Product Review: Millers Forge Nail Clipper
Markus showing off his freshly trimmed nails
Like so many of you, my wife and I are meticulous shoppers. Whether it be online or in-person, we tend to put a lot of research into the things we purchase so that we know we're putting our hard-earned money on the proper products. There are so many options for even basic items like leashes and collars that it's easy to get lost in what we're buying.
We will be writing reviews as we purchase and use these items ourselves. As you do your research for products you're planning to buy, our goal is to add another layer to that research.
The Millers Forge Nail Clipper was one of the first products we purchased when we adopted Markus. When we got him, he came from overseas and we hadn’t met him yet, so we didn't know what shape he was going to arrive in. We picked up this nail clipper because it was one of the more basic tools we could find that came at a great cost and reviews from other dog owners.
The Millers Forge Nail Clipper with the guard closed
The nail clipper itself is really what you would expect and we have no complaints about it. The harder part is the actual nail clipping experience, which is something else altogether. It took a lot from us to summon the courage to do it the first time and if you haven't done it before, I highly recommend researching it before doing it. The reason for this because dogs nails have a fleshy vein inside the nail called a quick and accidentally clipping that could cause a lot of pain and bleeding for the dog. After watching countless how-to videos on YouTube and reading what we could, we felt that we had a good sense of how to do it and we finally gave it a shot.
Once we got over the fear of clipping the nails, the nail clippers worked well. They're sharp and are handled more like wire cutters than the nail clippers that humans use. The dog’s nails are fairly thick, so you will have to apply some pressure when doing the clipping. These ones in particular are light and fit well in my hands and it is spring-loaded so it pushes it back open after I've made a cut. It also comes with a guard that keeps the clippers closed, which is a nice touch for safety purposes. I didn't have any issues using the tool itself and any of the struggles in the process weren’t related to the clippers.
The Millers Forge Nail Clipper with the guard open and the handle sprung open
If you're seriously concerned about cutting the quick, there are also tools from Dremel that you can use. Personally I haven’t tried one yet, so I can't really speak to how effective they are, but the Dremel brand is known for a file-like tip that rotated and gives it a sanding or grinding action. Originally a power tool company, Dremel took their technology and applied it to the pet world as a tool that files nails down as opposed to clipping it. They say that if you let your dog play on the cement, they'll naturally grind the nails down. The Dremel dog nail grooming is a lot similar to that feeling, so it's a lot less stressful if you're concerned about cutting the quick.
I will say that the cost of the Dremel is a bit more than the traditional nail cutter and you might find that your dog is even less tolerant to the constant grinding on their nails and the noise. The Dremel nail groomer and grinder is one of those tools that you'll have to try out first and see how well your dog responds to it. If you have the resource to purchase one and your dog doesn't mind it, then go for it! If you don't, then you'll just have to get used to clipping nails the traditional way.
In one of our earlier updates, we wrote a short tutorial on our findings and how to trim a dog's nails with the traditional dog nail clipper.
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