Re: [PyrNet-L] dewclaws

[Jane Gill <janegill@fast.net>]

Christina Buu-Hoan wrote:

> I heard from one breeder that the dewclaws were needed for scrambling up the
> side of the mountain.
>
> One couple I met on a hike recently owned two working pyrs and said it was a
> question of 1) how firmly they were attached to the paw/leg and 2) trimming
> the nails regularly. They said they had seen dangling ones that can
> sometimes tear or rip (get caught on things) when going through brush, etc.
>
> -Christina
> (with Mukki who has all 6 of his dewclaws intact)

I had read (I believe in Jumping from A to Z by Chris Zink, but it could have
been elsewhere), that motion picture studies of dogs moving fast and turning,
that dogs who had dewclaws actually were at times using them as balance points
for extra stability on the turns.  While I have never slowed down and zoomed in
videos of my own dogs, it has always seemed to me when clipping dewclaws and
inspecting feet, that the little pads under the extras have been used (are
toughened/roughed up), although possibly it was just for extra digging traction
when uprooting the hosta while enlarging their summer mudhole.

Funny story:  when I took my first Pyr for his first vet appointment, the vet
had never seen one up close and personal.  As he inspected Conrad, he kept
craning under his belly to look at Conrad's back feet.  (And Conrad has a very
fine set of toes indeed!)  Then he gazed at them from behind. Then he wiggled
the extras.  Finally he said, "Mrs.Gill, I don't want to alarm you.  But did you
realize that this dog has TWO dewclaws on EACH back foot?"  I smiled sweetly,
and told him that Conrad was supposed to have them.  "Ah well, then," he said.
"I guess they stay."     And the education of yet another vet began.

Jane Gill
janegill@fast.net