Best Dog Nail Clippers for Beginners [2024 Buyer’s Guide]
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Trimming your dog’s nails is a crucial part of keeping your pup healthy and happy. Long toenails can break and bleed, curl into your dog’s paw pads, or even cause arthritis. Sure, you could take your dog to the groomer or vet for a nail trim, but buying nail clippers and doing it yourself will pay for itself within one or two nail trims.
Our overall top pick for the best nail clippers for beginners goes to the BOSHEL Dog Nail Clippers. They’re sharp, powerful, easy to use, and include a small nail file to smooth out rough edges once you’re done clipping.
Our Top Picks for Best Dog Nail Clippers for Beginners
Best Dog Nail Clippers for Beginners Reviews 2024
The BOSHEL Dog Nail Clippers offer quality at a reasonable price. They have ergonomic handles to reduce the strain on your hand and wrist while trimming your dog’s nails. The ergonomic handles especially come in handy when you have a large dog with thick nails!
The safety guard helps prevent you from cutting into your dog’s quick (a vein that runs through your dog’s toenail). The blades are nice and sharp to help you slice through your dog’s nails rather than crushing them.
Nail grinding is the best way to get your dog’s nails as smooth and short as possible, and the Dremel 7300-PT 4.8V Cordless Nail Grinding Tool is the best tool for the job. With two speeds and no cord, you can ease your dog into the idea of nail grinding.
It takes a minute to figure out how to replace the sanding heads. However, everything else about the Dremel makes it the best nail grinder out there for pets.
If you’ve never tried cutting your dog’s nails yourself, you may not want to invest much into nail clippers at first, which makes the CleanHouse Pets Dog and Cat Nail Clippers an excellent option for beginners.
These nail clippers aren’t sturdy enough to last forever, but they are sharp enough and strong enough for you to cut your dog’s nails yourself quite a few times before needing to replace them – or deciding you would rather pay somebody else to fight with your dog if they hate it.
The H&H Pets Dog and Cat Nail Clippers are ideal for small dogs and puppies. The larger the nail clippers, the easier it is to cut nails too short. That’s why these tiny nail clippers are perfect for dogs and puppies under 10 pounds.
These nail clippers are sharp enough to cut nails without being so large that you can’t see what you’re doing on a small dog. You have better control and are less likely to cut a small dog’s nails too short with these.
Resco Original Deluxe Dog Nail Clippers are the original guillotine-style nail clippers. Some people find this style of nail clippers to be harder to use than the more common scissors-style. However, other people prefer how easily a sharp blade on these clippers can slice through a dog’s toenails.
What to Consider When Buying Dog Nail Clippers
Type of Dog Nail Clippers
There are several different types of nail clippers to choose from. Each type has pros and cons.
- Scissors or pliers-style clippers – These are the most common type of dog nail clippers and the simplest to use. Just squeeze the handles to cut your dog’s nails. This style often includes a guard to help prevent cutting off too much of your dog’s toenail at once.
- Guillotine-style clippers – Guillotine-style nail clippers can be a little tricky when you’re new to cutting your dog’s toenails. You have to poke your dog’s nail through a tiny hole at a good angle before squeezing the handle and slicing through the nail.
- Nail grinders – Technically, nail grinders are a totally different tool than nail clippers. However, they’re still an excellent way to shorten your dog’s nails. It’s easier to get your dog’s nail as short as possible without causing bleeding or pain using grinders.
Size and Number of Dogs In your Home
Smaller nail clippers are best for small dogs but won’t work on large nails. Large nail clippers are unwieldy for small nails; however, you can use large clippers on small nails better than small nail clippers on large nails. If you only have one dog, buy the best size for your only dog. If you have multiple dogs, buy nails clippers that can accommodate your largest dog’s nails.
Durability
If you only have one dog and you only trim their nails once a month, you can get away with cheaper nail clippers. If you have a whole herd of dogs (or groom other people’s dogs on the side), then you will want durable nail clippers that won’t get dull after a handful of uses.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should I trim my dog’s nails?
In general, you should trim your dog’s nails at least once a month. For puppies, small dogs, and dogs who don’t walk on pavement very often, you may need to trim their nails every other week. For large dogs who run daily on the pavement, you may only need to touch up their nails every few months.
How do I know how short to cut my dog’s nails?
This is something that most dog owners struggle with. It’s especially difficult for dogs with black toenails. Let’s think about white toenails to discuss the structure of a dog’s nail and how far to cut; then we’ll tell you how to tackle black toenails.
On white dog toenails (or your own fingernails), there’s the white/clear part of the nail and the pink part. The pink part of the nail is called the “quick.” It’s a vein in the nail. If you cut into it, your dog will bleed, and it does hurt. Dogs remember this pain, and it’s a big reason why so many dogs hate having their nails trimmed.
So on white nails, the goal would be to get as close to the pink as possible without making your dog bleed.
With black toenails, you want to watch the underside of the nail as you trim off a little bit of nail at a time. When you get close enough to the quick, a black dot will appear in the middle of the nail, with white or gray material around it. Stop trimming when you see that black dot – it’s the quick.
Last update on 2023-08-02 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
