- Location
- Wellington, NZ
I'm going to join this half-way through and focus on teeth. I have doggy toothpaste and a finger brush, but never got into using them. Terrible doggy mum. I'll start today.
The Bavarian July Toe and Teeth Challenge - with prize drawing!
- Thread starter Emily_Babbelhund
- Start date
Yay, welcome to the challenge @Xena Dog Princess 
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Ditto from Carbon and me!Yay, welcome to the challenge @Xena Dog Princess
Tonight we did practice on all 4 feet. Front right foot we got to handling toes with one hand whilst holding the running dremel, to start introducing the slight vibration. Front left he was less comfortable again - when the dremel was running he wasn’t keen, so clearly progress on all 4 feet is going at different speeds - tricky! On the plus side, his back feet are catching up - and we started me moving position to get to them, which he was cool with.
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
We did a lot of foot handling - he's doing great on everything except that left front one which is still a bit touchy. Didn't actually trim anything because I couldn't stand the thought of one more trip ALL the way across the living room on those darn crutches to get the clippers. 
Tonight was another taking-it-slow toe session. I realised that Kipper is not so comfortable with me holding a paw in one hand and touching it with my other hand, so we did some little quick sessions building up to that. Also not sure how to navigate handling a back foot when he’s lying on it and is disinclined to move. Tricky...
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
I think you need to have several positions for nail trimming, unless you train either a stand or a roll over. I need to get my “grooming table” set up again because that was brilliant for a trained stand for Willow.
Definitely this - I need to set up our grooming space again, we haven’t been there for a while and as it’s not established yet I don’t want to ‘spoil it’ with this activity. Probably being over-cautious, but still...
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
The bright side of my lack of mobility is that now I'm doing nails more than teeth because with nails I don't have to go all the way to the bathroom to clean the toothbrush afterwards. I'm truly a 'path of least resistance' type.
@HAH I can never figure out the cutting position either. With Brogan I just grabbed and snipped/Dremeled, but trying to get Carbon to volunteer a paw in a position that works for both of us is a bit of a head-scratcher.
@HAH I can never figure out the cutting position either. With Brogan I just grabbed and snipped/Dremeled, but trying to get Carbon to volunteer a paw in a position that works for both of us is a bit of a head-scratcher.
Tonight we had our session a little earlier, which was interesting as Kipper was very receptive. 2 weeks ago, 7pm would have been too early for him, at peak ‘let’s play!’ time. But with practice from this challenge we’ve got to a place where he’s looking forward to our sessions and most importantly can focus on what we’re doing. This feels like a huge step forward, so a heartfelt thank you, @Emily_Babbelhund
We worked more on short sessions, me shifting position and handling Kipper’s toes with two hands with plenty of breaks. I think we’re both getting the hang of this way of doing things, as we seemed to progress further and more comfortably with short sessions and lots of breaks. Famous last words - we’ll see how tomorrow goes!
We worked more on short sessions, me shifting position and handling Kipper’s toes with two hands with plenty of breaks. I think we’re both getting the hang of this way of doing things, as we seemed to progress further and more comfortably with short sessions and lots of breaks. Famous last words - we’ll see how tomorrow goes!
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
Rourke seems to be getting more worried about having a nail clipped1
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
Do you think it might be from the problems he's having with his legs/joints? Poor boy.
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
No, I don't think so, just seems to be anticipating that I am going to cut a nail! Though I don't remember ever hurting him, maybe he doesn't like the squeeze feeling as the nail is cut.
This might well be it; I hadn’t really thought about this much until the last few months, but I think I’ve had that issue with Kipper so we’re starting from basics again.
- Location
- Andorra and Spain
My lot hate that pressure. Using super-sharp clippers and taking off tiny slivers means you don’t get that pressing feeling.
Tonight’s session was a good’un - we started by licking toothpaste off a finger brush (yum!) then moved on to toes, again keeping sessions short and varied. I’ve become more conscious of tension in his toes when he gives them to me, so I particularly worked on marking a relaxed paw. Hopefully this will eventually be the default behaviour, so I can read any tension as ‘I’m less keen’ rather than simply excitement
This was a view of ‘engaged enthusiasm’ from our session -
This was a view of ‘engaged enthusiasm’ from our session -
- Location
- Malvern Worcestershire
I tried one today, which should have just taken a tiny sliver. I also have Miller Forge (?) ones but perhaps need to buy new ones but don't like buying off Amazon.
Emily_Babbelhund
Mama Red HOT Pepper
- Location
- Regensburg, Germany
