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Has anyone out there gotten thier large breed dog declawed? My husband and I are thinking of doing this. Advice, healing, costs?

>>Has anyone out there gotten thier large breed dog declawed? My husband and I are thinking of doing this. Advice, healing, costs?

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Why would you be doing this?
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

She has a terrible jumping habit and when we pet her she craddles our arms with her paws and stratches the skin to the point of bleeding when doing either. we have tried everything from a personal trainer to dremmeling down the nails. It hasn't helped. We are expecting a baby and are worried about the nails.

>>She has a terrible jumping habit and when we pet her she craddles our arms with her paws and stratches the skin to the point of bleeding when doing either. we have tried everything from a personal trainer to dremmeling down the nails. It hasn't helped. We are expecting a baby and are worried about the nails.

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Get a different trainer! And for nail care, dremeling does result in the smoothest nail. I'd suggest you do it once a week. Also, beware of the dust from dremeling nails. It is possible to get sick from breathing it. I have done that--twice. I believe there may be a guard available now that will catch the dust.

It is possible the bleeding is coming from the calloused pads. You can soften those with hypo-allergenic lotion.

Having the dog drag a leash could help you handle the jumping, too. And making sure nobody pets her when she is on hind legs, or encourages her to jump up. That's often much of the problem.

Declawing is painful, prone to infection--it's a very drastic thing to do. And a dog jumping up on you is going to do harm anyway. Better to focus on that.

Here is a link to an article I wrote that should help you greatly:

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1731&S=1&SourceID=47
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

I agree with Kathy; I wouldn't declaw a dog (or a cat). With consistent training, you really can get the jumping to stop.