Dogblr I need advice and help!
So, saoirse is a super super anxious dog. If she has one bad experience with something, she hates it forever. For example she is from a horse rescue, and used to love them, but after one bad experience she hates them. If she smells them, she runs and hides.
Well, she had 2 separate dew claw injuries last year. One while in the woods, and one due to a dog bite. Now she won't let me clip her nails.
I've been trying with positive re enforcement. How I do this is feed her treats, while I touch her paws and often I'll bring out the nail clippers while doing this.
My issue is that as soon as she sees the nail clippers, she runs and hides, tail between the legs and everything.
I've read that when doing positive re enforcement training, you're supposed to stop the session when the dog begins to get stressed out, to avoid more stress. When she sees them though, she stops taking treats because she is so freaked out.
I managed for a while doing this as often as she and I can handle, but now... her nails are too long. It needs to happen. I need her to let me so I can help her quicks recede.
I don't want to traumatize her though. When I do decide to try actually clipping, she thrashes and even on occasion nips at me, and she screams bloody murder. This is before I even clip, it's just if she sees the clippers and I am touching her paws all at once.
I don't know what to do. I can't afford a trainer right now because I'm moving out of state and I am very short on cash. I've tried many treats, and even a few different pairs/colors of nail clippers.
Is there anything out there that would help with this? My vet offered to do it but it's 25 dollars a session and they just pin her down, which I feel makes it worse and more scary going forward. I don't like having to wrangle my freaked out dog, and I don't like having my vet do that either.
What works for you guys? How can you get dogs to take treats even when they're stressed out? Do any of you know what I can do for now that'll maybe help in this effort, until one day I'll hopefully be able to get a trainer in to help?
I'm completely out of my depth. I've been able to socialize her, even after her bite. I've been able to leash train her, even train her to cuddle. She's so much less fearful now than before, but the nail thing just keeps getting worse and I can't keep letting them grow like this. Hellpppp please!!