Dog foot care should be part of your weekly dog care routine so that your pup can feel his best! Dogs walk on their toes as opposed to their soles like humans and their nails should be kept short and in good care to avoid any difficulties they could cause to your dog.
Dogs nails are dead tissue at the end with a blood supply or quick closer to the foot. On dogs with light nails, the quick is easy to identify – you will see a dark line running into the nails. The ends of the nails can be cut without causing pain and you should trim them as close to the quick as possible. If you perform dog foot care on a dog that has dark nails you won’t be able to see the quick and you’ll have to cut the nails back a little bit at a time until you are as close as you dare!
You can buy nail clippers for dog foot care at any pet store, and of course online. There are basically 2 types, guillotine clippers that have a round end and a blade that slides down into the round end (like a guillotine).
The other type is called a pliers style clipper which has rounded cut outs on each blade and opens and closes like a pliers. You can also buy styptic powder to help stop the bleeding in case you accidentally cut the nail too short.
Additional dog foot care consists of trimming dog hair between the pads and applying dog foot cream to pads if they are dry or cracked. If your dog spends a lot of time outside in winter you may want to consider getting him some doggy boots to save wear and tear on his feet. Also, be sure that you wipe off your pets feet if he comes in contact with chemicals from lawns or cars or salt from roads in winter.