Keeping your Canine's Canines Clean

We'll continue the theme of dentistry as it's still February and therefore National Pet Dental Health Month.  As much as things like dry food, daily bones or rawhide, and well-loved rope toys can help with your pet's dental health, brushing their teeth is still the most effective way to keep their pearly whites white and disease-free.  Dental care is part of health care.  If you skip it, it increases risk of things like heart, liver, and kidney disease.

Before you actually start cleaning your pet's teeth, a couple words about the tools to use.  It's recommended to use a double-headed 45° brush.  As for toothpaste: never use the human variety.  Us humans spit out our toothpaste because it's not edible, dogs aren't so great at the spitting.  In addition, ingredients like flouride are toxic to dogs.  Not to mention they don't like the mint and mild irritation of our toothpaste.  (Fun fact: the foaming is caused by the ingredient sodium lauryl sulfate, which replaced the soap that had been used in the 1800s and gives the 'paste' part of 'toothpaste')

It might take some getting used to for your dog (and for you), but you can, in fact, train your dog to if not enjoy having their teeth cleaned, sit through it with minimum fuss.  Try starting small and building up.  Brush a little more every day and stop when your pet starts to buck the efforts.  Also, as with any training, make sure to reward their efforts.  A treat or a belly rub will help your pet realize that there's something worth waiting for if they just sit through the process.

Soon enough you'll be able to brush your dog's teeth daily (or at least a few times weekly) without too much of a fuss.  Don't forget dog's need dental check-ups every six to twelve months, just like humans!

Best of luck keeping those canine's canines clean.