[QUOTE=Bicoastal;7967697]
Why will clipping the dogs’ nails teach it to fear nail clipping? Actually, it should be the opposite: the more you do it the easier it becomes. Does this mean you don’t clip nails because your dogs are afraid? I’m happy to help with that, if you’d like!
As far as doing it every time pooch whines, clip ONE nail every time pup whines. That would give you 16 - 20 reps. I clipped one paw at a time and my whiner connected the dots in 3 reps. I remember because I thought, “When are you gonna whine cuz I need to do your right hind like 3 days ago?!” Hahah. One of my dogs needs nails clipped 1x/week, the other 1x/2 weeks. Plenty of opportunity ;).
I’m confused how my suggestion of nail clipping will create fear and zapping with an e-collar is the best response 
? I see so many possibilities for that to go wrong (associations).
Ditto! Hoping dungrulla can explain.[/QUOTE]
You shouldn’t ever use things you NEED to do as punishment. Because you are probably annoyed at the time, you can wind up sensitizing the dog to that stimulus, ESPECIALLY if you are only doing one nail at a time. Activities required for the health and well being of the animal should be neutral-to-positive experiences, and if every time mom is annoyed, she grabs the dog to clip its nails, the dog is going to start associating annoyed-mom with nail clipping and can (but won’t always) learn to fear it. If you want to train a dog to have its nails clipped, feed it while you do so to counter condition the response.
Not to mention, a dog’s association window is approximately three seconds long. The shorter the timing window between action and stimulus, the better. Within a half second is ideal. By the time you get the nail clippers out, wrestle down the dog, and start clipping, you have far passed that window. Now the dog is getting its nails clipped, it’s unpleasant, and the dog really has no idea why. The dog then continues to whine, then gets “punished” for it with no meaningful association between the offense and the punishment. In a very smart dog, you might wind up with an exception to this rule, but most won’t.
Would you teach a horse that was afraid of or disliked its halter to be haltered by throwing the halter on it every time it did something naughty? Probably not, and for the same reasons, namely that the horse would neither learn to be haltered nor learn to stop being naughty.
As for the E-collar, that’s not a required piece of health or safety equipment, and when used correctly it shouldn’t hurt the dog and is at most mildly unpleasant. It should never, ever be used without supervision from a professional because you CAN and WILL fuck it up and that can result in ruining your dog. You are also supposed to leave the collar on the dog when it’s not in use so the collar has a neutral-to-positive association. The correction from an E-collar, when used correctly, comes within that crucial three second behavior association window. It is impossible to do that with nail clipping.
And yes, I do clip nails. My dog is not afraid of it because I have counter-conditioned any discomfort he has with the process. It is a neutral activity for us.
Good dog!