Cassie Edmond, an animal care specialist at the San Diego Humane Society, likes using small nail clippers for puppies or dogs whose nails have grown too long and are curling back toward the paw pad.

For cutting hair on your dog’s paws, face, ears or legs, or for precision contouring you need a trimmer rather than a clipper, and a cordless trimmer means the power cord isn’t going to be ...