How Often Should A Yorkie’s Nails Be Trimmed?

Yorkshire Terriers are known for very black nails and for (usually) being fairly difficult for anyone trying to trim those nails. If it was something you could just leave alone, I’d recommend you do that. However, there are many reasons why you should be cutting (or have someone else who is trained do it) your Yorkie’s nails. However, how often do they need to be done? At least every 2-3 weeks to keep them short but there are many things to consider.

Full disclosure: I’m a retired veterinarian who worked with animals for 30 years. However, I don’t cut my own Yorkie’s nails. I can’t do it. I will explain further below but trust me when I say – Yorkie owners, I feel your pain on this issue.

How Often Should You Cut Your Yorkie’s Nails?

In a perfect world, where my little Binky just sits there and lets me do anything to her, I would file/grind the little edges of her nails every 7-10 days or so.

In the real world, if I could get them trimmed just once a month I’d be happy. From my experience, for most dogs a monthly nail trim would keep their nails at a healthy length that wouldn’t cause any issues.

What Happens If I Let My Yorkie’s Nails Get Too Long?

First, what is “too long” for a Yorkie’s nails? I would say that if you can hear them clicking on the floor they are too long. If they are catching in the carpet they are dangerously too long.

There are two big potential problems if your Yorkie’s nails get too long:

• It becomes uncomfortable for them to walk. You might see this in a hesitancy to walk around or even limping.
• Their nails are far more likely to catch on the carpet or other things and break or tear off.

How Likely Is It That My Yorkie Will Tear A Nail With Too Long Nails?

It really depends on your Yorkie. If his/her feet never touch the floor (I understand this), then that’s not going to happen. However, if they are running around the house or outside, all it takes is a snag in the carpet, a crack in your patio, or getting too close to the fence for the nail to get caught and ripped.

What’s tough about when Yorkies tear their nails is that they usually will tear them completely off from the base. That causes a lot of bleeding and a lot of panic from you, the owner.

What’s The Best Way To Go About Getting Your Yorkie To Accept A Nail Trim At Home?

If you start with a puppy Yorkie, then early handling of the feet and nails is crucial to getting them acclimated to the process of a nail trim. When you have your Yorkie in your lap, rubbing the feet often will get them to the point where they don’t care.

Unfortunately (as in my case) when you adopt an older rescue Yorkie, that can be hard. They have usually never been regularly groomed, let alone petted. In this case, there are different ways that you can try to still get this done at home:

• Start as you would with a puppy. Building trust with a Yorkie is important and crucial to having them trust you enough to trim their nails. When holding them, massage their whole body and include the feet as you go so they don’t realize what your true goal is. A gentle all-over body massage is a great way to relax and bond with your Yorkie.
• Before we go any further, let’s make sure that you’re holding the little Yorkie in a way that will maximize success!! I recommend laying them on their back on your lap right where your two legs come together. Having them nestled in this location will free up both of your hands, allow them to see you, and really work on building trust.
• When you think that they are relaxed enough, you can try and focus a bit more on their feet. This is a step-wise process. Heading right in for the “kill” (nail trim) will almost certainly end in failure and a loss of trust with your rescue. You want to rub on one foot a bit more, maybe even trying rub each digit individually. Do so for no longer than a few seconds per toe at first and stop when your Yorkie gets upset.
• This is also a great position to work on trimming the hair under their feet or between their toes if you need to do that as well.
• When it’s time to start practicing the nail trim, apply a gentle grasp to your Yorkie’s paw (a hard grip will surely cause them to pull away) and attempt to just take the tip of the nail off.
• If you’re really comfortable with trimming nails, then you don’t need any more of my help.

Do you need help on how to actually trim nails? Here’s a guide I wrote that also includes pictures that tell you when you should stop trimming the nail.

What To Do When You Can’t Trim Your Yorkie’s Nails

Then it’s time to enlist professional help. If you have your dog regularly groomed, then just have them do it. If you usually groom at home or your groomer has a hard time getting the nails short enough, then I recommend scheduling a nail trim with your vet.

I am NOT going to recommend going to PetCo or Petsmart for a nail trim when you have a tiny little dog that struggles a lot with nail trimming. These poor folks are usually not nearly trained well enough to deal with this situation. Your vet will be so much better equipped and yes, they will schedule you for just a nail trim.

What Nail Trimmers Are Recommended For Yorkies?

I would recommend a combination of regular nail trimmers along with a nail grinder. This gives you the most flexibility in how you get the nails shorter.

Don’t go for the smallest pair of nail trimmers. They wear out faster and are harder for human hands to hold and use. They’re good for puppy nails and cat nails but that’s about it.

A medium-sized pair of nail trimmers is best. Get comfortable with the safety mechanism on them and how they fit in your hands. Be comfortable with them and your dog will be more comfortable with the process.

Using a grinder/dremel tool for filing the nails is handy because it’s quicker than a nail file (although you can use that but be aware it will just off the tiniest amount of nail at a time) and can be used in place of a nail trimmer with shorter nails. Just be sure to use a quiet grinder tool so not to scare your little Yorkie.

The following items are the ones that I find are the most useful: