Why Dewclaws?

7 Reasons Your Dog Needs His Dewclaws

It’s only after your dog is without his dewclaws that you can see how important they are. And how they affect his long-term health and mobility. Here’s why your dog needs his dewclaws.

1. Stabilize The Leg While Running

If you watch a dog running, especially at high speed, their front feet will bend enough to put the dewclaws in contact with the ground. Dewclaws stabilize the dog’s legs to minimize twisting. So when running at high speed, making a sharp turn or running on a slippery surface, the dewclaws provide needed traction.

Dogs in agility are good examples of dogs who regularly use their dewclaws. Each time the foot lands on the ground, especially when a dog is at a full gallop, the dewclaw is in touch with the ground. When the dog turns, the dewclaw digs into the ground to support the lower leg and prevent torque.

2. Prevent Avoidable Arthritis

Removing front dewclaws by choice can actually impact your dog’s health and future mobility. It’s known that physically active dogs with the front dewclaws removed are prone to arthritis at the carpal joint. That’s your dog’s wrist joint. When this happens it can lead to a dog’s early retirement from performance events or a working career.

Even if your dog’s not an athlete, dewclaw removal can lead to arthritis in the carpal joint, limiting your dog’s mobility as he ages.

3. Grip And Hold

Watch your dog the next time you give him a bone or a chew toy. He’ll wrap his paws around it and the dewclaws help hold the bone in place, like thumbs. In the wild, a wolf uses dewclaws to hold tight to his prey. Surviving without them would be like asking you to open a doorknob without a thumb!

4. Avoid Atrophied Muscle

When the dewclaw is removed from the tendon, the tendon and its muscle are not attached to anything. There’s no tension on it so the muscle atrophies. That means the muscle wastes away and weakens your dog’s leg.

5. Prevent Damage To Leg Ligaments

If a dog is without dewclaws, there’s a greater possibility for his carpal ligaments to stretch and tear. Since there is no tension on the muscle, it is loose. This causes greater stress through the dog’s foot, elbow, shoulder and spine as it tries to offset the loss of the dewclaw. That greater stress leads to arthritis.

6. Climb Rough Terrain And Hillsides

If your dog has ever slipped coming up a treacherous hillside, you can see him scramble and dig in his dewclaws along with his toes. They grip and curl into the ground to pull him forward.

7. Navigate Icy Conditions

Dewclaws provide traction on slippery surfaces. When your dog climbs an icy hill or crosses a frozen stream, you’ll see him grip the surface with his dewclaws to give him more control.

Should Dewclaws Ever Be Removed?

No. Not unless absolutely necessary for health reasons. Dewclaws are an important part of your dog’s anatomy and should only be removed in an emergency or trauma. So if a dog’s dewclaw is severely injured or develops a disease like a cancerous tumor … removing it might be the way to treat it in some cases.

Other reasons for removing dewclaws are suspect and often debated. Some breeders remove puppies’ dewclaws routinely. Sometimes it’s for cosmetic reasons to improve the dog’s appearance in the show ring. It’s for easier grooming and makes the front leg look smoother for judging.

Those who opt for removal say it’s preventative. They cite hunting dogs who can get caught in heavy brush and brambles and tear a dewclaw …. even though many veterinarians report never having seen an injured dewclaw! Paws and toes, yes … dewclaws, no.

Is Dewclaw Removal Painful For Your Dog?

Yes! Absolutely! It’s an amputation to remove a part of your puppy’s body. Dewclaws are usually removed in the first 3-5 days of a puppy’s life. The procedure takes less than a minute and it’s done without general anesthesia. That doesn’t mean it’s not painful for the puppy! Dogs who have dewclaws removed later in life require general anesthesia.

So in the end, there’s no logical reason to remove dewclaws from a 3-day old puppy or an adult dog. They need them just as much as you need your thumbs.