All Things Dog Blog

by Dr. Julie Buzby, DVM

courtesy ToeGrips.com
Nail Care the Right Way

During 2014, I’ve been contributing posts in a series titled, “Ten Tips for Fido’s Longest Life.” To date, we’ve covered topics such as weight management, dental care, nutrition, and vaccinations—all mainstream concepts.

This month we veer off into unconventional territory in the discussion of canine longevity: dog nail care.

“How can my dog’s toenails affect his life?” you ask with a healthy dose of skepticism.

This blog post will answer that question and hopefully convince you that frequent, appropriate nail trims are one of the best gifts you can give your dog!

As a general rule, our domestic dogs’ toenails are entirely too long. In their natural environment, dogs run, dig and climb. These activities wear down the nails and keep them short. In contrast, our canine companions live on fancy hard flooring, lounge around on the furniture, and get brief leash walks for exercise. This lifestyle sets up for obesity, behavioral problems, and long toenails.

Long nails are not merely a cosmetic concern. In truth, long toenails change the way a dog’s toes interface with the ground—impacting gait and posture. Dogs’ toes contain an abundance of proprioceptive receptors. These receptors feed information to the central nervous system about the body’s spatial position with respect to the ground and gravity. Long nails cause skewed input to be sent to the brain. The brain makes adjustments accordingly. The result is a dog who stands with chronic bad posture.

More specifically, a dog with long toenails won’t stand with his legs perpendicular to the ground. Rather, he will compensate by adopting the “goat on a rock” stance, where his front legs are “behind” perpendicular and the hind limbs must shift forward under him to prevent him from tipping forward. A lifetime of standing in this position causes chronic stress on the system and predisposes to injury.

On top of that, this dog will move with an altered gait. Walking with long toenails can be likened to walking in oversized clown shoes. When presented with a new patient, after taking the history, I generally begin with an effective (and pain-free) toenail trim because it will instantly change the dog’s gait and stance. Then, when I gait the dog to evaluate for lameness and body mechanics, I can focus on deeper issues, not compensatory problems from long toenails.

The moral of this post is that nail care is drastically undervalued. It’s a surprising confession, but I’ve concluded that a simple pedicure is one of the most valuable changes I make for my patients, and a nail trimming tutorial is one of the most valuable gifts I give my clients. A ten-minute, short-nail makeover is the fastest, least expensive way I know to help a dog stand and walk better instantly.

Just like humans, there is individual variation on how fast nails grow, but most grow fairly quickly. I trim my own dog’s nails every 1-2 weeks, and recommend a maximum interval of 4 weeks for my patients.

Need some tips? Here's a video created by Dr. Julie to educate dog owners about proper nail care:

Dr. Julie Buzby is a homeschooling mom of seven, American Veterinary Chiropractic Association and International Veterinary Acupuncture Society certified holistic veterinarian, and passionate advocate for canine mobility.In her free time she serves on the Advisory Board for The Grey Muzzle Organization. She can be found at Twitter @DrBuzby and on Facebook.com/ToeGrips. You'll also find more of Dr. Julie's posts at our Ask the Vet Archives page.

Here are a few of her articles that may be of interest: