Introducing a demmel

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JudyN
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Introducing a demmel

Post by JudyN »

The combination of Jasper's corn and my knee means that his claws are getting longer... and longer. He's also getting more grumpy about me clipping then - I could reliably take a tiny bit off one a day, but I got a growl out of him when I did that the other day. I've now ordered a dremmel but I'm really not sure if it's going to work.

Obviously I need to introduce it very carefully, building up from 'Oh look there's a dremmel in the room, that means I get a treat', and 'When it makes that funny noise I get a treat'. I'm wondering if I need to get him to voluntarily touch it with his paw, as he's not overkeen on me holding his paw when not doing anything to him... maybe I need to work on that first.

I could try getting OH to feed him something wonderful while I'm working on his feet but he's so astute, and so suspicious, I think that could equate to 'If they're trying to distract me with liver pate they must be planning on doing something really horrible and scary.' I want him to think 'Whoopee, dremmel time,' not 'This is what I need to tolerate to get my reward.' Actually I'd settle for the latter if he was more tolerant in general :roll:

Any suggestions for giving this the best chance of success, please? I almost feel that I could do with a sheet of strict instructions for me, like 'Week 1 - don't even think about switching it on' to stop me trying to go too fast too soon, and avoid me eyeing him warily (which he'll probably notice) because I'm trying to push on too soon.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Ari_RR
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by Ari_RR »

“Whoopee, dremmel time” may take a while...

We got Ari to the point of tolerating it reluctantly while consuming a lot of cheese.

Miles at this point seems much worse. He wants the cheese and he also wants to hide his feet from the dremmel, and it appears he wants to hide his feet more. So unfortunately I have no suggestions that I can proudly stand by.

It’s incredibly frustrating. Maybe this kind of desensitizing requires more patience than I have.

I actually tried the sand block yesterday, which went better than dremmel, as far as introduction goes. Productivity of the sand block however seems disappointingly low, even with my extremely low expectations.

Will have to keep experimenting.
If you find the path to “whopee, dremmel time!” - you will be worshipped by many souls.
Ari, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Sept 2010 - Dec 2018.
Miles, Rhodesian Ridgeback, b. Nov 2018
JudyN
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by JudyN »

Maybe Miles would benefit from associating just his paws being held with a treat for now? He's still young, so you won't have to undo years of 'I don't like being fiddled with!'

ETA: I'm thinking about my poor attempts at clicker training when the moment he saw the clicker he'd think 'Whoopee!' and try sitting, barking, bowing, anything and everything to see what worked. That could be a good aim to start out, but maybe giving the reward for paw contact.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
JudyN
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by JudyN »

'If it's the first time to use your pet mill for your pet, it's best to put the nail tip or too long part, do not worn too deep, so that your pet will slowly adapt it' :lol:
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Ari_RR
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by Ari_RR »

With Baby Miles - no issues holding his paws, checking between the toes, etc... anything, really - no problems, no objections.
Dremmel, however...
We can manage 1 paw at a time, but this is far from "whoopee".
I have a feeling that the key is moving forward very slowly, 1st touching nail with dremmel off, then just getting accustomed to the sound of it, but Good Lord this will take weeks if not months, and for love or money we don't have this kind of patience!
Ari, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Sept 2010 - Dec 2018.
Miles, Rhodesian Ridgeback, b. Nov 2018
JudyN
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by JudyN »

But just think - take a year over it, and in a year's time, still very early in his life, you'll have dog happy for you to tend his nails, who will continue to do so for hopefully the next 10+ years - as opposed to having 10+ years of trying to deal wih a dog who either runs away or curls his lip whenever you get the dremmel out. Small targets - aim for, e.g., 'In a month's time I want Miles to happily anticipate the "touch dremmel with paw" trick', and then 'In two months' time he likes the sound of the dremmel because it predicts cheese', and 'In three months' time he'll touch it with the sound on'...

But yes, I've not had the patience to do that with J in a lot of areas. It sounds so easy in theory!
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
JudyN
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by JudyN »

I'm so happy - I decided to teach Jasper to file his own nails and it'a going fantastically. Why didn't I do this years ago? :D

https://youtu.be/PNODTC40pfA

That was just our second attempt. I was wondering how to encourage him to use both paws equally as he favours his left, but today he seemed to be picking up my instructions for which paw to use even if it was mostly along the lines of 'Now the other one, no, not that one, that one, oh OK have another treat, now THAT one!'

OK, so it really just does his middle two claws on his front feet but they're the ones that get long - his back claws seem to stay a reasonable length. Apparently if I line a length of guttering with sandpaper I can do the front side claws.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Ari_RR
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by Ari_RR »

Brilliant!
Ari, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Sept 2010 - Dec 2018.
Miles, Rhodesian Ridgeback, b. Nov 2018
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Nettle
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Re: Introducing a demmel

Post by Nettle »

That's excellent! Well done you and Jas.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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