(With apologies to Brittany Spears for tweaking her title!)
Today was spontaneously declared Toenail Trimming Day. I’ve only done the dogs’ toenails once since we moved back in the beginning of January… so those little piggies were long overdue for some snipping. You’re lucky my camera batteries died, or you’d have pictures of the horribly long clippings.
My dear, sweet Moose is almost always the easier dog to do, so I did him first. He was sprawled out on the floor in front of the couch, so I stretched out next to him and grabbed a foot. Moose played along for the back feet, but started to get antsy when I worked on his front paws. All I had to do was lean on him a little, and he stayed still.
Lally is always a handful when it’s toenail time. She usually gets agitated enough that she piddles on whoever is holding her — she has even peeped on the vet techs when I had them do the trimming. I managed to do one front paw without help (or piddles), but then Lally made a break for it.
My roommate M. bravely volunteered to help. He cuddled Lally while I snipped away at her back toes. She squiggled and squirmed, but I got both her back paws done. Only one to go!
With just two toes left on her last foot, it happened: I cut too deeply and nicked the quick. From the way she jumped, I knew something wasn’t right — it was stronger than her usual protests and escape attempts. Roommate M. let her go, and she ran off. I called her back and spotted the blood on her claw. My poor girl! I grabbed a tissue and applied gentle pressure, and the bleeding stopped quickly. (Compare this to the last time I nicked the quick, and cried while Lally bled all over my bedroom! It was the very first time I tried to trim her toenails.)
Lally’s last two toes can wait for another day, when we’re both settled down a little. Maybe next time, I’ll try the Dremel instead of the clippers. She’s already forgiven me — that’s one thing I love about my dogs. No matter how many mistakes I make, they still love me unconditionally.