or, depending on what type of dog, just taking him walking every day and walk in the street as much as in possible. the rough concrete will wear down his toe nails. also, it helps if you start really super slow. just take out the clippers and touch the metal part to the toe nail and give a treat, next day to the same thing to a few more toes, lots of treats.. and build up to where you can touch all of his toenails on at a time w/o him freaking. then you clip a tiny bit of one toe nail and give a treat... it can take weeks and sometimes months to get a dog to relax while you clip.. you also may want to consider using a dremel. good luck. :)