To cut the nails of a German Shepherd, you will need guillotine-type nail clippers, styptic powder, and files for trimming and finishing nails. Try to clip your dog’s nails regularly. A few dogs who exercise frequently on sidewalks or pavement keep their nails short naturally, but this is not usually the case. Most of the time, you’ll need to clip the nails every three or four weeks. If you wait too long, the nails can grow into the pads. Even before this terrible stater of affairs, dogs will find it hard to put their full body weight on feet with overlong nails, resulting in pailful walking.
Most German Shepherds have black toenails, which are harder and denser than white nails. Unfortunately, the black color makes the quick or vein in the nail impossible to see. Trim small amounts of the nail at a time, but do it regularly. The main concern is how much is too much! You don’t want to remove the entire nail, of course.
Dogs need their nails, for work, and many show dogs have nails “click” on the floor as he walks, it means they are too long.
Before you begin clipping, examine the toes for ingrown nails, soreness, redness, swelling, or discharges. These signs can signal serious trouble and mean you should take your dog to the vet. Assuming you are right-handed, place your left arm around the dog’s middle and hold him against your chest. Speak firmly, but kindly.
Hold the dog’s foot in your left hand with your thumb on top of the toe and two fingers below on the paw pad. Insert the nail into the clipper, and clip quickly at about a 45 degree angle. It’s better to make a few tiny clips than one big one if you can’t see the quick. Many German Shepherds have dewclaws, the so-called fifth nail. Don’t overlook these! In German Shepherd dogs, the front dewclaws are usually left on, and the back ones are supposed to be removed. However, it is perfectly acceptable to remove the front ones as well.
If your German Shepherd’s feet have been overlooked for a while, the sensitive quick may have grown out very close to the tip. If this is the case with your dog, first try filing the nails every day for about three weeks. It’s almost impossible for nails to bleed from filing. Filing will encourage the quick to recede enough for you to start clipping. You may want to continue filing every day between clips until you can get the nails as short as they need to be.
If you make a mistake and clip the nail too short, use some styptic powder, flour, or cornstarch to staunch the bleeding. You can even stick the nail into a bit of bar soap! Hold with moderate pressure. After a minute or so, wipe away the excess powder and check the nail. If you don’t take off the extra powder, it can harden into a kind of seal that will allow bleeding to start again when it breaks.
After clipping, file each nail so that it is smooth. Don’t file nails that have been clipped to the bleeding point, though. Some people like to use a commercial nail polish or caps made just for dogs after grooming.