Zeus' Paw-decure

It's been difficult keeping Zeus' nails clipped. He does NOT like us clipping them so we've taken him in to have them done at a couple of local grooming shops. It's not pretty! We have a hard time getting him into the shops cause he knows exactly why he's there. So it's a matter of dragging him in through the door and trying to control him enough to turn him over to the groomers... Dragging a 140 lb. dog... Yeah, right!! It's more like a game of Tug-of-War in my opinion!

The last time we took him into the vet we asked them to clip his nails while he was there and they did a FANTASTIC job. So naturally, that's where I took him yesterday when he needed them clipped again. As soon as we got to the vet's office, Zeus started to freak out in the car. I pulled into a parking space and a man randomly walks over to my car, peaks into the window and takes a look at Zeus who is standing up in the back seat of my Dodge Intrepid. The guy says "Wow, you don't have any back seat LEFT with him in it!" I replied "Yeah, I need a new vehicle that'll fit my Great Dane." He laughed and I thought I'm not kidding... So I'm able to get Zeus out of my car and into the vet's office and we spent about 15 minutes waiting for his name to be called. All the while I get to listen to all the comments the other pet owners throw at me in reference to my dog: "Wow, he's huge" ... "I've never seen a dog that big" ... "How much does he eat?" ... "What do you give him for treats? Rabbits?" ... "How old is he?" ... "Is he full grown?" ... and so forth.

Once we finally get called in for his 'pedicure', I hand over his leash to the vet tech and off he goes. About 2 minutes later, the same vet tech comes back out and says "He's not happy and we can't work with him. Do you have signs you use to tell him to sit and stay?" And I said "Yes, would you like me to come back with you?" And she said "Yes"... So I followed her back to where they were trying to hold him still... and he was terrified. I could see it in his eyes... I told him in signs that he was 'ok' and told him to sit. He sat down, and the ladies (there were 4 of them) thought it was amazing... Zeus buried his face in my stomach and I rubbed and scratch behind his ears and under his chin. He was still afraid, but my presence made it much easier for him. It ended up taking 4 women to hold him steady and one clipped his nails. What took about 10 minutes total felt like half an hour! By the time it was over, we were all covered with his white fur  :)