Cleaning Your Dog’s Teeth

Providing good oral care for our canine family members can actually extend their lives by as much as three to five years. In order to successfully clean your dog’steeth, you must get your dog used to having its mouth handled by lifting its lipsand

examining the teeth

. Do this 2-3 times per week, and each time, give your pet a small treat and lots of praise after you have finished. Your dog will be morecomfortable with the teeth cleaning process when it knows there will be a treatwhen it's over.

Introduce toothbrushing slowly to gradually accustom your dog to havingyou handle its mouth.

You'll need a dog toothbrush (a wash cloth or gauze pad wrapped around your finger also works well), and toothpaste specially formulated for animal use. Dogscannot spit, and human toothpaste is not safe to swallow in large quantities. Your dog will most likely swallow whatever you use to clean its teeth with, so it isimportant to buy toothpaste that has been formulated specifically for dogs. Agood alternative for cleaning your dog’s teeth is a solution of vitamin C and water in a ratio of half teaspoon of vitamin C to a cup of water.Position yourself on the floor, with your dog in front of you. With smaller breeds or puppies, you can hold the dog in your lap. It may be necessary to start withgauze and work up to the toothbrush. Lift your dog's upper lip and clean your dog’s teeth in a circular motion, making sure to brush at the base of each toothwhere it meets the gum line. The toothbrush bristles should be angled at 45-degrees to the tooth surface. Also, make sure to clean your dog’s back molar teeth, which are more likely than the front teeth to develop problems. Gently forcethe bristles into the area around the base of the tooth and the spaces between theteeth with about ten short back and forth strokes, focusing on the outside of theupper teeth.Do only one or two teeth the first few times. As your dog becomes comfortablewith teeth cleaning, brush more teeth in each session. Clean your dog’s teethtwice a week. Always give your dog a small treat after each session.

Hard bones are the primary cause of your dog’s teeth breaking; knucklebones are soft.

Giving bones to your pet to chew on is an effective method for keeping tarter fromaccumulating and aids in keeping your dog’s teeth clean. Raw knuckle bones (the joints), from your local butcher or meat counter at the supermarket, are greatbecause they are soft and allow your dog to scrape its teeth into the bone, nicelycleaning food and tartar from teeth. These bones still have some tendons andmuscle meat. They will clean your dog’s teeth and provide a nice oral workout aswell as a healthy amount of

natural calcium

. Your dog will enjoy a good knucklebone. It will be content and relaxed while chewing, and a little sleepy afterwards.Keep your dog on a towel that is easily washed.