Generally speaking, you need to trim your dog’s nails every four to six weeks. Letting them grow too long can lead to health problems such as splayfoot and injure your dog’s tendons. If you can hear your dog’s nails tip-tapping on your floor, it’s time for a trim. If you’re lucky, your dog will patiently wait while you tend to their toes, but they probably want the experience over with as quickly as possible. Clippers are the fastest way to get your dog’s nails to a safe length, but wielding them requires a strong, steady hand, and that isn’t always easy when your dog is jerking their foot away. A wrong move can also nip your pup’s quick (the blood vessels beneath the nail), which is upsetting for both of you.
Nail grinders, in contrast, shorten the nail bit by bit, as opposed to cutting them off in chunks. This process is slower but safer, and it doesn’t require as much hand strength. Grinders don’t create splits or splinters like clippers can; instead they leave a smooth nail that’s unlikely to catch on anything or accidentally scratch. Grinders are also good for dogs with dark nails, where the quick is difficult to see. But not all dogs are comfortable around the noise and vibration of a grinder—and the friction can cause both the nail and the grinder bit to heat up, so you need to take frequent breaks.
We spoke with five pet groomers and vets about how best to tend to your dog’s nails, and although their opinions were consistent when it came to clippers, they were mixed on the subject of grinders. Some pet professionals said that grinders’ safety factor made them the ideal choice, while others pointed to the tools’ noisiness as a reason to pass on them. But every pet is different, and if yours doesn’t mind the noise, a grinder is a good option. Just make sure to use a bit that’s coarse enough to work efficiently but not so rough that it pulls on the nail while grinding.
You can also use a household Dremel rotary tool, if you have one, to groom your dog’s nails, but we don’t suggest that for everyone. The Dremel AT02-PGK Pet Grooming Attachment Kit is an option for pet caretakers who own a Dremel tool for other purposes and don’t have the dog-nail grinder model. We haven’t tested that attachment kit yet, but it does come with the same nail guard, grooming discs, and bands as our Dremel PawControl top pick. The nail guard traps nail dust and makes it harder to accidentally sand a pup’s paw pads, and it ensures that first-time users are grinding at a 45-degree angle that matches the nail’s slant. The included grooming accessories reduce the risk of cross-contamination by keeping the tools used in household projects separate. (You should never grind a dog’s nails with the same dirty sanding disc you typically use for rust removal.) The attachment works with a wide variety of Dremel tools.
If the Dremel tool that you have is incompatible with the pet-grooming kit, you can still consider grinding your dog’s nails without it, if you’re very comfortable with the tool. “You don’t have to buy all that stuff,” a Dremel customer service rep told us. But there are some caveats. Regardless of the model you use, you can’t grind a dog’s nails with it the same way you might use it to sharpen knives or cut drywall. Dremel recommends not exceeding 10,000 rpm for pet grooming. Grinding a dog’s nails at a speed higher than recommended can cause heat buildup, which can harm a pet, or it may result in your accidentally hitting the nail quick (the center of the nail, packed with nerves and blood).
