I was totally horrified on the weekend to discover this.......

I thought Trigger had something stuck on his foot but when I looked properly I realised it was his dewclaws. I knew they hadnt been removed, Taylor also has hers. When I looked at them, they are hardly attached to his foot at all. It's almost as if they are attached by a clump of matted hair however they are attached by a TINY pice of flesh but they have moved away from his body and are like a useless attachment just hanging there in his hair. The one is completely upside down I have always wondered by his feet are sensitive and Im thinking now that this may be why??? When I touched them he whimpered and whined at me like I was hurting him. The one is hardly even a nail, it has shriveled up almost

Luckily today is his vet visit for innoculations and I wasnt to ask them if they can have them removed because they are serving no purpose and are causing discomfort to him. Im too scared to touch them in case I hurt him further. He walks and runs fine though but they are sensitive to the touch. Taylor's are fine, like normal claws and i always clip them when I do her nails. Can they remove them at his age? (13 weeks)

I have no problems with my breeder but I firmly believe that it is the responsible thing to have dewclaws removed when they are small.

Thanks for reminding me. I should ask Thea about Micah's. I also heard that it had to be removed. Ciara's was removed. not sure how old she was, but when I go her it had been done.

The dewclaw has never caught my attention before. I don't think Pepper has his, I'm not too sure but if he does than it surely doesn't bother him. I'll have to check.

Shame, poor Trigger. Does Taylor's bug her at all

Just a thought. His dew claws should not be sore. You don't suppose that it could be that they were removed and it was not done properly that is why he is so sensitive there. He could be remembering the pain if they attempted to take them off and hurt him. I personally do not believe in taking anything of (docking tails included) that was suppose to be there. It is not a big issue to just keep the dew claw nail trimmed short.

No Taylor's are fine and never catch on anything so I never worried about them. But Trigger's are just NOT right. the piece of skin attaching them to his body literallty looks like a mat of hair. Thank God I decided not to fiddle with them or make it worse.

There is a little lump against his foot where they should be...it's like they have detached themselves somehow. His front feet are fine though...

Amoureux, that's why I never worried before. Taylor's never worried her and they both have their lovely curly tails

his front dewclaws are fine. ok, i gently pinched what I thought was hair to check and he yelped which told me immediately it was skin and I left it after that. My boyfriend thinks that if I leave them they will just fall off eventually because they are THAT loose.

I will see what the vet says tonight because they can't stay on like that in my opinion. I should have taken a photo to show you what i mean...it's hard to describe

You are right, you should have them removed PROPERLY if it is causing him pain. Has he started lifting his leg when he wee's? If not he might be getting his hind feet wet and that will cause the hair on his hind feet to clump up.

No he doesn't lift his leg yet...he's a little on the sissy side! But i havent noticed him getting his feet wet when he wees.

the other day he jumped against the couch and sqealed and im not sure now if he hurt a muscle or it was this. perhaps something hooked on the blanket?

I agree with Amoureux!!! When I started breeding, the lady who gave me advice and assistance said that the dewclaw should be removed but I've asked my vet about it and his response was that God wouldn't have given dogs dewclaws if they needed to be removed.

Sometimes it can cause a problem or get in the way, but my vet advised me against removing it! People are in two minds about it but I agree, just like tail docking, it is for cosmetic purposes and not a MUST that it has to be removed.

In your case TaylorWoods, it might be causing a problem or discomfort for your dog and should then be removed! But your vet will know what to do! Let us know what he says...

Ive also never worried about them. My mom was all horrified to see they still had theirs on but i keep all their nails short so they never hook on anything.

I only clipped Triggers nails once as a puppy because they were catching on everything. And i never noticed this issue...so i think they were fine a few weeks ago and are almost detaching themselves.

At least his vet's visit is today and he is seeing a new vet who I must say I am very impressed with so far and that's just from talking to the ladies on the phone. They were so helpful and thorough and professional that Im actually lookig forwrad to going in there today. My old vet (the famous Dr. Claus) never really takes things very seriously. like Taylor's urination issue...he just sent her home, charged me R270 and told me to watch her and bring her back in a few weeks time. He is always too busy playing with the dog rather than checking it out. last time he was so involved in kissing Trigger that his assistant gave the injection and he hadnt even noticed and then asked for the medication which was when she said it was done.

Anyway, back to the point...im hoping the vet can just do a small procedure and remove the back ones. the front ones can stay im not worried about that. Im going to take a picture before i take him in to show you what i mean...it's all very weird

I would appreciate if you would share the picture with us, we all still learn and it is good if you can see what some one is talking about.

I will do soon as i get home I will try get the rascal to sit still enough to take a picture!

Yes it's always good to see what you're talking about and this way, we've all learned something new!

Good luck with the vet appointment tonight!

Hopefully my picture will be followed with some professional advice! But i warn you all, my camera is my phone and it takes shocking pictures! I will have to try the old phone because my new phone is shocking!

perhaps the proper camera will decide to work tonight??

I checked Pepper's legs and he still has his dewclaws they've never bothered him though

Most dogs DO have them. That's why im so utterly flabbergasted at the look of his claws almost falling off!

I'm not too sure if he has his back ones though because I tried to feel (he was jumping around wanting to play!) and all I felt were tiny bumps, so maybe the breeder had them removed.
I think it's terrible if they did try remove Triggers and they didn't do it properly. You should phone the breeder and just find out from her.

Perhaps I will if the vet says something funny could have happened...

So I took Trigger to the vet for his shots and asked him about his claws. He says what has happened is that they have not developed properly. But he also said not to worry about it at the moment because they will either just work themselves off or else he will remove them if Trigger ever has to under anesthetic in the future. He doesnt want to put him under for something so small because of the risk in it.

He said the reason why many dogs have them these days is because tails are not docked anymore. normally a puppy would come n for their tail to be docked and the vets would remove the dewclaws at the same time. in those first few days of life it's simply a matter of snipping them off and they hardly bleed. if he was to do that now all the blood vessels are developed and he would bleed profusely.

So for now the claws stay unless he tears one accidently somehow and then he will have to take them off.

I have posted a picture in my gallery but it was quite hard to get a good shot of something so small!!

I am glad that it is nothing serious. I had a look at Ciara last night and I think she still hase hers too. I never noticed it before. I think they cut it at the parlour. We took her on Friday and I noticed that there is a nail further up from the others. So I suppose it is that?

What did the vet say about the phantom pregnancy?