I am a self taught groomer for my Maltese and by no means am I a professional.  If I can do it then so can you.  I think back at how I used to play with baby dolls and Barbie Dolls and how many times I would cut their hair and ruin it.  Grooming a Maltese is much better than that because if you accidentally cut the hair too short the hair grows back!  I have learned what to repeat and what never to repeat.  Normally after I bathe my Maltese I hold them in my lap, while the hair dryer is going and keeping them warm, I start by cleaning their ears and then trimming the nails.  I have tried to get a video that shows you the nail bed and as long as you can see the white part well enough (observe it at all angles) you can clip it leaving a little white still showing.  Its when you cut below the white nail that you then have clipped too close and will cause the nail to bleed.   If you come across a black nail, that is very common, and I just judge how much to clip based on how much I clipped on the others.  I don’t try to file the nail after clipping it because they naturally smooth them out as they run around a few days.  If you don’t like the roughness after a nail trimming then you will want to use a file to soften the edges.  It takes a little more time and as long as your pet allows you to gently do it, it shouldn’t be too hard.  Some pets hate their feet touched so just to get them clipped is enough for some.

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