Cutting the nails is perhaps one of the more neglected aspects of grooming your dog. Puppies do not like it, and owners are often afraid they may hurt their puppy during the process. So they grow and grow, and become so long and curved nails that it is painful for your Havanese to walk.
Long toenails are easy to ignore on coated dogs since the hair covers the nails. If you can hear your dog’s nails click on hard floors, they are way too long. If you let the nails get long, the quick will grow out into the nail. The quick includes blood vessels that supply the nail, and when cut, it can bleed a lot. But if you trim your Havanese’s nails regularly, you can keep the quick from growing out.
Plan on trimming your Havanese’s nails every one or two weeks. You can use a clipper or grinder. Clippers come in two styles, scissors and guillotine. Grinders are electric tools that “file” your dog’s nails when they are held against a small, spinning sanding drum. No dog likes having his nails cut. Even with the sound of the motor, most tolerate the grinder better than the clippers.
When acclimating a dog to the grinder, shorten the hind nails first. Be sure to keep the dog’s head up and away from the grinder when working on the front feet. Make short, quick passes with the grinder. Do not allow the grinder to stay in one spot for more than a few seconds as the surface can get very hot.
Hold the coat out of the way when you are working on the nails, especially if you are working with a grinder. Trim each nail, using the tool of your choice, to just short of the quick. If your dog has white nails, you can see the pink quick and easily avoid it. If he has dark nails, look on the underside of the nail and see the nail-only portion that you want to cut or grind off.
Remember to clip the dewclaws if your dog has them. These are vestigial toes on the inside of the leg above the paw; some breeders remove them. Have styptic powder ready to stop the bleeding in case you accidentally cut into the quick. In an emergency, you can use unflavored gelatin in place of styptic to stop bleeding.
The easiest way to trim a puppy’s nails is to have someone hold him up while you cut the nails. Even when he is older, he can more easily be controlled when wrapped in a bath towel with the foot you are working on protruding.
If you do not want to trim your Havanese’s nails yourself, have your groomer or veterinarian do it. Just make sure you do it at least twice a month. Make sure that she trims them as short as possible without cutting into the quick. Just taking off the tips with the nails getting longer and longer is almost as bad as not trimming them at all.