i never thought of him thinking he was being ganged up on....that may be what dwells in his mind....i shall give your suggestion a try....thank you ivy......

ginny

For an adult dog that was not trained to accept nail trimming as a puppy, I would recommend a muzzle. It is understandable that he is apprehensive, but he also must learn that he must tolerate the procedure, and threatening to bite (or actually biting) is not acceptable behavior.

One thing you might try is a nail grinder instead of clippers, some dogs are more comfortable with grinding, since the snap of the clippers can startle them. Another tip is to trim nails often, at leat twice a month and maybe even weekly. The more routine the procedure becomes, the less he should react.

You also need to have a calm, assertive attitude when it is time to trim nails...if YOU are nervous and apprehensive about how he will react, he is going to pick right up on that, and he will in turn feel more stressed.

Puppies here (I am a breeder) learn early on that you lay upside down in owner's lap, owner snips nails, a belly rub and a treat are given, and we are all done! Takes about a minute per dog.

When we first got Minnie I tried to clip her nails and as soon as she saw the clippers she would start "screaming".  She's OK with having her feet touched, but I think she picked up on my nervousness.  I take her to Petco or the vet to have her nails clipped and she does really well.

I was going to ask if you used clippers or a dremel (nail grinder) but was beaten to it

Chester puts up a bit of a fight - mostly with his back legs trying to push my arm away since I cradle him when I do them.  So, I do the back nails first then it's not so much of a fight doing the front.  Noah whines a bit at first but allows me to do them with mostly no problem.  Both get a treat right after we're done.  I prefer to use the dremel since I HATE trimming black nails and they both have a few of those.  Using the dremel, it's easier for me to judge when to stop by comparing the length of the black nails to the clear ones beside them so I'm not stressed about cutting their quick, making them less stressed.

I like the team approach with the peanut butter but I don't have anyone to help me and it would be rather messy holding them with peanut butter on the one hand I'd be holding them with and trying to trim nails with just one hand left lol

I’ve never tried to clip Diesel’s nails (but am certain he’d let me).  From listening to other friend who have dogs, I think a dog becomes apprehensive to nail clipping the first time one gets cut too short and it bleeds.

My method of dealing with Diesel’s nails is to take him for walks to and from the park using a retractable leash.  That lets him roam around quite a bit more on the concrete sidewalks.  Also Diesel’s kennel is quite large ~500 sq feet and I have a portion of it covered with pavers (flat landscaping stones) that I picked up at Home Depot.

The concrete pavers permit Diesel to fully move from his house to his wooden sun-deck that’s in the opposite corner of his kennel.  For some reason, Diesel roams his kennel on the stone surfaces even when the weather is dry and sunny.

We tried a number of various techniques to no avail.  I would still like to conquer this task at home, but since I have a hard time not being nervous and apprehensive so no way she is going to be calm about it.  Now she doesn't give the groomer any problem whatsoever and the groomer even commented that she is the sweetest most docile Rat Terrier she has ever seen.  She does not clip them, just dremmels.  Now, I also tried the Pedipaw thing and a much smaller dremmel type grooming tool to no avail also sooooooooo,  I think it is just me and my nervous vibes.

Good luck in finding a method that works for you. 

thanks for all the information....radar is with his two siblings (small dogs) on the side kennel which is all pavement...his nails in the front are the only ones that need trimming...we put them out for a total of about two hours a day...the rest of the time he is on the hill or in the garden...but for the most part he is in the house on our lap or running around playing... a friend of mine said that it is hardest for the owner to trim the nails....so perhaps i will take him to a groomer that does not know him...this is my next step...

well, victory today with radar's nails...i tried giving him cookie and sat on the coach....did not work...so i remembered that my daughter said that she had very little problems when he was on the grooming table...i put him up on the washing machine where my thinking is he does not feel like napolean....yes, prayer and the washing machine gave the victory............no problems..............