Your dogs first line of defense to prevent periodontal disease is you. You can develop a home oral hygiene regimen for your dog to help combat this disease. You should start this preventative routine as soon as you bring your new puppy or dog home. So let us now take a look at some of your options.
- Brushing Your Dogs Teeth-Brushing your dogs teeth daily with a dog toothbrush / finger pet toothbrush & dog toothpaste / oral cleansing gel is one of the most effective ways to help prevent periodontal disease in your dog. Out of all the recommendations, this is a must do! Brushing your dogs teeth daily helps break up dog tarter & keep your dogs teeth pearly white. It is important to use a tooth paste specifically designed for dogs. Human toothpaste typically has high foaming action which should not be swallowed.
- With the guidance of Dexters veterinarian, we do a rotating schedule using Biotene Maintenance Gel & tooth brushing & MaxiGuard Oral Cleansing Gel. Dexter prefers the finger pet toothbrush over the regular dog toothbrush, plus I can feel exactly where Im cleaning.
- Chews & Bones-Your dogs chewing action on safe & healthy dog chews and bones can assist in removing plaque build up. However, please read the ingredients listed to ensure they are healthy & NOT sourced in China. My personal favorite for Dexter are odor free bully sticks. Personally, I do not allow unsupervised chewing.
- Dog Chew Toys-When I think of dog chew toys, I think of Kong, Nylabone, Rita Toy & Kong Quest Bones. These chew toys can be filled with your favorite healthy dog treat, organic dog food, or just played alone. Ive been known to squirt a little dog toothpaste on a dog chew for a bit more cleaning action. Again, this is another way to help loosen tarter build up.
- Veterinarian Dentistry-Sometimes even with the best preventative dental care, dogs still must have a dental cleaning from their veterinarian. But dont feel bad, this is a nice way to get back those pearly whites.
Getting started with brushing your dogs teeth does not have to be a stressful event. Take it slow & introduce the procedure at your dogs pace. If your dog is sensitive around his mouth, he may already have some periodontal disease, so please take him to your veterinarian for a check up.
- You never want to scare your dog, so if he really moves away when you try to touch his mouth, start by reaching towards his face (off to the side) and say, "Yes!" and give him a treat. At first dont have the goal of touching his mouth, you just want him to get comfortable with the reach. If he moves away & tries to avoid the reach, dont reach as fast, as close. You want to find that sweet spot, where he is unconcerned & build from there. This may take days, or even weeks. So have patience & dont rush it. If you are having difficulty please seek the guidance of a professional dog behavior consultant.
- If you are building up your dogs confidence in touching his mouth, this is an exceptional time to use the MaxiGuard Oral Cleansing Gel, since scrubbing is not required.
- Once you are able to touch your dogs mouth without him flinching or being worried, it is time to add the dog toothpaste. First, put a squeeze of the paste on your finger & slip it into one side of his mouth. No rubbing, no scrubbing. Do the same for the other side. Thats it, end of lesson. Practice this for a few days. When he is easily accepting of this, the next time put your finger pet toothbrush on & the dog toothpaste, and once again slip into both sides of his mouth.
- As you both get more comfortable start to increase the scrubbing action inside your dogs mouth. Gentle, dont get too rough or hard. Your goal will be to hit all those canine teeth with a little scrub.
- If you decide you would rather use a dog toothbrush instead of the finger pet toothbrush do the same steps in getting your dog accustomed to the brush inside his mouth that you did for the finger brush.
