Tooth Brushing Difficulties

[krazydog]

Hi Jan, and welcome to the forum!

Under the "Touching Ears & Mouth" discussion, Jan asked if the touching technique might work "for a dog who refuses to allow you to work in his mouth and brush his teeth?" I thought this was a good topic unto itself, so I give it a separate subject line. I hope you don't mind, Jan.

I don't see why this technique wouldn't work. You can always give it a try. It can take many weeks to see significant improvement. But I've definitely seen it work with my dogs (although I haven't tried it specifically for brushing teeth).

If Beau won't let you open his mouth and touch his teeth with your fingers, start on just getting him to allow that first, a step at a time. Then perhaps you can work on putting something tasty on a piece of cloth and rubbing his teeth with it. Once Beau is comfortable with that, slowly move to a toothbrush, if that's your goal.

And never underestimate the power of treats! Save Beau's very favorite treat for after these "mouth" sessions, so he has something to look forward to. I do that with our dog Mary, and I have a much easier time getting her to stand still while I put drops in her eyes (she has dry eye) than my companion Ron does. He doesn't give her a follow-up treat.

As I mentioned, I haven't ever worked on getting a dog to let me brush his teeth, so my suggestions are not from experience with that specific issue. Perhaps other folks who actually have worked on that can offer other suggestions.

Good luck!
Beverley

[Janet White]

Tooth brushing is a favorite here. :) It does take some patience and trying the different flavors of dog toothpaste out there. Some take to it quicker than others, but with patience, they've all learned to at least accept having their teeth brushed.

I've started our guys with just a dab of it on my finger that they lick off. I do this until they look at it as a routine treat. Next step is to put a dab of it on the tooth brush and let them lick it off of there. Some of them take to chewing it off right away, but others take longer to get used to that feeling in their mouth, and that theydon't get to take the toothbrush as a chew toy.

The next step after they are chewing on the bristles, is to put my hand as near to their muzzle as I can without having them shy away from the process. Again, some are fine with this right away, others can take up to a month of just scritching behind the ears while they chew on the toothbrush.

OH, and they NEED to be sitting for me (DH doesn't ask that of them) because I don't appreciate them backing up across the bathroom. :lol:

Eventually, through this process, we've gotten all of our guys used to having their teeth brushed. Zephyr is insistant that her teeth be brushed EVERY night. Will plunk her rear down loudly if we aren't paying attention. ;)