You don't need long nails. Some small amount of nail does help get the tick without pulling out too much of the dogs fur with it.
When I got them on me as a kid and with the dogs, some bit of skin does come off with the tick, but not much and it almost always healed fast. Tick bits itch anyway. The dogs always seemed to appreciate it once the tick was gone and they saw/smelled what you pulled off. Not sure about other people's dogs though. :)
I used to get them biting me as a kid when we visited my grandparents. After we moved out there, we rarely got bitten, but sometimes found them crawling on us. My Mother said there were some home remedies out there that said eating local honey and or maybe other stuff would keep them off you. It has been a while.