What are Dewclaws and Why Would I Remove Them from My Dog?

Take a moment to look at your dog’s paws: do they have four toes or five?  Is one of them a bit higher up on the foot, almost like a human thumb?   That is what's known as a dewclaw. They are considered to be vestiges of toes that our dog’s ancestors were born with and used to keep balance in rough terrain, as well as to help grip things such as bones or large items during feeding.  We’ve all seen our dogs “holding” bones or toys while they tore them apart and the dewclaw can help with this. 

Nowadays, dogs don’t really use these toes as often, so some breeds have genetically bred them out gradually. Some breeds of dog have them on the front, and some have them on front and back, although the ones on the back occur a lot less often, and are usually breed specific; Great Pyrenees, for example, have double dewclaws on their back feet.

Some dogs have dewclaws that are attached, just like the rest of their toes, but there are times when a dog's dewclaws don’t develop correctly, and they “dangle”, less like a toe, but more like a piece of skin with a toenail on it.  When this happens, it can get in the way and cause the pet to be caught on carpet or fabric.  This can result in the tearing the dewclaw, which means a quick trip to the vet and unnecessary pain and possible infection for the pet. If your dog has these dewclaws, your vet may recommend having the entire toe removed. Since they usually don’t reach the ground, they’re not functional, and having them removed won’t handicap your dog in any way, and the surgery is not terribly invasive.  

There are breeders who will have dewclaws removed on a litter of their puppies when they’re just a few days old, which seems awful but actually is a very easy procedure and results in a dog who grows up with no loose dewclaws, so no possibility of future problems.

My dog has dewclaws on his front feet only, but his are fully attached and function as extra toes.  He uses them to grab onto things and they function very well for him.  They also reach the ground (because he has very long feet) so he uses them and wears the nail down normally.  If your pet has dewclaws that are not being removed, please make certain that you are trimming them regularly, as they’re probably not reaching the ground and won’t wear down like the rest of his nails.  Failure to keep these claws short can result in overgrown nails which can twist and embed themselves into their paws, which can cause infection and pain.

If your dog is lucky enough to have no dewclaws, then you’ve avoided any of the problems I’ve mentioned above, and your pet probably wouldn’t be worse for wear in not having them. Doggy feet are pretty awesome; my pup Baku, as a mix of breeds unknown, had a very varied size. His front feet were quite large, sort of like Dachshund's are, and his back feet were teeny tiny! I wondered sometimes how he was "put together" but thought his feet were pretty cool :).