Overgrown nails can be painful for your dog and even lead to injury or lameness if left for too long. While it takes some practice to master the skill — and get your dog used to the process — you can trim your pet’s nails at home with the best dog nail clippers, which have sharp blades that quickly cut through even the thickest claws.
After consulting a grooming professional, I tested nine top-rated dog nail clippers and three nail grinders to find the best for any dog owner. Once testing concluded, two products stood out thanks to their exceptional effectiveness and thoughtful designs.
While they have a simple design, the Millers Forge Nail Clippers are extra-sharp and highly effective. They do well at smoothly cutting through thick nails with minimal pressure. Plus, you can’t beat their low price.
The Dremel PawControl Nail Grinder is well-suited for both new and experienced users. It has a safety cap that helps you grind nails at the proper angle and it works quickly and efficiently, even on its lowest speed setting.
Above anything else, dog nail clippers need to have sharp blades to cut through the tough keratin that makes up your pet’s nails, and the Millers Forge Nail Clippers are in a league of their own in terms of sharpness. While other clippers required a lot of pressure to cut through my two golden retrievers’ nails, the Millers Forge Clippers made quick, easy cuts with minimal effort — it was like cutting through butter. The blades sliced through even their thickest nails cleanly, leaving a smooth edge without any jagged or broken areas.
Upon closer examination, I noticed the blades on the Millers Forge Clippers have a much more curved profile and gradual slope compared to the other clippers I tested. This allowed the blades to cut through nails more smoothly with minimal discomfort, and they didn’t pull on my dogs’ nails or create uncomfortable pressure like other products. Their size is also just right for most dogs. The clippers are small enough for smaller dogs but still ideal for my two 60-pound golden retrievers. However, they may not be big enough for extra-large breeds like great danes, whose nails may not fit between the blades.
Beyond their super-sharp blades, these clippers have a basic design. They’re crafted fully from stainless steel and have removable plastic covers on the handles that offer a more secure grip. Unlike other products, these clippers don’t have an ergonomic design with finger indents, but they fit comfortably in my hand and instantly pop back open after each cut thanks to the strong spring between the handles.
These nail clippers have a classic safety stop behind the blades, which is helpful if you want to remove a small chunk of a nail. It swivels back and forth for positioning and can be pushed out of the way for more experienced dog groomers. When you’re done using the clippers, a small swiveling latch holds the blades shut — a key feature to preserve the blade sharpness. “It’s essential that your clippers have a lock that keeps them closed when they are not in use so the blades don’t dull over time,” says Julia Benning, certified fear-free dog groomer and advisory board leader at grooming franchise Well Groomed Pets.
Not only are they highly effective, but the Millers Forge Nail Clippers are also affordable, with a price point under $10, making them a worthwhile addition to your at-home grooming kit.
If you want to grind your dog’s nails instead of cutting them, the Dremel PawControl Nail Grinder is a powerful tool that will work for dogs of all sizes. It comes in a kit with all the accessories you need to get started, and it includes attachments for new pet owners and more experienced groomers.
This pet-specific grinder from Dremel has four speed settings, maxing out at 25,000 rotations per minute (rpm). However, during testing, I found the lowest setting (8,000 rpm) was sufficient for trimming my dogs’ nails and smoothing out jagged edges. The low speed created minimal vibrations and operated quietly, and neither of my dogs balked when I used the Dremel on their nails, despite being wary of other grinders I’ve used in the past. Using the sanding discs that come with the grinder, it took around 10 to 20 seconds for me to wear down each nail to an appropriate length, and I didn’t have to use much pressure; I just kept the nail in contact with the spinning bit.
This nail grinding kit comes with two bit styles. For inexperienced home groomers, it has flat discs that use 60-grit sandpaper to grind down nails. These discs are meant to be used with the included safety cover, which has a ledge where you rest your dog’s toe. The cover helps keep your dog’s nail at a 45-degree angle while grinding, and while it did take some trial and error to get used to, the safety guard helped achieve a neat, precise angle and kept my dog’s hair away from the spinning bit. I did find that the sanding discs wear down fairly quickly — they start to look worn after around four uses — but they’re inexpensive to replace, costing around $8 for a pack of 10.
If you’re experienced at grinding your dog’s nails, you can use the grinder’s sanding bands, which have a barrel-shaped design and give you a larger area to work on. They’re used without the safety cover, so you need to use caution to avoid hair wrap (you could also outfit the Dremel with a diamond grinding bit if you want to get more mileage out of each attachment). Because I don’t grind my dogs’ nails often, I felt more comfortable using the discs and safety cover, but it’s nice to have the option to switch between them, and it’s quick and easy to pop out one attachment and insert the other.
The Dremel PawControl has a rechargeable battery, and unlike the other grinders I tested, it comes with a USB charging cable and a power adapter. The grinder is nearly twice as large as other models, but it was still comfortable to hold thanks to its textured rubbery exterior, which provides a non-slip grip. I also liked that it has a slider that lets you adjust the speed setting up or down with your thumb, unlike other products that force you to cycle through all the settings using a button.
How we tested
The right pair of dog nail clippers will help make grooming easier and more comfortable for you and your pet. I tested 12 popular products, including nine pairs of clippers and three nail grinders, to help you find the best grooming tools. Here’s what I looked for while testing each one.
Effectiveness
- Sharpness: The most important factor for dog clippers is blade sharpness. Sharp blades make quick, clean cuts, while dull ones may tear the nail. During testing, I carefully examined the blades on each set of clippers and tested them on my two dogs to evaluate their sharpness. I also tested the clippers on wooden skewers to assess their ability to cut through dense material.
- Performance: For both clippers and grinders, I evaluated how well they worked for trimming my dogs’ nails. For grinders, I noted how long it took to grind down a nail, and for clippers, I considered the cleanliness of the cut and how much pressure it took to snip through each nail.
- Safety: Nail clippers and grinders can hurt your pet if used improperly, so I looked for a few key safety features on each product. Clippers should have a safety stop, which prevents you from cutting off too much of a nail at once, and on grinders, there should be a cover surrounding the bit to stop hair from getting wrapped around it.
Design
- Ease of use: I also considered how easy each product was to use. Were clippers easy to squeeze? Do they spring open after each cut? For grinders, how easy is it to adjust the speed settings and change the bit? Easy-to-use products allow you to trim your pet’s nails more quickly while achieving proper results.
- Comfort: I evaluated how comfortable each product was to hold, looking for features like a non-slip grip and ergonomic handles. These features aren’t essential, but they’re certainly nice to have.
- Storage: I prioritized products that are compact to store when not in use, and I looked for clippers with a lock to keep their blades shut. This is important for safety and to keep the blades from getting dull.
- Sizes: You should choose nail clippers that are appropriately sized for your pet, so I gave extra points to products available in multiple sizes.
Other dog nail clippers we tested
If you have a large or extra-large breed dog, these oversized clippers have a sharp blade that can handle thick nails.
For larger pets, the Boshel Dog Nail Clippers have an oversized design that can accommodate even the thickest nails. While not quite as sharp as the Millers Forge clippers, this pair is still very effective and cut through my dogs’ nails with only a small amount of pressure. The clippers have a rubbery coating on the handles that makes them comfortable to grasp, and the locking mechanism is controlled by a sliding toggle that’s easy to use.
The Boshel clippers I tested were too large for smaller dog breeds, but the product does come in three sizes. However, the nail file is completely ineffective, so that shouldn’t be a selling point in your decision.
More experienced pet owners may like these guillotine-style clippers, which are very sharp and come in two sizes.
If you’re experienced at trimming your dog’s nails, the Resco Deluxe clippers are a guillotine-style pair you may want to consider. They performed as well as our top overall pick in terms of sharpness, cutting cleanly through nails with just a small amount of pressure. Plus, they come in multiple sizes for different types of dogs.
The downside is they’re not as intuitive to use as scissor-style clippers. During testing, I frequently consuled the instructions to ensure I was holding the clippers correctly. These clippers also don’t have a safety stop, so I had to work carefully to ensure I didn’t snip off too much of each nail.
While made by the same brand as our top-recommended pick, these clippers didn’t offer the same blade sharpness and were poorly made.
While I was impressed by the Millers Forge Nail Clippers, this larger pair from the brand didn’t deliver the same quality. Their thick handles are comfortable to hold, but the plastic has jagged edges where it didn’t come out of its mold cleanly. Additionally, these blades weren’t as sharp and required significantly more pressure to cut through my dog’s nails, and the clippers lacked a safety stop.
These nail clippers fell in the middle of the pack in terms of performance, and they’re identical to two other pairs.
When all the nail clippers arrived, I immediately noticed that a few pairs were identical, save for their colors and branding. This is probably due to a practice called “white-labeling,” where manufacturers sell the same item to different companies, who then put their branding on the product. The Epica, Coastal Pet and Andis nail clippers all seem to fall into this category and, unsurprisingly, all performed roughly the same.
Of all the clippers I tested, these had the most comfortable handles, with finger grooves and a nice silicone grip. I also like that you can adjust the tension of the safety stop so it stays in place properly as you work. That said, the Epica clippers were just okay in terms of sharpness. They got the job done, but required more pressure to cut through each nail, which bothered my dogs.
These popular clippers are identical to the Epica ones, just in a different colorway.
The Coastal Pet Safari Dog Nail Trimmer has the same design, shape and materials as the Epica pair and performs similarly. The prices of the two pairs are also within cents of each other, so if you’re choosing between the two, it just comes down to what color you like more.
A larger version of the Coastal Pet and Epica clippers, this model from Andis was hard to hold and required a lot of pressure to cut through nails.
The Andis Nail Clippers have an identical design to the Coastal Pet and Epica clippers, but this pair comes in larger sizes designed for big dog breeds. I found the Andis clippers cumbersome, as they were too big to hold comfortably. The blades also struggled to cut through certain nails and got stuck at one point, forcing me to switch to another pair of clippers to finish the job.
These clippers have the best safety stop design of all the models, but their handles were uncomfortable and the blades weren’t sharp enough.
I’ve had good experiences with other Furminator dog products before, but the brand’s nail clippers fell flat. The handles are covered in a weird bumpy texture that makes them uncomfortable to hold, and the blades tugged on my dog’s nails with each cut, making for a tough and uncomfortable grooming experience.
The only thing I like about these clippers is the safety stop, which has a unique adjustable design. By turning a dial on the back of the clippers, you can change the depth of the stop to suit your dog’s nails.
These clippers had the dullest blades of all the products and actually broke one of my dog’s nails.
Tweezerman recently launched a line of pet care products, but I wasn’t impressed by the large nail clippers. The blades are small and not nearly sharp enough, and they broke one of my dog’s nails, instead of delivering a smooth cut. They don’t have a safety stop either, and the plastic handles are bulky to hold.
The Wahl Flexion is a lightweight, quiet option that will work well for smaller dogs, and it doesn’t vibrate very much, which may be helpful if your pup is skittish.
For small and medium-sized dogs, the Wahl Flexion Nail Grinder is a compact, lightweight option. Of the three grinders I tested, this one was the quietest on all its speed settings and vibrated very little. Neither of my dogs minded having it used on their nails, but it takes a little longer to grind down each nail than other models. It’s also too small for large-breed dogs, and you can’t use the top of the diamond bit to grind, only the side, which limits its versatility.
This inexpensive grinder works well, especially for the price, but it makes a high-pitched noise my dogs didn’t like.
The Casfuy Grinder is an inexpensive option with a similar design to the Wahl model, but my dogs were immediately wary of it because of the high-pitched whine it makes. Neither of them wanted me to go near their paws with it. After a slow introduction, I finally convinced one of them to let me test it out, and it did work well, grinding down nails quickly with its diamond bit. I also liked that the safety cap has multiple openings that let you grind at different angles.
FAQs
Meet our experts
For this article, we consulted the following experts to gain their professional insights.
- Julia Benning, certified fear-free dog groomer and advisory board leader at grooming franchise Well Groomed Pets
Why trust CNN Underscored
CNN Underscored editors thoroughly test all the products we cover and provide full transparency about how we test them. We have an experienced team of writers and editors with many years of testing experience and ensure each article is carefully edited and products are properly vetted. We talk to top experts when it makes sense to ensure we are testing each product accurately and speaking about the pros and cons of each item.
This guide’s author, Camryn Rabideau, has reviewed home and pet products for eight years. She currently lives on a homestead in Rhode Island where she takes care of dogs, cats, chickens, goats and more.
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