Ah, the bane of every Manchester’s existence: nail care. This is so important that I made a special page for it. What is the correct dog nail length? 

Here is my rule of thumb for determining proper dog nail length: If you can hear your dog’s nails tapping on the floor they are too long. Well-trimmed nails do not reach the ground. If you are struggling to maintain proper dog nail shape and length, please read to the end. You’ll be glad that you did.

If you can hear your dog’s nails tapping on the floor they are too long!

This can be a touchy subject but it’s best to get straight to the point: if you have been letting your dog’s nails get long, it IS neglect. A lot of people just don’t realize how to properly maintain the nails and they get out of control. After repeatedly wrestling with a dog that appears to turn rabid when it’s nail time, the owner has become just as traumatized as the dog.

But why is it neglectful? It’s painful every time your dog walks.

• Long nails change the shape of your dog’s foot
• Long nails cause the dog to slip on hard surfaces which can result in injury and anxiety. As a result they become afraid of tile, linoleum or hardwood floors, living in fear of falling and afraid to walk on floors in their own home.
• Your dog will get early arthritis from the unnatural distribution of weight on their feet from nails that are too long.

Manchester nails are different from other breeds and that makes them challenging to maintain if keeping a routine is difficult for you. It’s literally the worst part of owning this breed.

• The nails are black so you can’t see the quick, which is the blood vessel that runs the length of the nail.
• If you cut the nails too far and hit the quick, it bleeds like you cut an artery and they will scream in your ear like they are dying as you hold them.
• You literally can’t get the bleeding to stop unless you use Kwik Stop powder which is immediately effective but unfortunately, it burns when you put it on.
• Oh, and add the fact that they are the fastest growing nails of any breed and it’s not hard to understand why nail time can be a nightmare for dog and owner.

People think that as long as they trim the overgrown nails without hitting the quick, they are doing a good enough job. It has become common knowledge among experienced pet owners, groomers and veterinarians that if your dog’s nails are too long to trim to the proper length without hitting the quick, all you need to do is have more frequent nail trims until they get to the desired length. It is also common knowledge that most dog owners seem to get by with trimming the nails once every few weeks, and if you live in the city and walk your dog on sidewalks a lot, you won’t have to trim the nails much, if at all… THROW ALL OF THIS “COMMON KNOWLEDGE” OUT THE WINDOW.

You own a Manchester Terrier now.

I can’t repeat this enough: Manchester nails are different from other breeds. The quick grows with the nail and you can’t train them back once they grow out. Their nails grow faster than any other breed I have ever met and when you get them to the proper length, you MUST trim or dremel them weekly to maintain them. I’m sorry, that’s just how it is.

If you hate doing nails and wake up one day and realize they are overgrown and take your dog to the vet or the groomer to have them done (as I have tried), they will never be short enough. They simply don’t understand that Manchester nails are different than other breeds. You can’t train back the nails on an adult Manchester Terrier by cutting off slivers of nail once a week because they grow too fast and the quick grows with the nail. But pet professionals just don’t have enough experience with our breed to understand that. They also don’t want to deal with a frantic, upset owner screaming at them because they made their dog bleed and cry. Even when asked to trim the nails while the dog is under anesthesia for another procedure, they often do not trim them short enough. This is why it’s so important to stick to a weekly nail schedule from the moment you bring your Manchester home!

Ok, time for the good news, by dremeling, instead of clipping, your dog’s well-trimmed nails, you can get this chore done quickly and without fuss. A dremel is a rotary tool used for woodworking. Click here for the dremel we recommend for new users. A sandpaper attachment is used to grind the nails. They even sell them for pet owners now, with guards to keep you from sanding your fingers or the wrong part of your dog’s foot. With a dremel, you can see that you are approaching the quick and stop before you actually hit the quick. I have noticed that the nails of dogs who I started with weekly dremeling as puppies, do not grow as fast. By the time they are a year old, I can get away with doing their nails every two weeks. Even better is that the dogs don’t seem to mind the dremel. I have them lay on their back across my legs and if they are a little squirmy, as puppies can be, my husband will rest his hand on their chest and gently restrain them. We feed treats to make it a positive experience. My adult dogs just lay there, waiting for me to finish so they can have their treat. You can do it too!

But what if I still hit the quick and their nails bleed? It’s ok! With the dremel, you have full control. It’s not going to gush everywhere like when you cut them. You’ll be able to stop the bleeding by applying Kwik Stop powder when you first start to notice that blood is seeping from the end of the nail. It’s much easier to control and stop the bleeding if you nick the quick with the dremel, than if you cut right through it with clippers.