. Erika told TOC, “Mack was born in Alabama but his rescue brought him up to Massachusetts, where he lives now. He loves winters (snow zoomies!) and hates summers — we’re complete opposites in that respect.” In order to help keep Mack’s nails short and avoid frequent nail clippings (he’s not a big fan of having his paws touched), Erika made him a DIY scratch board, which is basically a giant dog nail file. Now she says that Mack loves nail time and they use the scratch board during training sessions, which Mack adores as long as he can have part of his dinner in the process! To learn the steps to make your own DIY scratch board, keep scrolling below.
“Mack has two trick titles and we’re working on his third (expert level)! He’s a mutt through & through but his hound nose is what started us on our journey of [also] making snuffle mats. Mack has yet to find a type of food he doesn’t love. Food is definitely the way to his heart (like mine!), ”Erika tells TOC.
First you need to cut the pvc pipe in half. I’ve used a reciprocating saw, but a handheld saw could probably work too.
Diy Dog Nail File Board
Once you have the pvc cut in half, you just need to adhere the 3M stair tread to the inside of the pipe. These come with self-adhesive so you just line it up and press it against the pipe.
If you are using sandpaper, you’ll need to cut the sandpaper to fit the inside of the pipe then put adhesive of your choice on the back of the sandpaper before you can stick it to the pipe.
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How To Cut Dachshund Nails
Nov 23 The Dog That Gave Me a Reason to Live: Chris and Vincent Nov 15 The Dog That Changed My Life: Marcella And ShimmeFor a while now I have been thinking of making a nail filing board for Bonnie as a fun, stress free way of keeping her nails short and healthy – she already knows and loves her “dig” trick so I thought it would be an easy transition to get her to use the scratch board.
As far as DIY projects go this is as simple as it gets, which gets a thumbs up from me! All that’s needed is a bit of wood or other material that will stand up to your dog pawing against it, fine grit sandpaper ( not coarse as it would be too rough on their nails and pads -we used a 120 grit) and double sided tape or other adhesive. Simply stick the sandpaper to the wood and voilà your very own dog scratch board!
Of course it’s even easier when you have a doggy helper! As soon as I started taking photos Bonnie came over to pose and looked at me as if to say “I know this game now, where’s my treat?”
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When we introduced it to her she pawed at it straight away so we were able to reward her and she kept offering it. Bonnie is used to offering behaviours as we do a lot of shaping in our clicker training but if your dog isn’t used to that or you haven’t done clicker training before you can always try to get them to give their paw so it hits the board, “good dog” and treat or alternatively, lure them with a treat so hold it close to their mouth then slowly pull it up so their paws end up on the board .
Bonnie soon got into it and was scratching like a pro, it seemed like she really enjoyed it as she was properly extending her nails out so maybe it fills some need for digging? If your dog likes to dig or scratch the grass after they use the bathroom then hopefully they should find this easy to get into and enjoy.
From our first session I’m really impressed with the results, after about 2 minutes her nails were much shorter and it took much less effort than nail clipping and then filing the rough edges. The only downsides is that it’s not really possible (for me anyway, a better trainer might disagree!) to use this for their back paws and also as the nails file down so fast it could end up hitting the quick, so check carefully to see that the nails aren’t getting too short or that they are not damaging their pads.
Diy Dog Nail Trim Scratchboard
Overall I think it’s a brilliant way of keeping dogs nails short and healthy as well as being much less stressful for dogs, especially if they already have a fear of nail clippers.
We first met back in September 2014 but it wasn't until Halloween when Bonnie came home that we started to quickly become the best of friends through our mutual love of walks, food and trick training. We have been through a lot of ups and downs together but we always make it through with each other's help and are sticking plasters to each other. A girl couldn't ask for a better friend!
When we introduced it to her she pawed at it straight away so we were able to reward her and she kept offering it. Bonnie is used to offering behaviours as we do a lot of shaping in our clicker training but if your dog isn’t used to that or you haven’t done clicker training before you can always try to get them to give their paw so it hits the board, “good dog” and treat or alternatively, lure them with a treat so hold it close to their mouth then slowly pull it up so their paws end up on the board .
Bonnie soon got into it and was scratching like a pro, it seemed like she really enjoyed it as she was properly extending her nails out so maybe it fills some need for digging? If your dog likes to dig or scratch the grass after they use the bathroom then hopefully they should find this easy to get into and enjoy.
From our first session I’m really impressed with the results, after about 2 minutes her nails were much shorter and it took much less effort than nail clipping and then filing the rough edges. The only downsides is that it’s not really possible (for me anyway, a better trainer might disagree!) to use this for their back paws and also as the nails file down so fast it could end up hitting the quick, so check carefully to see that the nails aren’t getting too short or that they are not damaging their pads.
Diy Dog Nail Trim Scratchboard
Overall I think it’s a brilliant way of keeping dogs nails short and healthy as well as being much less stressful for dogs, especially if they already have a fear of nail clippers.
We first met back in September 2014 but it wasn't until Halloween when Bonnie came home that we started to quickly become the best of friends through our mutual love of walks, food and trick training. We have been through a lot of ups and downs together but we always make it through with each other's help and are sticking plasters to each other. A girl couldn't ask for a better friend!
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