I dremel my dogs nails. I find that it takes a tad bit longer than using clippers, but it's a more 'natural' way to get the nails shorter. Basically you are filing the nails, so it more closely imitates how dogs would naturally wear down nails.
Using a dremel you are less likely to hurt your dog while working on it's nails.
It took my dog awhile to be completely comfortable with the sound of the dremel but now he just lays down and relaxes while I file his nails. I can get his nails nice and short and smooth and don't have to worry about accidentally cutting his quick and making him bleed. After using a dremel I don't think I'd ever want to go back to using regular clippers on a dog.
If you do a google search there are a lot of websites and youtube videos that can show you how to properly dremel a dogs nails.
