Every night, whether he has a nail that needs to be trimmed or not, I either cut a bit off a nail or pretend to cut a bit off a nail. He has been so unbelievably cooperative, considering how long it took me/him to get to this point. Seems like just a couple of weeks ago, I was throwing his blanket over his head so I wouldn’t get bit and holding him as tight as I could and often not getting close to being able to cut a nail.
Tonight he saw me reach over and get the nail clipper and he actually held his paw out to me so I could cut a nail. The nail I had planned to trim wasn’t even on the foot he presented to me but . . the other nail can wait. I was so excited about him doing that, I think I scared him but I snipped just a tad off a nail on the foot he thought I was going to trim.
Vince says “Why do you do this every night?” I’m so afraid if I skip a night or two, he’ll revert back to being afraid of the nail cutters. Maybe not but right now, I’m too afraid to try to find out. He has one nail that I can’t tell where the quick ends. It almost looks like it goes all the way to the end. I think I’m going to try filing that nail down with a heavy duty emery board, then I’ll ask the vet about it when we see him again.
I’m so happy with Oscar’s progress. He’s still a high strung little guy but I think I’m doing better with knowing how to deal with him. Now that he’s gotten older, he seems more responsive to how I treat him and how I talk to him. He can be so difficult but he can be so dang sweet when he wants to be.
Of course, I love everything about little Cooper but they are so different. Cooper is like a bull in a china cabinet. I don’t see him growing up to be a sensitive, feelings get hurt kind of dog. Cooper is much more of a snuggler than Oscar is but Cooper doesn’t seem to care if it’s me, Vince or the Fed Ex guy snuggling with him. He’s a funny little buy but his personality is still developing so who knows what he will be like.
Sherry Bobak says
Oscar has the sweetest, most-trusting look on his face. Just adorable!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Thanks. I love him so much for so many reasons. He’s needy but yet fiercely independent. He’d just as soon bite me as not when things don’t go his way but yet he loves me and never takes his eyes off me. He jumps at any chance he gets to sneak off up the stairs but as soon as he gets up there, he wants to come back down to familiar surroundings.
Pat Anderson says
Major breakthrough! Wonderful news!!! I’m with you…I’d cut a nail every night if he would offer a paw! First he surprises you by being such a good big brother to Cooper and now this??? Who knows what is next? Now that Cooper is losing teeth, is Oscar yelping less?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Oscar isn’t much of a complainer. I see some battle wounds and he hasn’t yelped in over a week. I think he’s finally started giving it back to Cooper so Cooper is learning when Oscar has had enough. This morning I just heard myself say “Oscar! Leave Cooper alone. He’s trying to behave!” Not sure I’ve ever said that about Cooper before. 🙂
Donnalyn says
That face just says “I love you, Mom”
judy.blog@gmail.com says
Ahh, that’s sweet. I hope he loves me. He has one nail that looks like the quick goes all the way down to the end so I was going to file that one down today and see if it bled at all. He was so determined I wasn’t going to do it. He had my hand in his mouth almost the whole time and when he got extremely irritated, he would clamp down . . not enough to break the skin but enough to tell me he was thinking about biting harder. He didn’t bite but I also didn’t get nearly enough of the nail filed down.