I'm a complete novice at this but have really struggled to cut Zorro's nails lately. It's strange really as he doesn't mind his feet being handled at all but he just knows when I'm going to do his nails and won't keep his feet still for a second so it's always really frought - me trying to do it accurately but not cut him to the quick and him just pulling away the whole time.
Anyway having been doing Ttouch on Bella for other things with amazing results, I thought I'd try their suggestions for cutting nails on young Zorro. So this afternoon I had him lying on the floor next to me, got him nicely chilled out and then started doing touches on his front leg, down to his foot, inbetween his toes, on his nails, all over until he was really relaxed about it (almost nodding off
). I then showed him the nail clippers and did a bit of ttouch with them on his leg and foot (which is what the book suggests). I then clipped the first nail and he moved his foot away slightly, so I did more touches on his leg and foot until he relaxed again and then did the next nail. I took a break after 3 nails as he was starting to get restless/antsy, then went back later and did the same for the final nail. So I still have 3 feet to go, and it's far, far more laborious than doing Bella's, but the nice thing is he's much more relaxed about it and I am as well as I'm not trying to do it quickly before he swipes his foot away. So I'm going to perservere I think - might even try this on Bella - she's much better about her nails (probably cos she's a laydeee
) but I still have to be in like a whippet.
