A good day, I think. My wife’s best friend came over and the dogs love her. She sorta moved in with us, but she’s been crashing elsewhere the last week, so they’ve really missed her.

The dogs had their nails done, which is usually an ordeal. They are freaked out by the click of the clippers, and usually don’t like to be kept still while having their nails clipped.
Our anxious one was given trazodone, and then they’re snuggled on the couch with treats (my job) while my wife cleans their feet and trims their nails. Our non-anxious dog has hyperkeratosis and ingrown/impacted hairs around her paw pads, which both require extra maintenance.
Suffice to say, the dogs are not fans of nail grooming day.

Recently we started using this electric nail file thing my wife got for shaping press on nails. It’s like the Dremel pet nail file device, but smaller and with way less power. It doesn’t make nearly as much noise, and goes slower taking off bits of nail. The Dremel also freaks out the dogs (at least - the older one. We never attempted with the younger/more anxious one). It’s been a great experiment so far. Because their nails are too long/they’re awkward about clipping them, it’s hard to maintain the steady progress needed to get their cuticles to retract. For the second week in a row, we’ve managed to give them nicely rounded (no jagged edges from the clipper) nails that are slowly getting shorter. In about a month, if we can keep this up, we might be able to drop the frequency and still keep them at “fresh from the groomer” nail lengths.

This is a game changer for our anxious dog. He’s got black nails with long cuticles that are a real challenge to deal with using clippers. It’s hard to see the quick when he’s all wiggly and anxious - accidents do happen. He’s so much calmer with the little file. Between treats and his happy hoodie, he only let out a few grumbles this time — because he wanted to lick off the foot balm!