doing your own puppies dew claws?

Yeah just a bit of research I thought this maybe faster to get a response if someone knew. Thank you!

I don't post very often being relatively new to the Chicken and Duck world. However, I have been showing and occasionally breeding dogs for over 25 years. I've also shown Saint Bernards on numerous occasions.

The AKC Standard for Saint Bernard's states:

Hind legs
Hocks of moderate angulation. Dewclaws are not desired; if present, they must not obstruct gait.

The standard does not even mention dewclaws on the front legs. However, while dewclaws are not desired on rear legs, they do not HAVE to be removed.

Me personally? I do not like dewclaws on dogs. I think they can be dangerous. I've seen dogs rip them either partially or totally off, it's another nail to trim and they always scratch me with them! I also just don't like the look of them. I think it destroys the look of a 'clean' leg. I have them removed from my puppies either at birth (no blood and barely a peep from the puppy) or up to three days. I've also had them removed from adults. One that had grown back (nail bed was not completely removed), one that just had not had them removed and a couple of Rescue dogs when they were neutered/spayed. Usually it's always in conjunction with another procedure as I don't want to put a dog under anesthesia just for dewclaw removal. It is a much more invasive surgery on an adult usually requiring well over a week to heal. I recently had a Rescue Dog neutered and his dewclaws removed at the same time. He was up and going from the neuter with no problems, completely healed in just over a week. The dewclaws took over two weeks to heal adequately for stitch removal. That was over two weeks with keeping the legs clean, treated and vet wrapped. The dog was also wearing an e-collar for the entire time.

Anyway! All of this to say to the OP that you don't HAVE to have the dewclaws removed to show in AKC Conformation. If you are looking at doing Performance Events, you really don't HAVE to have them removed!

i do my own dachshund puppies, only the back ones if they have them, i was a vet tech for 8 yrs though and have helped many times, i also use the quick stop gel, i like it better than the powder.

Quote:
I agree that not all dogs have them in the back. I agree that those are often considered a fault in breed standards and that those will often be removed. The fronts, however? I leave them on, even though mine are very active working dogs. They use the front ones as thumbs, and while I have seen an occasional one ripped or torn, so do the other toe nails. And we all tend to leave those.

I was discussing this on a dog forum,

http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/Mestena/dewclawsInjury.pdf

Haven't read this one.
http://leeola.livejournal.com/

Not my pictures, just examples of how dewclaws do touch the ground

How ironic that I find the answer to my question about "removing dew claws" on BYC! I've been a (silent) member for years.

Here's the situation:

I have acquired a stray pup, and if I had to guess (with no formal training) I would say he is 3-4 months old. He is a cute lil' fella and his testicles were barely descended. He also has a very strange pair of dew claws on his hind legs. They are not attached to bone and just hang there. Today, while he was napping (and cuddling with me) the dew claws got intertwined and he had to scramble to get them unattached. They clearly need to be removed.

I've read that sometimes they are removed during neutering? We can do that. That sounds better than doing it myself. Because that is an option.

HomeGrom said:

How ironic that I find the answer to my question about "removing dew claws" on BYC!  I've been a (silent) member for years.

Here's the situation:

I have acquired a stray pup, and if I had to guess (with no formal training) I would say he is 3-4 months old.  He is a cute lil' fella and his testicles were barely descended.  He also has a very strange pair of dew claws on his hind legs.  They are not attached to bone and just hang there. Today, while he was napping (and cuddling with me) the dew claws got intertwined and he had to scramble to get them unattached.  They clearly need to be removed.

I've read that sometimes they are removed during neutering?  We can do that.  That sounds better than doing it myself.  Because that is an option.  

Click to expand...

I definitely think doing them during the neuter procedure is a great idea. That way the pup only needs to be put under anesthesia once and it should not cost much more extra. Otherwise, cutting them at that age without some sort of anesthetic would be pretty painful.