Do you clip their dewclaws?
A dewclaw is something like a human thumb in its placement, but it grows a bit higher up on the paw than the rest of the toenails on that paw and never comes in contact with the ground. It’s a structure that is now nonfunctional. I'm not sure how they were ever used; perhaps by dogs that needed an extra grip on a mountain side, millions of years ago? We cut them off when the puppy is two days old. It doesn’t hurt them one bit.Dewclaws can hang loose, get caught, or cause minor or, rarely, serious irritations to the foot of a dog, particularly a dog that runs in rough turain. Dewclaws are nothing but problems. It’s always the nail that they catch on the rug. So taking them out right away is something that we just do as part of the growing up.
Italian Greyhound FAQs . . .
