Yet another claw injury

Cinnamontoast

Cinnamontoast

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Bear's third, maybe he just has rubbish claws or maybe it's cos he's a massive spud! The claw is slit along the ridge, all the way up, plus at the sides. He's only been to the river in the past few days, straight in, bank is muddy after they were there the other day.

The same vet dealt as last time and remarked on how extremely fit he is, how slow his heart rate is and what a perfect body score he has. *Proud owner boast* She also told me springers are mad (grr!) and how unusual it is to meet one who isn't nervy or anxious. Funny how I know loads!

Coming out, there was an 8 month old sprocker puppy, spitting image of Bear, but teeny. The owner gulped when he saw how huge Bear is!

Poor little wounded soldier keeps plonking himself in his cage but has managed to crawl onto my knee for now.
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My black lab used to get a lot of claw injuries, eventually aged 9 her claws all but disappeared and she was diagnosed with SLO,, symmetrical lupoid onachondroplasia (sp?) She now has omega 3 and 6 supplements and she has teeny claws all round. Luckily we have managed to avoid infection and aggressive treatment. She dislike walking on gravel and couldn't cope with much road work, we live next to a huge network of bridleway and she's great off lead so she just choses her own route.
 
Crap, Thistle, that's terrifying!

No, Alec, they're virtually never on concrete or tarmac, only between the back door and the lawn-15 feet and down the lane to the park-100ft. They spend walks at the river or in the park. He's just quite clumsy or his brother makes him look clumsy. Zak is a very elegant dog, his trot is to die for, despite the HD.

This is his 3rd claw injury, he also sliced his pad open and speared his axilla, amazingly missing all the vital structures!

Zak's had a double ended fishing lure embedded in his stifle. Brig's had an ulcer and the eye was sewn shut for two weeks. He sliced open his belly, no blood, just the first couple of layers, ripped off the pad on his 'wrist', that bled a lot, snapped a claw in half. Trouble is, springers tend to go through cover rather than round. Bear and Brig don't look where they're going. I've seen Bear jumping up and down in brambles. Not sensible!
 
Regular contact with a hard and abrasive surface, concrete and/or tarmac for instance, generally hardens and toughens up a dog's feet, and not just the pads but nails and it seems the internal bits too. Many moons ago when I used to pick-up on the grouse moors for my employer, the dogs used to accompany me for a 5 mile bike ride every day for a couple of weeks and then they'd mostly stay sound when on the moors. Greyhounds in training also have extended periods of road-work and for the same purpose.

I've found that most foot problems happen with dogs which don't get enough road-work. Just a suggestion.

Alec.
 
Are the nails wearing down as they should? If not and they are over long, your vet should have picked up on that.

The solution is either to exercise on the road, keep the dog in a concrete floored kennel, or clip the nails regularly. A solicitor friend used to have this problem when we went north with his dogs for the grouse. Back home, his dogs spent their time between house (on carpets) and the garden. My own, kept in kennels with a concrete floor, were always fine.

Have a look at the feet of a friend's dog kept outside on concrete as Alec suggests, then look at your dog's feet and compare nail length. If you have to trim back nails, do it gradually over weeks so the quick and blood vessels withdraw naturally. Clipping a dog's nails or claws is no different to clipping our own nails and so long as you are not over enthusiastic, it causes no pain. It needs to be done regularly, a little at a time, so the quick and blood vessels withdraw, as above.
 
His nails are short, I check and trim regularly. I should mention that the house is laminate and tile downstairs. They have a habit of scarpering up the concrete path in the middle of the garden. I think the issue is more clumsiness than a physical problem. He's taking full advantage of his wounded soldier thing, sat on my knee.
 
C_T, you've raised an interesting point regarding nail length and the wear rate. My dogs live on concrete floors but with wooden beds now, and I don't believe that I've ever clipped a toenail. During the '70s and with the ever increasing incidents of HD my employer had every kennel floor lined out in T&G floor boards, they looked very smart but did little for the dog's feet in general, I suspect, which explained the road-work.

I understand that with your work based lifestyle, and whilst dog-exercise would be easier in the summer, perhaps the dark nights of winter could present problems, but even a 20 minute walk a day on 'hard' surfaces (pavements-streets etc.) would keep their nails in trim, harden their feet and perhaps solve the problem.

For those of us with kennelled dogs which sleep on wooden floors, and we notice that the dogs 'dig-and'dig' at their bed floors, I'm wondering if as cats which have scratching posts (or furniture), they're simply preventing their claws (nails) from getting too long. Not sure but I suppose that it's possible. (Possibly yet more ****ocks, but it's a thought! :) )

Alec.
 
If you are dremmelling the nails I'd suggest changing to guillotine clippers...one of mine used to have nails that split up the sides after dremmeling..once we reverted to trad clippers it never happened again.
I love the dremmel and use it on my current dogs,but it doesn't suit them all.
 
What a gorgeous face!

Interesting thread and as I live and mostly work/exercise my dogs on a grouse moor ie tracks, heather etc, I am going to make a concerted effort to start walking them daily for 20 mins or so on concrete to hopefully harden feet/nails and to avoid having to regularly trim nails (which they - and I - hate!)
 
I've always kennelled my dogs and I've always done lots of roadwork - I've never had to clip nails and it definitely makes the pads tough. I did have one bitch who ripped claws/paws quite regularly but she was bonkers :p
 
I think there must be a genetic component too, mine both receive the same exercise including roadwork and running on hard trails, one dog I could get away with never clipping, the other one needs nails doing almost weekly. I'm eyeing them now and thinking I could take another half a cm off, they were only done on Saturday!
 
Don't think it's to do with lack of being on concrete, the patio is slabs, the path they pelt up and down is concrete. I think it's down to him being very spud like! His brother has never had an issue, nor has big dog bar when he ran full pelt into a cage and snapped the claw.
 
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