleaned your pup’s paws dip them in water for at least 30 seconds or more. This ensures dog nails are soft enough to start cutting nails without nicking dog’s nail beds or irritating dog’s paws with sharp stainless steel dog nail clipper parts.
Using dog nail clippers in combination with a dog nail grinder is best. As far as using human nail clipper to cut your dog’s thick nails, dog nail clippers with a dog nail grinder is still the best way to go than to use a tool not designed for a dog’s anatomy.
You might get away with a slight nail trim for a puppy. The pressure you use to cut a human nail is different than that you use with the scissor or guillotine types of dog clippers, so don’t think you can just use the same dog grooming techniques for dog nails as human nails.
Human nails differ from dog nails in that they are flat and dog nails curve and clipper designs account for this. Use nail grinders instead and file down those thicker nails if you cannot count with sharp stainless steel blades in a pet nail clippers that can do the job right.
What may be some good dog nail grinders?
The best dog nail grinder out there is the Dremel 7300-PT 4 dog nail grinder. It comes with a dog nail grinding kit used to keep dog’s nails at their healthiest and removes the hassle of sharpening dog clippers blades.