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How To Cut Yorkie Nails (Trim And Clip Pain-Free)

Last updated October 24, 2022 By Mike Kelsen Leave a Comment

How To Cut Yorkie Nails Trimming a Yorkieโ€™s nails can be traumatic.

Both for you and your pup.

The color of their nails is a big reason for that. Weโ€™ll explain this below.

Their high energy level doesnโ€™t help either.

We usually recommend having a professional groomer clip your Yorkieโ€™s nails, but that does cost money.

If you prefer to do it yourself, it is certainly possible.

Keep reading to learn how to trim Yorkie nails without hurting your dog, plus a list of the most common mistakes, so you can be sure to avoid them.

Contents

  • 1 How To Clip Yorkie Nails
    • 1.1 Get Good Nail Trimmers
    • 1.2 Ensure You And Your Yorkie Are Comfortable
    • 1.3 Trim Your Yorkieโ€™s Nails Carefully
    • 1.4 File The Cut Nails (Optional)
    • 1.5 What To Do If The Cut Nail Bleeds
  • 2 Common Mistakes When Trimming Yorkie Nails
    • 2.1 Not Calming Your Dog
    • 2.2 Being In A Rush
    • 2.3 Cutting Into The Kwik
    • 2.4 Using Cheap Clippers
  • 3 Why You Need To Trim Your Yorkieโ€™s Nails
    • 3.1 Comfort
    • 3.2 Damage To Floors
    • 3.3 Long Nails Get Stuck
    • 3.4 Ingrown Nail
    • 3.5 Loss Of Grip
    • 3.6 Joint Or Bone Damage
  • 4 Cutting Yorkie Nails: Final Thoughts

 

How To Clip Yorkie Nails

Dogs can naturally keep their nails short through walking on gravelly or rough surfaces. But house pets donโ€™t usually spend enough time walking outside to keep their toenails as short as they need to be.

That is why they need to get their nails trimmed regularly. Many websites will tell you to trim your Yorkieโ€™s nails at least once every 2 to 3 months and that you should never go more than 6 months without clipping the nails.

How To Clip Yorkie Nails

We recommend doing it more often. Try to cut your Yorkieโ€™s nails every 2 weeks or so. It does depend on how much the nails get ground down naturally, but doing it more frequently makes the process much easier.

This has to do with how the nerves and blood vessels inside the nails grow longer along with the nail. This will all make sense once you have read the section on clipping the nails below.

The easiest way to trim a Yorkieโ€™s nails is to have a professional groomer do it. If you take your pup to a groomer for regular haircuts anyway, this makes a lot of sense.

But it does cost money and clipping your Yorkieโ€™s nails at home is possible. But there is a risk of injuring your dog, especially with an energetic breed like this one. Moreover, Yorkies have black nails, which makes trimming them much harder. Weโ€™ll cover why below.

If you do want to do it yourself, weโ€™ll walk you through it. The first thing youโ€™ll need are a pair of high quality nail clippers

 

Get Good Nail Trimmers

You can get good nail trimmers in any pet store. You can also find them online, for example on Amazon. Your vet will be able to recommend a good pair.

If youโ€™re not sure which to get, this pair by Boshel is a great choice.

Boshel Dog Nail Clippers with Safety Guard
Boshel Dog Nail Clippers with Safety Guard
$15.99 $14.99
View on Amazon
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
11/11/2024 06:20 pm GMT
Lasso Brag

It is inexpensive, but well constructed. It has non-slip handles and a safety guard to avoid over-clipping. It even comes with a free nail file.

 

Ensure You And Your Yorkie Are Comfortable

How To Trim Yorkie Nails

Both you and your dog need to be relaxed in order to avoid any issues. For that reason, you want to sit somewhere comfortable where you can hold your pup in your lap.

Alternatively, you can have someone else hold your dog while you do the cutting. The most important thing is that you want your dog to be calm and relaxed. Of course that means you also need to be calm, since dogs pick up on our emotional state.

 

Trim Your Yorkieโ€™s Nails Carefully

We always recommend clipping your petโ€™s nails after it has had a bath. The nails are softer after they have been soaking in water.

Dog nails have a cone inside them (called the kwik, also often written as โ€œquickโ€) that contains nerves and blood vessels. In most dogs, it is easy to locate, because they have white or clear nails and the kwik shows up as a pinkish area.

But itโ€™s not so easy with Yorkshire terriers. This breed has black nails, which makes it impossible to identify the kwik visually. It is a big reason why we generally recommend having a professional cut your Yorkieโ€™s nails.

If you cut into the kwik, your dog will feel pain and the nail will bleed. It is not the end of the world, but it is definitely something you want to avoid, if you can.

The kwik grows and shrinks with the nail. That means that if your pup has long nails, you canโ€™t cut them all the way back, even if you had them cut that short before. The kwik is now longer.

What you need to do is trim off a smaller portion, then wait a few days. The kwik will recede to match the now shorter nail. Once it has shrunk, you can cut off another portion of the nail.

In this way, you want to cut off smaller pieces of a long nail every few days. You could also just trim the nails more regularly, so they never get overly long. This is why we recommend trimming the nails every 2 weeks or so.

 

File The Cut Nails (Optional)

yorkie ready for a nail trim

Filing is not necessary, but some owners prefer to do it. After trimming, the nails are quite sharp. This can hurt you, if your dog jumps on your lap or otherwise lets its nails make contact with you.

The clippers we recommended above come with a free nail file. If you do not have a file, they are easy to find on Amazon and generally not expensive at all. This is a good one:

Coastal Pet Safari Diamond Dog Nail File
Coastal Pet Safari Diamond Dog Nail File
$8.49 $7.99
View on Amazon
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
11/11/2024 06:46 pm GMT
Lasso Brag

 

What To Do If The Cut Nail Bleeds

If you do accidentally cut into the kwik, donโ€™t panic. If you panic, your dog will too. Try to remain calm and stop the bleeding.

To do this, it is best to put styptic powder on the affected nail. It stops the bleeding almost instantly. It is a good idea to have a jar of styptic powder on hand when you cut your Yorkieโ€™s nails, just in case.

Dogswell Remedy and Recovery Styptic Blood Stopper Powder
Dogswell Remedy and Recovery Styptic Blood Stopper Powder
$11.49 $9.77
View on Amazon
We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
11/11/2024 06:55 pm GMT
Lasso Brag

If you do not have any, you can also use corn starch. It works just fine, but not nearly as well as styptic powder.

If you are unable to stop the bleeding, you should contact your vet.

The nail will heal, but the psychological damage may not, if you cut into the kwik too often. Your pup will come to dread nail clipping time. That is why it is important to be careful and do it correctly, or have a professional do it for you.

 

Common Mistakes When Trimming Yorkie Nails

The following mistakes are quite common when owners trim their Yorkieโ€™s nails themselves. Avoiding these mistakes goes a long way toward ensuring a successful nail clipping session.

 

Not Calming Your Dog

yorkie not calm enough for nail clipping

Yorkies are energetic and it can be tough to get them to sit still. It is even worse if they have had painful nail trimming experiences in the past. The more often they have experienced the kwik being cut, the more anxious they will be.

Do not cut your Yorkieโ€™s nails unless it is calm. The first step to calming your dog is to be calm yourself. After that, do what you need to to calm down your dog. Every dog is different and you know best what works for yours.

Some people like to put some peanut butter on a spoon for their pup to lick. This will distract your dog and it should calm down enough to give you its paw. If you are unable to calm your Yorkie, reschedule the nail trimming session.

 

Being In A Rush

Similar to your dog being calm, you also need to be calm. If you are in a hurry to get the job done, donโ€™t do it. The risk of making a mistake is too high. Plan to trim your Yorkieโ€™s nails another time, when you have more time available and are not in a hurry.

 

Cutting Into The Kwik

We already discussed this quite a bit, but it is a very common occurrence when clipping a Yorkieโ€™s nails at home. It even occasionally happens to professional groomers.

As mentioned above, if the nails are long, cut off a small portion and wait a few days for the kwik to recede before cutting off another portion.

Also, donโ€™t rush it and donโ€™t proceed unless your dog is calm. There is a reason we covered both of these above. It is too easy to accidentally cut off too much of the nail, if you or your dog are not calm and relaxed.

 

Using Cheap Clippers

You need a good pair of clippers, like the ones recommended above. A cheap pair is often not sharp enough, which results in an incorrect cut.

 

Why You Need To Trim Your Yorkieโ€™s Nails

yorkie with trimmed nails

If you are thinking youโ€™ll just let your Yorkieโ€™s nails grow long, please donโ€™t. There are a number of reasons you need to keep your Yorkieโ€™s nails cut down to a reasonable length.

 

Comfort

Try to imagine having toenails so long that they impact the ground when you walk. Not a pleasant thought, right?

So why would it be pleasant for your dog? That is why you should always keep your Yorkieโ€™s nails short enough that they donโ€™t hit the ground. If you hear the clicking on nails on the floor when your pup walks, itโ€™s high time to cut those suckers.

 

Damage To Floors

Conversely, nails that impact the floor can also damage the floor, along with other things around your home. Your dog might damage furniture, etc. with them.

 

Long Nails Get Stuck

Long nails also have a tendency to get stuck in soft things. They can get caught in blankets, thick carpets, your Yorkieโ€™s dog bed, and many more.

Not only can this damage the thing the nail sticks in, but it can result in the nail getting torn off! You Yorkie may freak out when the nail gets caught and could potentially tear it off trying to pull free.

 

Ingrown Nail

yorkie with short toenails

This is the biggest potential issue that can result from letting your Yorkieโ€™s nails grow too long. Youโ€™ve probably noticed that dog nails curl inward as they get longer.

Eventually, they curl back into the paw pad. If the nails gets long enough, it can penetrate the pad. As you can imagine, this is extremely painful for your dog. Worse, yet, it can get infected. It may require surgery to remedy this issue.

 

Loss Of Grip

The pads on the bottom of a dogโ€™s paws provide grip on slippery surfaces. If the nails are too long, it can prevent the paw pads from getting enough traction.

The result can be that your dog slips on some surfaces. If it is running, this can result in injuries. This, in turn, can result in your dog becoming afraid of slippery surfaces.

We actually had a dog once that had this problem. She refused to walk on our hardwood floors and only walked on the carpets. She was adopted from a shelter, so she must have suffered some trauma on a hardwood floor with her previous owners, most likely due to nails that were too long.

 

Joint Or Bone Damage

If your dogโ€™s nails get long enough that they make it difficult or painful to walk, this can result in your pup changing the way it walks. It will angle its feet differently to avoid pain.

Over time, this can lead to the bones or joints becoming misaligned. The result is pain for the rest of your pupโ€™s life. Read โ€œWhat Can I Give My Yorkie For Pain?โ€ for help with such a situation.

 

Cutting Yorkie Nails: Final Thoughts

You need to keep your Yorkieโ€™s nails trimmed to a reasonable length, in order to avoid a number of issues, all of which we discussed. Nail clipping is an important aspect of Yorkie grooming.

It is generally best to have a professional groomer cut your Yorkieโ€™s nails. But if you prefer to do it yourself, follow our instructions above to make it a painless experience for you and your little Yorkie.

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