Getting Her Nails Did

~The infamous nail clippers~

As previously mentioned Georgia’s nails will have to be trimmed within 24 hours of a visit once we become a certified Pet Partners Team. I don’t have the time or want to spend the money on running to PetsMart for this every time. So, I’ve got to get comfortable with cutting her nails on my own. I wrote in an earlier post how I’ve worked to desensitize her to the clippers and make them a good thing, not a scary thing – clippers = treats. I need to not be nervous because she can sense that and it makes her nervous too.

I was feeling pretty confident one night recently and I cut 8 nails – but on the 6^th nail I got carried away and cut too short and Georgia yelped and her nail bled a little bit. I wanted to panic, but I knew I had to stay calm for her so she wouldn’t be fearful of future nail trimmings. I really did stay calm, put pressure on it and then the bleeding stopped. I think because I stayed calm and reassured her; she let me finish cutting the last two nails. Most of her nails are white, but she has a few that are black and some that are half black/white, the one I cut too short was one of the half black/white ones (that’s my excuse). C had told me not to push it and never do just one more. Nathan was in the room when she yelped and he reminded me of what C said and that I should just stop. I told him no, I needed to finish on a good note, so she remembered that. Thanks to the power of treats she calmly let me finish the last two nails. When I told C about this later she said she was glad I did that because that’s what was best for me (maybe not the best for Georgia). I was the one that needed to end on a good note. She is right! Since I did end on a good note, I wasn’t so nervous the next time. I need to trim her nails more frequently to push the quick back so they are shorter. I’m hoping the cement will help with that too since we’re walking more with the weather starting to get nice.

Since I’m spending so much time on Georgia’s toe nails, it’s only fair that my toes get some attention too, right? Time to schedule a pedicure since open toed-shoe season is almost upon us – FINALLY! The winter felt never ending to me and a lot of us here in Indiana. I would like to thank my friend, Liz Bedwell, for taking the picture for today’s post. Thank you, Liz, for taking the time to take pictures of some of my tools and Georgia’s “tools”. You’ll see more of Liz’s pictures in upcoming posts.