What is a Dewclaw on my Dog?

What is a Dewclaw you asked?   They are the claw (nail) that is  up on the inside of the dog’s ankle. Many people have them removed when the dogs are pups because, since those claws never touch the ground, they aren’t kept filed-down by the dog’s regular walking on hard surfaces, etc. And then, they can continue to grow and poke back into the surface of the leg (causing pain) or can catch on things and tear – also causing pain and an expensive veterinary bill.

I wanted to write this blog today to tell you what happened to my dog Molly over the weekend I was in the kitchen and heard my husband call out (frantically) to Molly. I ran into the living room and he was over her trying to set her free from her dewclaw being stuck into her link on her dog tag.  I had to jump right in (of course) to help set her nail free from the little round link.  It turns out that her dewclaw was a bit long and started to curl up a bit.  So after her lying down she somehow got her dew claw stuck into the little tag link.  We did get is free but all I could think about is “What if I was NOT home at the time this happened”?

My little Molly girl was fine and her nail was fine.  After this happened I realized I really need to always keep an eye on her dew claws and keep them short.  I grabbed my dog nail clippers and cut her dew claws as short as they need to be so they don’t get snagged again.

Moral of this story is to ALWAYS make sure that if you dog has dewclaws either on the front or back paws, that you always check and make sure they are short and not curling up.

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