DEWCLAWS, WHAT'S THE POINT?

I read an interesting article in ‘Canine Corner’ a column written by Dr Stanley Coren for ‘Psychology Today’ about dewclaws.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, dewclaws are short claws or nails on the side of the dog’s foot which don’t touch the ground. Most dogs have dewclaws only on their front paws, and it is rare to find them on their back paws. There are some breeds who have them, like the Great Pyrenees.

In most cases however the dewclaws are nonfunctional. The dewclaws are an evolutionary throw back to some 40 million years ago. Back then there was a tree climbing cat-like animal. It is believed that this animal known as Miacis was an early ancestor of our modern dogs. Having five toes when you climb trees is obviously a great advantage.

As evolution unfolded through the generations these creatures evolved into social hunters of fast moving prey. Obviously speed became a more important factor than climbing. This meant the physiology of canines had to change.

Evolution changed the way these animal walked to the point were they began walking on their toes. Evolution also gave them stronger and longer forelegs giving them additional speed. We humans required the dexterity to be able to manipulate things like tools and so our ‘dewclaws’ became thumbs. 

Both the front and rear dewclaws are a concern for dog owners. They worry that they will catch on things when the dogs are running through bracken or long grasses in the summer chasing squirrels or looking for their ball. If they do catch they can be torn off and cause serious injury and maybe even become infected. For that reason some dog owners have the dewclaw removed. Some breeders remove dewclaws from puppies for the same reasons. This is very true for sledge runners in Alaska where owners remove the dewclaws from Huskies as puppies in case they tear off whilst running over rough ground. You can imagine it could be quite serious for a husky to get an infection in remote areas such as the Alaskan wilderness. For most however the dewclaws remain tight into the foreleg and never cause any problems especially if they are continually clipped. My own dog Laya has a ’sticky out’ dewclaw and I have lost count of the number of times her dewclaw gets caught.