Good morning, Team Rachel.
The tummy thing is something that most people with giant breeds like to do. They are extremely prone to bloat, and that often leads to gastric tortion. The stomach actually twists itself closed, sort of like how they twist a sausage when they make a long string of them. By tacking the tummy up, it can’t flip itself shut.
Quicking the nails isn’t very nice, but I’m having it done anyway. I trim her nails the best I can, but they are so thick that I can’t keep them down far enough. They’d only been well trimmed once when she was a little puppy. As the nail grows, the quick inside the nail, the part with the nerve and blood supply, also grows. So afterward I’ll keep the tips trimmed as I’ve been doing, but by cutting them way back this one time the quick will also recede. That slows the growth a bit, and also makes a closer nail trim at home possible. I had to keep my show dogs’ nails super short, and if I hit that quick they would bleed a bit, but I had styptic powder so I’d simply dip the toe into and that stopped it immediately. Hers are just too big and thick for me to keep short enough without occasional help. The vet can do it while she’s under anesthetic, which will help tremendously.