Crazy Toenail Phobias

In my life, I've known two beings with irrational toenail trimming phobias.  The first was my mom.  The second is our beagle Mr. C. 

When I was about 10 years old, my mom started asking me to trim her toenails for her.  Weird, right!?!  Well, that wasn't the weirdest part.  As I would trim her nails, she would grimace, grit her teeth, and suck in air, making a hissing noise as the air passed through her gritted teeth as I trimmed.  I would freak out, "Did I hurt you? Are you okay?" 

"Yes, I'm fine. I just hate having my toenails trimmed!"

What!?!  Seriously, someone who hates having their nails trimmed forces their young daughter into slave labor, trimming her nails.  Oh yes, now I see the logic it that.  Oh wait, no I don't.

Fast forward twenty years and I find myself with a beagle who freaks out whenever anyone touches his paws, especially his toenails.  We've tried differently things.  Sneaking up on him when he's sleeping and getting one or two nails trimmed before he starts flopping around, kicking, and nipping at us.  We've tried one of us pinning him down while the other trims.  But he's such a wiggly monster even that has only marginal success.  The most successful method (other than taking to the vet and letting them handle it) is cornering him in the bathroom, closing the door and sitting in front of him so he can't move too much.  But, then Mr. C won't step foot in the bathroom for about two months after that, although I guess that's not the worst thing since he does tend to be fairly nosey about people's activities in the bathroom.

Currently, his nails haven't been trimmed since early May and are really long.  His nails are so long, that he sits and chews on them, clearly wishing they were shorter, but even that  discomfort won't cause him to tolerate a little nail trim.

I think the next time my mom visits, I'll ask her to trim Mr. C's nails.  It will be sort of like payback for making me trim her nails as a kid.  I'm also thinking that two beings so freaked out about toenail trims might collectively be able to overcome their fears.  Sort of like toenail therapy.