How to Trim a Dog's Feet

When you have a dog with hairy paws, learning how to trim them properly is very important for the continued health of your pup. If you don’t keep the hair on his paws, between his toes, and between his pads tidy, it will become painful and challenging for your pup to walk. 

You can often tell when the hair is too long by watching your pup, he will start favoring paws that hurt. Thankfully, trimming this hair is very easy and should only take a few minutes each time.  

It's a sure bet your dog doesn't want every step he takes to be a painful experience. At the same time, he doesn't want to slip and have problems with trying to walk on linoleum, tile, or wood floors. Not only can long hair under his paws make it hard to work, it can twist his feet out of alignment, putting excessive strain and stress on his joints and muscles. 

• You must use sharp safety shears to make clean cuts and to reduce the risk of injury.
  
• Be sure to examine his paws carefully for any signs of injury, thorns, blisters, or infections.
  
• This job may be easier with your pup laying on his side.
  
• Be very careful when using shears around your pup's paws as it is very easy to cut or injure him.
  
• Should you see anything out of the ordinary as you examine your pup's paws, be sure to take him to see the vet for a complete checkup.
  
• If your pup has really long hair on his feet and it gets matted, don't attempt to brush or comb it out, just use shears to cut the mats out.
  
• Be sure to give your pup plenty of time to get used to the tools you will be using. This will make trimming the hair on his feet much easier. 
  

The last thing you should want is for your pup to be walking on hairy paws that make it painful and hard for him to walk. It is your job to keep his paws neatly trimmed. It shouldn't take more than 10 or 15 minutes to trim this hair, but the end result is a much happier pup who has no issues walking around.