Keeping your dog’s nails short is good for your dog’s foot. Long nails can cause discomfort for the dog and be hard on your floors or furniture. Not to mention they hurt like mad when the dog steps on your foot!
I use a dremel to grind my dogs’ nails. 
I like the dremel as I’m less likely to injure the dog (quicking the nails with clippers can be a bloody mess) and the nails end up smooth. I picked up my cordless dremel at Target for around $20. Use the course sanding head.
There are now specific dremel tools for doing your pets’ nails. It isn’t necessary to get the pet-specific tool, although if they’re price comparable, there isn’t anything wrong with them either.
I have to charge the battery immediately before use (I plug it in the night before I plan on doing nails), in order to make it through both dogs’ nails. I also find that I have to replace my dremel about once every year or so as the battery gets to the point it will barely make it through the job. I’ve thought about going to the electric variety, but like the freedom of the cordless.
To keep the nails short, I do nails about once a week. If your dog currently has long nails, you won’t be able to get them short in one sitting, you’ll have to make the quick recede over a period of time by doing the nails more frequently, every 3-4 days.
When dremeling the nails, keep in mind that the friction will cause heat to build. Use a tap-tap method on the nails and be mindful of the heat.
To start, I dremel off the ends, taking the desired length off of all of the nails on one foot, similar to if I was using a nail clipper.
Notice how the end of the nail is blunt
Then, I go back to each toe and smooth all the sides:
In the end, you’ll have nice, smooth short nails! They look nice on the dog and help prevent injury to their feet – and yours! (Please disregard Kizzy’s dirty feet – we had just come inside from a run in the field!)